When Mohanlal blasted Priyadarshan for ‘betraying’ him, spent an Onam in hospital

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Debut with a fractured leg

However, Mohanlal’s journey as Narendran (the role he played in Manjil Virinja Pookkal) wasn’t quite easy. In fact, he even suffered an accident while the movie’s production was going on, fracturing his leg, which led to the script being slightly altered to accommodate it. Towards the end of the film, in scenes where Narendran’s leg is in a cast and he hops around with a walking stick, that was not character detailing; Mohanlal’s leg was actually in a cast.

As a result of the injury, Mohanlal was hospitalised in Madras (now Chennai), and he had to spend Onam that year in the clinic. He once shared how heartbroken he was as he was eating buns while others were having sadhya. “During the Onam season of Manjil Virinja Pookkal’s production, I was in the hospital with a fractured leg after I accidentally rammed a motorcycle into the unit’s vehicle,” he shared during a 2003 interview with Kairali TV.

Mohanlal in Manjil Virinja Pookkal. (Screenshot: YouTube/RohitJohnCherian333)

“My friends, who left for lunch, promising me that they would return with food for me, didn’t come back for a long time. They eventually returned with just buns. Though I don’t mind eating buns every other day, I felt a bit sad having to eat just that on the occasion of Onam,” he added.

Mohanlal cursed Priyadarshan and Suresh Kumar for forgetting him

During an appearance on the same channel’s chat show “JB Junction,” Mohanlal further recounted this experience. He admitted that the friends who ‘betrayed’ him were Priyadarshan (who later became a legendary director) and Suresh Kumar (who later became a producer-actor), who have been his confidantes since their young days. He also confessed to cursing them immensely for forgetting about him.

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“Already, I was sad over being hospitalised on Thiruvonam day, not being able to spend it with my parents. So, I was upset with them (his friends) for not returning, despite their promise. And I cursed them; only because I have such freedom with the two even now,” he said.

Sharing further details about the accident, Fazil once told The News Minute, “Originally, the scene was not planned in that manner. What you see in the scene is not prosthetics; Mohanlal really had a leg injury at the time. Along with me were producer Navodaya Appachan, his son, Jijo Punnoose, and Sibi Malayil (then associate director). Mohanlal suffered a leg injury in the crash and was hospitalised. We waited for a day, but his leg was in a cast, and the stunt team had set up the scene all ready for shooting.”

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He added, “By evening, I thought of a change in script. We changed lines so that Narendran would say that his injury was from the last day when Prem (Shankar) knocked him down. And the walking stick he carries has a sword inside it which he pulls out for the fight.”

About Mohanlal

One of the most celebrated and revered actors in Indian cinema, Mohanlal is a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in the field of cinema in the country. In a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in more than 360 films across Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada, and has won the National Film Award for Best Actor twice. He was most recently seen in director Mahesh Narayanan’s Patriot, alongside Mammootty.