MAMMOOTTY

Mammotty born as Muhammadkutty Ismail Panaparambil on 7 September 1951 is a Malayalam film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu movies. Mammotty was born and bought up in Chempu near Vaikom in the Kottayam District, Kerala, in a middle class Muslim family. He was the eldest son of the family. His father Ismail was a farmer and his mother Fatima was a housewife. He went to high school at Maharajas College, Kochi and then studied law at Government Law College, Ernakulam. He also praticed law for two years at Manjeri. He married Sulfath in the year 1980 and the couple is blessed with two children, daughter Surumi (1982) and a son Dulquer Salmaan (1986).

Mammotty’s debut was an unaccredited appearance in the year 1971 in the film Anubhavangal Paalichakal. His only scene was one among the crowd along with the lead actor. He was then a student at the Maharaja’s college. His professional film career began in the year 1979, when he played his first lead role. However, this film was never released. He worked under the screen name Sajin, but later dropped it. Mammotty began to establish himself as an actor and as a star through his film of the 1980’s. In the year 1981, he got his first state award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in Ahimsa.

The period between 1984-1993 is considered as the Golden Age in the Mammotty’s acting career. In a period of five years from 1982 to 1986 Mammotty acted in more than 150 films in the lead role. In 1986 alone, he acted in about 35 movies in the lead role. But the period of 2001-2003 was of a big set-back for Mammotty. In the year 2001, he acted only in two films, which was a box office disaster. Later in the year 2002, he acted only in three films, out of which none were successful. Later in the year 2004, with the release of the movie Sethurama Iyer CBI, marked his comeback.

Mammotty was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor three times. He also won seven Kerala State Film Awards, and eleven Filmfare Awards. He was the first Malayalam actor to be honored with Padma Shri for contributions toward Indian cinema. He was honored a Doctor of Letters by University of Kerala and by University of Calcutta in 2010. Kerala’s leading magazine Vanitha, chose Mammotty as the actor with the highest sex appeal in Kerala.

Mammotty is the Chairman of Malayalam Communications, which runs Malayalam TV channels such as Kairali, People TV and WE TV. Mammotty has also promoted humanitarian causes throughout Kerala and is the Goodwill Ambassador of the Akshaya Project.

Mammotty is involved in more than half a dozen Philanthropic projects aimed at helping the needy ones. Mammotty is the patron of the Pain and Palliative Care Society, a charitable organization in Kerala formed with the aim of improving the quality of life of cancer patients. Mammotty is also the Ambassador of Jeevan Jothi, a social work project aimed at providing aid to people seeking treatment for various diseases. Mammotty is also the Goodwill Ambassador of a charity project Street India Movement” which aimed at eradication of child begging and child labor.

Mammotty was appointed as the Global Brand Ambassador of the Kerala based South Indian Bank. He was also featured as the brand ambassador of Kerala Volleyball League. Mammotty also owns the distribution company named Playhouse Entertainments.