Mammootty

Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (, ; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films.

He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and English-language productions.

In a career spanning five decades, he has appeared in more than 410 films, predominantly in lead roles.

He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards, nine Kerala State Film Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and thirteen Filmfare Awards South.

Mammootty was born on 7 September 1951 in Chandiroor.

He was raised in the village of Chempu near Vaikom in Kottayam district in the present-day state of Kerala, India in a middle-class Muslim family.

His father, Ismail, had a wholesale garment and rice business and was involved in rice cultivation.

His mother, Fatima, was a housewife.

He is their eldest son.

He has two younger brothers, Ibrahimkutty and Zakariah, and three younger sisters, Ameena, Sauda and Shafina.

He went to Government High School, Kulasekharamangalam, Kottayam for his primary education.

In the 1960s, his father moved the family to Ernakulam, where he attended Government School Ernakulam.

He did his pre-university course (pre-degree) at Sacred Heart College, Thevara.

He attended Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, for his degree.

He graduated with an LL.B. from Government Law College, Ernakulam.

He practised law for two years in Manjeri.

Mammootty made his debut in acting through Malayalam film Anubhavangal Paalichakal in 1971.

Mammootty made his onscreen debut as an extra in K. S. Sethumadhavan’s Anubhavangal Paalichakal (1971) at the age of 20.

He made his second appearance in an uncredited role in the 1973 film Kaalachakram, directed by K. Narayanan.

He was cast in a small role as a boatman.

It was in this film that he said his first dialogue.

In 1975, he acted in the theatre drama Sabarmathi.

His first leading role was in M. T. Vasudevan Nair's unreleased film Devalokam (1979).

He married Sulfath Kuttyy in 1979 in an arranged marriage.

Mammootty's breakthrough came in 1981 when he received the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor for his performance in Ahimsa.

The couple has a daughter Surumi (born 1982), and a son Dulquer Salmaan (born 1986)—also an actor.

He resides in Kochi with his family.

His younger brother, Ibrahimkutty, has also acted in Malayalam films.

His nephews, Maqbool Salmaan and Ashkar Saudan, are Malayalam film and television actors.

Major commercial successes during this time included the 1983 films Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu and Aa Raathri.

Following a series of box office failures, the 1987 crime thriller New Delhi improved his commercial prospects.

The films that followed through the next decade established Mammootty as one of the leading stars of Malayalam cinema.

For his contribution to film, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 1998.

In 2022, he was honoured with Kerala Prabha Award, the second-highest honour given by the Government of Kerala.

The 2000s were a period of critical and commercial success for Mammootty.

His performance in the Hindi and English-language bilingual biopic Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor, and he won Kerala State Film Awards for Kaazcha (2004) and Paleri Manikyam (2009).

He garnered further critical praise for the satire Pranchiyettan & the Saint (2010), drama Varsham (2014), period drama Pathemari (2015) and black comedy Unda (2019), and received Filmfare Awards for Best Actor for the first three.

His highest-grossing releases include the action comedy Madhura Raja (2019), the action thriller Bheeshma Parvam (2022), and the crime thriller Kannur Squad (2023).

Mammootty 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 the Mammootty Kampany.