Born as Muhammad Kutty Ismail Paniparambil, he used his screen name Mammootty for the movies. He is an Indian film actor and producer who is predominantly active in the Malayalam film industry but he worked in quite a few Telegu and Tamil Movies also. In a long career of more than thirty years, he featured in more than 350 movies, a feat very few actors in India managed to reach. Before entering the film industry he got a degree in LLB and was a lawyer by profession. But he was always interested in acting; hence he started trying to enter the movie industry and left his profession as a lawyer. He is one of the biggest stars in Kerala and has given many hits in his career. He is not only a star but a good actor also and has won 3 National Film Awards for Best Actor, 7 Kerala State Film Awards, and 12 Filmfare Awards South. In 1998, he was awarded the Padma Shree by the Government of India for his contributions to the arts in 1998. Also, the University of Kerala gave him an honorary doctorate degree in January 2010 and from the University of Calicut in December 2010.
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He started his journey as a junior artist in the movie Anubhavangal Paalichakal, directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan in 1971 and he starred in a few movies as a character artist. It was in 1979 when he begged his first role as a lead in the movie Devolokam but the movie was shelved. After that after doing a few movies in supporting roles, and his first solo movie as the main lead in the I.V Sasi directed movie Thrishna in 1981 and since then there was no looking back for him. In the same year, he won his first state award for his performance in the movie Ahimsa.
It was during the 1980s when Mammooty’s career peaked and he did more than 150 movies between 1982 to 1987. In 1984 he won the Best Actor award at both the Kerala State Film Awards and the Filmfare Awards for the movie Adiyozhukkukai. Next year he got his first Filmfare Best Actor in a Leading role for his performance in the movie Yathra. Post 1985, his career slumped a bit with he giving flop movies but he made a comeback with the crime thriller movie New Delhi in 1987. In 1989, he received his first National Award for the Vidheyan and Ponthan Mada.
He did many movies in the 90s and among them a few were flops and many were hits. In 1994, he received his second National Award for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Mathiluka. In 1999, Mammootty won the Best Actor in National Film Awards for the movie Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, directed by Jabbar Patel. The performance is considered one of the finest ones in his career. Apart from acting he has been involved in philanthropy and worked for many social causes. He is the benefactor of the Pain and Palliative Care Society, a charitable organisation in Kerala, that works towards improving the quality of people in advanced stages of cancer. He is also a goodwill ambassador of the charity project Street India Movement, which works towards the abolition of child begging and child labour.
He is married to Sulfath Kuttyy and they have a daughter names Surumi and his son Dulquer Salmaan is also an actor who acted in many Malayalam movies and did a few Bollywood movies also. Along with being an actor, Mammootty is an entrepreneur also and he is the chairman of Malayalam Communications, which owns the Malayalam television channels Kairali TV, Kairali News, and Kairali We. He also owns various production ventures, that includes the distribution-production banner Playhouse and the Mammootty Kampany.
