Mammootty
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Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known professionally as Mammootty ([mɐmːuːʈːi]), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. With a prolific career spanning over five decades, he has appeared in over 400 films, predominantly in lead roles, across Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and English languages. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards, eleven Kerala State Film Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and fifteen Filmfare Awards South. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India in 1998, for his contributions to cinema. He was also honoured with the Kerala Prabha Award by the Government of Kerala in 2022. Mammootty was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN. Mammootty made his screen debut as a junior artiste in the drama film Anubhavangal Paalichakal (1971). He got his first credited role in M. T. Vasudevan Nair's Vilkkanundu Swapnangal (1980). After playing a few supporting roles, he progressed to lead role in I. V. Sasi's romantic drama Thrishna (1981). He continued to do secondary and lead roles in the following years. By the early to mid 1980's, he established himself a bankable leading actor by starring in several successful films in 1984 and 1985; the crime drama Athirathram (1984), the action thriller Nirakkoottu (1985) and the romantic drama Yathra (1985) heightened his stardom. Mammootty predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, but has also appeared in other language films. Some of his best known non-Malayalam films include the Tamil gangster drama film Thalapathi (1991), the Tamil romantic drama Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), the Telugu musical drama Swathi Kiranam (1992) and the English-Hindi bilingual biopic Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000). Mammootty has won three National Film Awards, seven Kerala State Film Awards, fourteen Filmfare Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and five Asianet Film Awards (from fourteen nominations). In 1998, the government of India honoured Mammootty with its fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri for his contribution to the Indian film industry. He was conferred with the Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Calicut and the University of Kerala in 2010. In 2022, he was the honoured with Kerala Prabha, the second-highest award given by the Government of Kerala. Mammootty's life and career have been included in the undergraduate syllabus of Maharaja's College, Ernakulam's BA History programme, as part of the "History of Malayalam Cinema" course, in recognition of his significant contribution to the film industry. He is the chairman of Malayalam Communications, which runs the Malayalam television channels Kairali TV, Kairali News, and Kairali We. He is the owner of multiple production ventures, including the distribution-production banner, Playhouse, and production company, Mammootty Kampany. In 2007, Mammootty published his first book, Kazhchapadu (roughly translated as "Perspective"), a compilation of short essays he had written in various publications over the years.