Flop debut, two battles with cancer, marriage that ended in a year, and vitiligo, nothing could break this Malayalam actress | Malayalam News
Not all actors are lucky enough to get an astounding debut, playing a lead role in a movie that turns out to be a blockbuster. While some make their first step playing trivial, blink-and-you-miss-it roles, a few others might begin their careers by facing box-office failures, and some among the remaining may debut to harsh criticism for their performance or the lack thereof. Blessed are those like Mohanlal, who not only played a key role in his debut movie, Manjil Virinja Pookkal (1980), but also saw it become a massive hit, and earned praise for his performance. However, luck also plays a key role in Tinseltown, and actor-playback singer Mamta Mohandas’ debut stands as a testament to that.
Born and raised in Bahrain, she moved to India to pursue a bachelor’s degree. At 21, Mamta received the opportunity to make an impressive debut by playing the female lead in a movie helmed by T Hariharan, one of the most celebrated Malayalam filmmakers of all time, known for crafting classics like Sarapancharam, Panchagni, Nakhakshathangal, Amrutham Gamaya, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Parinayam, and Ennu Swantham Janakikutty. The movie, Mayookham (2005), marked Hariharan’s return to the director’s chair after a six-year hiatus. However, he decided to cast newcomers this time and chose Saiju Kurup and Mamta in the lead roles. The movie, nonetheless, flopped at the box office. Although their performances did not go unnoticed, their efforts weren’t great enough to warrant commendation either.
Mamta Mohandas’ rise to fame
Nevertheless, Mamta began receiving offers one by one and appeared in a small role in Mammootty’s Bus Conductor immediately after Mayookham. Subsequently, she sent shockwaves across Kerala by playing the female lead opposite Suresh Gopi, who was 27 years older than her, in the slightly softcore movie Lanka (2006). The same year, she appeared alongside Mohanlal in Baba Kalyani. However, none of those movies earned her the recognition she desired. It was eventually Big B (2007), the path-breaking Mammootty-starrer, that put her on the map. Nevertheless, acting offers didn’t magically appear before her immediately after that.
Meanwhile, as a trained singer, Mamta also tried her hand at playback singing and began receiving more recognition from that domain. After lending her vocals to a handful of Telugu movie songs, she had her massive breakthrough with the blockbuster track “Daddy Mummy” from Thalapathy Vijay’s Villu (2009). She subsequently sang several hit songs in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.
Afterwards, she also began making strides as an actor with her performances in films like Yamadonga, Gooli, Chintakayala Ravi, Guru En Aalu, Passenger, Kedi, Kadha Thudarunnu, Anwar, Naayika, Arike, My Boss, Celluloid, Varsham, Two Countries, Carbon, Nine, Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel, Jana Gana Mana, Live, and Maharaja across various languages.
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Mamta Mohandas’ cancer battle and divorce
As much as her professional life, Mamta Mohandas’ personal life has also made massive headlines, if not bigger, as she has often served as a beacon of hope, being a cancer survivor who triumphed over the disease not once but twice. According to The News Minute, she was first diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009. Mamta immediately underwent treatment and made a comeback a year and a half later after being declared cancer-free.
Soon afterwards, she married her childhood friend, Bahrain-based businessman Pregith Padmanabhan, in November 2011. However, their marriage was short-lived, and the couple parted ways over a year later. In December 2012, Mamta announced that they had decided to separate. They eventually got divorced. Meanwhile, cancer returned to Mamta’s life during this already trying period. She reportedly failed her bone marrow transplant, which led to a cancer relapse in 2013. However, the actor did not back down and faced the disease head-on that time as well. She then moved to Los Angeles to continue her treatment.
But life did not stop throwing hurdles her way, and she was diagnosed with vitiligo, a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes the skin to lose its colour, in 2023. Yet, even this couldn’t stop Mamta. In a post announcing her Vitiligo diagnosis on Instagram, she wrote, “Dear sun, I embrace you now like I have never before. So spotted, I’m losing colour. I rise even before you every morning, to see you glimmer your first ray through the haze. Give me all you’ve got for I will be indebted, here on out and forever by your grace.”
Mamta Mohandas’ controversial statement
However, her life has not been devoid of controversies, as she has faced significant public ire for her problematic stance on cases of sexual assault, where she has maintained a victim-blaming mentality. “I don’t know if I should be saying this, but if a woman gets into trouble, I feel somewhere she is responsible for it. Because if I have gotten into any sort of trouble where I have felt that someone has spoken to me with disrespect or in this situation, a sexual assault or a sexual abuse or anything indicative towards that manner, I feel I would have entertained some part of it,” India Today quoted her as telling a daily.
