M. P. Michael (born 2 December 1958), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Lal, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, producer and distributor who predominantly works in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

films and in a few

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

films. Lal has won several awards, including a National Film Award – Special Mention for acting (2012), two

Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an award, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed direct ...

(2008, 2013), and a

Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam The Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam is presented annually by ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its Filmfare Awards South ceremony, honoring excellence in Malayalam cinema. The award was instituted in 1972 and is determined by a jury. ...

(2008). He is the owner of Lal Media Arts, a

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

studio.

Early life

Lal was born as Michael to the late M. A. Paul and late Philomina, as their eldest son. He received his schooling at St. Augustine's High School, Ernakulam. His brother

Alex Paul Alex Paul is an Indian music director who works in Malayalam cinema. He has composed music for fifty films. Personal life Alex is the son of M. A. Paul, a music artist who formed the first orchestra (in Malayalam: 'ganamela') troupe in Kochi & ...

is a music composer in the

Malayalam film industry Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both the mainstream film industry a ...

and his son

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

is a movie director in the same industry. Lal's younger sister Neena's son

Balu Varghese Balu Varghese is an Indian actor and singer who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He began his acting career as a child actor in '' Chanthupottu'' (2005). Early life and career Balu Varghese was born in Kochi. He is the son o ...

is an actor in the Malayalam film industry.

Career

He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, along with his childhood friend Siddique, who would later team up as Siddique-Lal to make many films. Lal and Siddique began their film career working as

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

s to Fazil in '' Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu''. Siddique-Lal production had never been dependent on star value or superstar formula that was witnessed in those days in Malayalam cinema. They had always opted out from casting

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

. Ultimately, both of them had changed their thoughts later and when their fourth production film was to get launched, Siddique-Lal had opted for Mohanlal and made '' Vietnam Colony'' (1992) which did wonders in the box office too. The duo again had combined in their fifth production and made ''

Kabooliwala ''Kabooliwala'' is a 1994 Indian Malayalam-language coming of age comedy drama film, written and directed by Siddique-Lal, starring Innocent and Jagathy Sreekumar. The film was remade in Tamil as '' Meesai Madhavan'' (2004). Plot The story b ...

'' (1994), which was also a success. After that, both decided to part ways as a director pair and Lal turned producer with the Siddique-directed

-starrer ''

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

''. Lal debuted in acting with a villain role as Paniyan in

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, playback singer, television presenter and politician who is currently serving as the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Tourism since June 2024. He was ele ...

-starrer '' Kaliyattam'', directed by

Jayaraj Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited as Jayaraj (born 31 May 1960), is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He has won many awards, including Crystal Bear at the Berli ...

. ''Kaliyattam'' was a new take on ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'', where Lal played Paniyan, the character standing for

Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's '' Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...

. He runs a film post-production company named as Lal Media Arts,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

. The year 2009 saw his comeback again as a director. He directed the sequel to ''

In Harihar Nagar ''In Harihar Nagar'' is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film written and directed by Siddique-Lal. The film, set in the fictional locality of Harihar Nagar the story revolves around follows four unemployed bachelors and frien ...

'' named '' 2 Harihar Nagar'', which got released and was declared a hit. For his performance in the 2012 film '' Ozhimuri'', he won the National Film Award – Special Mention. He was won of

in ''

Thalappavu ''Thalappavu'' (literal meaning: turban or headgear, which is a symbol of power, status and protection) is a 2008 Malayalam language period thriller film based on the events related to Naxal Varghese and Police Constable P. Ramachandran Nair, ...

'' (2008), '' Ayaal'' (2013) and '' Zachariayude Garbhinikal'' (2013). He later directed films like '' King Liar'' (2016), '' Honey Bee 2.5'' (2017) and ''

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

'' (2021). Lal, who also plays an important role in '' Sulthan'' (2021) and also heaped praise on

Mari Selvaraj Mariselvam Selvaraj is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in the Tamil film industry. He worked as an assistant director to Ram. He made his directorial debut with '' Pariyerum Perumal'' (2018), which opened to highly positive re ...

for '' Karnan'' (2021). Despite being given the most uni-dimensional character in the story '' Taanakkaran'' (2022), the actor effortlessly carries the role and leaves arguably more impact than in his previous outing. He roped in to play the role of a warrior in

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

’s '' Ponniyin Selvan: I'' (2022) and '' Ponniyin Selvan: II'' (2023). He starred in the Malayalam web series ''

Kerala Crime Files ''Kerala Crime Files'' is an Indian Malayalam-language crime drama streaming television series directed by Ahammed Khabeer and written by Ashiq Aimar starring Aju Varghese and Lal (actor), Lal in lead roles. The series was released on Disney+ Ho ...

'' (2023) as Inspector which was released on Disney + Hotstar. and joined season 2 of Amazon prime series ''Suzhal''.

Personal life

Lal is married to Nancy and they have two children— a son

Jean Paul Lal Jean Paul Lal, better known by his stage name Lal Jr., is an Indian film director and actor who mainly works in the Malayalam film industry. He is the son of actor-director Lal. His directorial debut movie was ''Honey Bee'' starring Asif Ali ...

and a daughter Monica Lal. Jean Paul is a

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Awards

Filmography

As an actor

Malayalam

Tamil

Telugu

Other Languages

Web Series

Director, writer

Producer, distributor

Other crew credits

*1987: ''

Manivathoorile Aayiram Sivarathrikal ''Manivathoorile Aayiram Sivarathrikal'' (English: The 1000 Sivarathries of Manivathoor) is 1987 Malayalam film, starring Mammootty and directed by Fazil. It was the last film of the eminent music director M. B. Sreenivasan, who died less than ...

'' – Script supervisor and

(as

Siddique–Lal Siddique–Lal were a screenwriter and director duo, consisting of Siddique and Lal. They were active together in Malayalam cinema during 1986–1995. They were initially assistant directors to director Fazil. Particularly known for making fi ...

)

References

External links

*
Lal Actor/ Director SNP Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lal Malayalam film directors Male actors from Kochi 1958 births Living people Kerala State Film Award winners Malayalam screenwriters Male actors in Malayalam cinema Indian male film actors Filmfare Awards South winners Indian male screenwriters Film directors from Kochi 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors Male actors in Telugu cinema Film producers from Kochi Screenwriters from Kochi 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Malayalam film producers 20th-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian male writers Kerala Film Critics Awards winners Special Mention (feature film) National Film Award winners