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 Mammootty is the mega star of Malayalam cinema. He is an actor in all senses of the word. It was his childhood dream to act in a movie and become a great star. Mammootty's father, Mr.Ismail is an Agriculturist and his mother, Mrs. Fathima is a housewife. He has a daughter, Surmi and a son, Dulquar Salman
Although a lawyer by qualification, Mammootty always wanted to be an actor. His entry into filmdom was rather late. As bad luck would have it,
his first film, Devalokam ('World of Gods'), never saw the light of the day. None other than the colossal figure in Malayalam cinema M. T. Vasudevan Nair discovered him and it was veteran director K. G. George who brought Mammootty's career graph is dotted with highs and lows.
His career saw a spectacular rise after the release of Joshi's New Delhi. This film was based on the story, "Almighty" by Irving Wallace. It heralded the arrival of Mammootty the super star. His performance as a victimized journalist, who systematically took revenge on politicians who beguiled him, caught the imagination of many in the film world.
Then came his Oru CBI Diary kurippe ('A CBI diary entry'), which was a sort of a landmark, in Malayalam cinema. It brought to fore a new concept of villainy and a refreshing idea of a hero. Without even a single song or dance number, Oru CBI Diary kurippe went on to create box-office history in Kerala. For all these, major credit goes to Mammootty for his enactment of the role of an upright CBI officer .The film made such an impact that two more films Jaagratha, Sethurama Iyer CBI and Nerariyan C.B.I starring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, the CBI officer, were made and received very well. This in itself is a record of sorts in the Malayalam film industry, with four movies with the same lead character.
Mammootty touched higher pinnacles of his career in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha again a M T creation. His depiction of a 'Chekavan'(Usually a person of a warrior clan who would fight for a king or other nobles of the land) won him the top honors of the country, National Award for best acting. It was his acting talent, coupled with his willingness to go to any extent to rationally portray the roles, that helped enabled him to act in both offbeat and commercial movies and other in art movies. Mammootty became almost a regular face in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's films. He starred in three of his movies, Anantharam, Mathilukkal, and Vidheyan .The ease with which he acted as the protagonist in Mathilukkal was also instrumental in winning his first National award for best acting. His performance in a commercially off-beat movie, Ponthan Mada, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Vidheyan' won him the award for the second time. His performance in "Ambedkar", a Hindi movie by Jabbar Patel, won him the National award for a third time. He is also a recipient of Padma Shri, one of the topmost civilian awards in India.
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