The biggest fan fight in Malayalam cinema, Mammootty v/s Mohanlal, the Malayalis themselves don’t know how many years it has been since it started, there was a time full of objections, degrading and insults, not just the celebration of films. Time for fanfights. It is in between that he comes in with his first film. Even though it was a small film without the label of Mammootty’s Makan, it was in the middle of the fan fight that he entered.
A man who walked innocently into kooky calls with an innocent smile, who waved without anger at those who tried to insult him, took lessons in acting and came with the same smile to those who judged that he would struggle to make it here, he made his mark in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Bollywood. In eleven years he, Dulquer Salmaan became Malayalam’s biggest brand.
Mammootty’s son, that label is not so small, the list of roles Mammootty has done over the decades and the awards he has won for his performances mark Malayalam cinema. Malayalees have seen so many frames on screen where Mammootty has made him cry, made him happy, hurt him and scared him with his voice and eyes. That’s where Dulquer comes in, leaving room for comparisons with a benchmark that no one can match. Although that debut was in a non-conventional formulaic film called Second Show, he didn’t accept the label-heavy introduction as Mammootty’s son, but he was still there.
Dulquer has said that he had considered Ritu, directed by Shyama Prasad, but did not have the guts to do it then. In 2011, there were reports that Mammootty’s son Dulquer Salmaan would be the lead in the Tamil film directed by Linguswamy. At that stage, Mammootty did not even hear about Dulquer’s film entry. Later in 2011, there were reports that Dulquer was playing the male lead in Anwar Rashid’s film Oru Biryani Katha. But those who expected Taraputra’s lead debut with Malayalam or Tamil superhit directors were wrong. Dulquer Salmaan stepped in front of the camera as one of them along with the new cast who joined hands for a fresh experiment. Dulquer finds that courage three years after Ritu in 2009. A new narrative adaptation of a familiar story with a new director Sreenath Rajendran as a small muscular Lalu and a new team.
Dulquer started by giving himself hundred percent to experiment in his debut film without considering the commercial potential of the film. The film hit the theaters without the tag of Mammootty’s son’s debut film. Not a huge success, but not a bad start. But Faizi in Ustad Hotel, directed by Anwar Rasheed, which came right after, brought Dulquer in front of a larger audience. Faizi got off the plane in a cool Mammootty look. Karimika and Kochumon Faizi became the audience’s favorite with the combination and work of Thilakan, one of Malayalam’s greatest actors of all time.
Everyone knows that there will be no situation where Dulquer won’t get a film, but Dulquer’s films in the early period were not comparable to Mammootty. He left no room for remakes of old films and reboots of his father’s characters, which might have reached Mammootty’s son. Dulquer later said that it was the most important decision of his career. Although the films Athwaram and ABCD came later, it was Sameer Tahir’s Neelakasam Pachakadal Rohiya Bhumi that made Dulquer a youth icon among the audience. Inspired by Motorcycle Diaries, Kasi’s trip to Nagaland to meet his girlfriend became a trend setter. A generation will surely say that the film made them want to hit the road with a backpack strapped to the back of their Royal Enfield bikes. Dulquer’s country and house, which was later discussed at least in troll form, began with Cassie’s journey for love. Cassie’s love, friendship and journey are all matured by Dulquer. Neelakasha’s Kasi is also a step forward for Dulquer as an actor from the New Boy and Urban Youth body language of his earlier films.
Like the later Pattam, Salala Mobiles and Samsaram Arogyam Hanikarav were not films that benefited the actor Dulquer, but it was in Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days that Dulquer filled the space with the character. Dulquer appeared in the film as a bike racer named Aju. A young man whose life was disrupted by the separation of his parents. The one who is isolated in the crowd. Among his cousins, Aju, who had overcome the stretch of rejection, was adventurous and willing to stand by anything. The audience accepted Dulquer as a racer full of anger and anger and as a lover who said to walk with, not to follow. Dulquer also proves through the film that he can present emotional scenes with aplomb. Then came Vikramadityan, Hundred Days of Love followed by Mani Ratnam’s Ok Kanmani, and by the time Dulquer had become a romantic icon.
Dulquer’s other career break was Charlie, directed by Martin Prakat, and Dulquer changed from the youth icon, romantic image he had until then to the flowing Charlie. Charlie was the growth of the actor in Dulquer. The movie describes Charlie as a genie. Dulquer’s acting career was the second phase of his acting career when he played that genie with aplomb. Dulquhar has perfected a character creation that is so full of fantasy and hidden a little bit of curiosity that no one else could imagine. It was Dulquer’s screen presence that made the audience want to know who Charlie was like Tessa. Charlie was also the film for which Dulquer won the State Award for Best Actor. Mammootty’s character Pallikal Narayanan from Pathemari was also competing with Dulquer when he won the first state award.
Later, Dulquer did Kammatipadam with Rajeev Ravi, Jomon’s Suvisheesh with Sathyan Anthikad, CIA with Amal Neerad and Parava with Soub. Different characters even in the films that came next to each other, it is the sixth year of his career that Dulquer is entering two languages after Tamil, in 2018 Bollywood film Karvan and Telugu film Mahanati. Gemini Ganesan in Mahanadi was a more complex role than Dulquer had in Malayalam till then. Beyond the epithet of Kathal Mannan, Dulquer has portrayed Gemini in a way that doesn’t seem like his first Telugu film, as the antagonist who is inferior and jealous of Savitri’s growth. Dulquer excelled in his Telugu debut by portraying complex emotional scenes with panache without drama. By then, Dulquer had acquired a label as a pan Indian star.
Malayalam hero Dulquer Salmaan can be described as a pan Indian star if he has not done a film in Malayalam continuously for the past five years. He brought out the actor and star in him in Tamil with Kannum Kannum Voyaadithal, in Telugu with Mahanadi and Sitaram, and in Hindi with Karwan and Chup.
Dulquer’s career was not only about making a star label by acting in a few films outside Malayalam. During this period, Dulquer became a star capable of making the biggest box office opening in Malayalam. When the theaters opened after the covid lockdown, the Dulquer film was short, which rocked the box office and filled the theatres. After Mohanlal and Mammootty, people flocked to theaters for Dulquer.
Even though he walked away, everyone tried to compare Dulquer with Mammootty from the beginning. When he brought a story to life with his voice in Cullen’s Wife, it cannot be compared to Mammootty’s vocal discipline. The Malayali audience saw Dulquer gradually resolving the criticisms of the actor. The audience can see the change in Dulquer’s performance in emotional scenes and comedy scenes along with his career.
Dulquer is not a person who is not affected by direct criticisms that came in his career, Dulquer changed the criticisms that he did not have a solo hit with Kurup. He says he has even read the abuses he personally faced, saved many of them on his phone, and revisits them often, perhaps because he remembers that he has to answer the attacks with a career. Dulquer will have a Malayalam film after a year after Kurup. Meanwhile, Dulquer’s films were Sitaram, Chup, Hey Sinamika and Salute. But still, the film that theaters are waiting for in 2023 is King of Kotta. Even when theater owners say that audiences are not coming to theaters in Malayalam, they are waiting for Dulquer to be the savior.
The reason for this expectation is the image created by Dulquer among the audience. Although there are not many films and he is not always in front of the audience, the fact that the audience and fans do not feel that Dulquer is an outsider is what makes him a crowd puller. It is not just a brand called Mammootty’s son. To this day, he remains a young man who laughs innocently amid the squeals. He has passed the time when one might say that being a fan of Mammootty, he became a fan of Dulquer. Apart from that, he has acquired his own identity which he wanted when he entered the cinema.
