Mammootty Shocks Again: Why Fans Dragging Chiranjeevi?

Malayalam superstar Mammootty, even at 72, continues to surprise everyone with his bold choices. His latest film Kalam Kaval, released yesterday, is receiving positive reviews and collections are gradually improving. What shocked many is that Mammootty played a full-length negative role as a psycho killer. Earlier, he stunned audiences by playing a homosexual character, and now he has gone even darker. At an age when most actors stick to safe roles with mass commercial movies, Mammootty is still experimenting and pushing boundaries.

After this release, some discussions started on social media comparing him with senior Telugu stars. A few comments suggested that Telugu senior actors like Chiranjeevi should also take risks instead of repeating mass roles. However, this comparison does not fully make sense.

Audience tastes in Malayalam and Telugu are as different as chalk and cheese. Malayalam has a long history of supporting subtle performances, slow burn thrillers, unconventional characters, and experimental storytelling. Their audience enjoys variety and complexity. That is why Mallu cinema frequently explores psychological thrillers, true crime stories, and dark genres. Films like Iratta, Bramayugam, Jana Gana Mana, Kannur Squad, and many others worked well there.

In the Telugu states, the mass audience drives the industry, and they expect elevation scenes, emotion, heroism, music, dances, and entertainment. Experiments work only occasionally and that too with actors and not big stars.

So, when senior Telugu stars tried to shift drastically, the audience did not accept it. When Chiranjeevi tried off beat roles in films like Godfather, or when Venkatesh did Saindhav, or when Nagarjuna did negative role in Coolie, even their fans did not embrace them.

So, Mammootty doing a wild experiment is perfect for his audience. And Chiranjeevi or Balakrishna doing mass cinema is perfect for theirs. However, we can say that stars like Chiranjeevi should try a different role where they can show their prowess as an actor within the limits of commercial cinema. Not very off beat and niche, but something daringly different. Let us hope Chiranjeevi achieves it with Srikanth Odela’s film.

However, every cinema culture has its own rhythm. Instead of comparing, it is better to appreciate how each actor plays to his strength and still finds ways to entertain millions in his own style.