Mohanlal

Mohanlal Viswanathan, known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, producer and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has also occasionally appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN. In 2025, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in the field of Indian cinema, for his "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema."