Name: Mammootty

Real Name: Muhammed Kutty

DOB: 7th Sep 1953

Place of birth: Chempu-Kottayam district

Mammootty born Muhammad Kutty on September 7 53 is an award winning Indian actor who works mainly in Malayalam Cinema. During a career spanning more than quarter of a century, he has acted in more than 300 films as lead actor, and has been successful in both mainstream and parallel cinema.

Mammootty received many major awards for his performance. These include three National awards, four State awards and eight Filmfare Awards in the best actor category. In 1998, the Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri for his outstanding contributions to Indian cinema.

Mammootty is also the Chairman of Malayalam Communications, which runs Malayalam TV channels like Kairali TV, People TV and WE TV After a survey among its readers, Vanitha magazine selected Mammootty as the actor with the most sex appeal. Mammootty has promoted humanitarian causes throughout Kerala, and is the goodwill ambassador of the Akshaya project.

Family and early life

Mammootty was born in Chembu near Vaikom in the Kottayam district of former state Travancore-Cochin, India in a middle class Muslim family to Ismail, an agriculturist, and Fatima, a housewife on September 7, 1953. Along with his siblings, he grew up in Chempu, Vaikom. He did his high school(pre-degree) at Maharajas College, Kochi, and then studied law at Ernakulam Government Law College. He also practiced law for two years in Manjeri. He married Sulfath in 1980 and has a daughter, Surumi (b.1982) and a son, Dulquar Salman (b.1986)

Early career, 1971-1980

Mammootty's first screen appearance was in 1971 in Anubhavangal Paalichakal, directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan. However his role was uncredited.He was a student at the Maharajas College then. In 1973, he got another role in Kalachakram, a Prem Nazir movie directed by K. Narayanan.

His professional film career began in 1979, when he played his first lead role in Devalokam,directed by veteran M. T. Vasudevan Nair. However, this film was never released.

Vilkanundu Swapnangal, written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by M. Azad was Mammootty's first notable film. His roles in Mela, directed by K.G.George where he played a Circus artist, and Thrishna , directed by I.V. Sasi got him noticed as a hero.

In 1982, his role of a police officer in the investigative thriller Yavanika (1982) directed by K. G. George was the beginning of a trend whereby Mammootty would play the role of a tough cop in many action and investigative thrillers in the coming years.

In 1981, he got his first state award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in Ahimsa.The period 1982-1986 saw Mammootty evolve into a commercially viable hero in mainstream Malayalam cinema. Padmarajan’s Koodevide and Joshy’s Aa Raathri were highly successful in the box office. His performances in films like Aalkootathil Thaniye and Adiyozhukkukal, scripted by M.T.Vasudevan Nair established him as an actor of substance.

In a potty won his third national award for Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar, an English language movie about the life of Ambedkar, directed by Jabbar Patel The film was sponsored by National Film Development Corporation of India and the Ministry of Social Justice.

Jabbar Patel comments on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mammootty:
Anyone who has seen the film will agree that Dr Ambedkar could not have been possible without Mammootty. How did the filmmaker settle on him? I was making a film in English and I went all around the world, met and saw actors in Canada, United States and United Kingdom. Physically, many actors in America came close but I was not sure about how they would portray the whole sensibility and inner turmoil. I was also not happy about the gestures. I had shortlisted 2-3 people and knew that it would be troublesome as I would have to get them here and train them. So I was not really happy. Then I decided to do something about Mammootty, who was hiding in my mind for a very long time.