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Why Mohanlal’s mother never watched three of his most iconic films, walked out before climax of blockbuster

Santhakumari's love for son Mohanlal was such that she never watched some of his tragic movies, assuming that she wouldn't be able to bear the pain of seeing him go through such life situations.

4 min readKochiDec 31, 2025 03:58 PM IST

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's mother, Santhakumari, passed away on December 30. (Credit: Facebook/@ActorMohanlal)

Although Mohanlal has often maintained that he’s a quite detached person, who isn’t easily swayed by successes or failures, Malayalees worldwide know one thing very clearly: he was extremely attached to his mother, Santhakumari. No matter how busy his schedule was, Mohanlal always found time to talk to his mother or rush to her side at the first opportunity. In fact, the first thing the Malayalam superstar did once he returned to Kochi after winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was visit his ailing mother and share the joy with her, underscoring their unwavering bond.

For Santhakumari, who passed away on December 30 at the age of 90, Lalu, as she dearly called Mohanlal, held a special place in her heart. In fact, her love for him was such that she never watched some of his tragic movies, assuming that she wouldn’t be able to bear the pain of seeing him go through such life situations. “I cannot watch Kireedam (1989) or Chenkol (1993). It is too painful. There are beatings and suffering. I have never watched Chenkol at all. I watched a little of Kireedam and then stopped. I have not seen Thalavattam (1986) either, and I do not want to,” she once told a television channel. Mentioning that she preferred his light-hearted movies, such as Kilukkam (1991), Santhakumari revealed that she even walked out of Chithram (1988) before its climax. Chithram was one of his biggest blockbusters.

Mohanlal's mother Santhakumari passed away on December 30.

Mohanlal with his mother Santhakumari. (Credit: Instagram/@mohanlal)

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For the unversed, Kireedam, its sequel Chenkol, and Thalavattam are widely ranked among Mohanlal’s finest. In fact, Kireedam earned the actor his first National Film Award (Special Mention). However, all three are tragic dramas in which Mohanlal’s characters meet unfortunate fates. Although a comedy-drama for the most part, Chithram also has a sad ending, with Mohanlal’s character, an escaped convict, being taken back to jail for his pending death sentence.

Mohanlal on parents’ experience watching his debut movie

Mohanlal himself once took a trip down memory lane and shared his parents’ experience watching him on the big screen for the first time in director Fazil’s Manjil Virinja Pookkal (1980). Although Mohanlal’s first acting job was in Thiranottam (1978), the movie did not see the light of day until 2005. Thus, Manjil Virinja Pookkal, in which he played the antagonist, became his debut movie. Despite being overjoyed to see their dear son achieve his dreams, the superstar said his parents weren’t happy to see him as a villain.

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“When my parents saw the release advertisement of Manjil Virinja Pookkal in the newspaper, their joy knew no bounds. They went to see the film on the very first day. As my scenes appeared on screen, women sitting nearby would say, ‘Oh no, kaalan (though the word literally means Yama, the god of death, it’s used colloquially to mean a rascal or an evil person) is coming.’ Hearing that, my mother’s heart would truly shudder. My father, too, my mother later said, was deeply distressed,” he once told Mathrubhumi Weekly. Mohanlal’s father, Viswanathan Nair (late), was a former bureaucrat who served as law secretary with the Kerala government.

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