Mammootty to Allu Aravind on his villain role offer; 'Can you ask the same to Chiranjeevi?'

Malayalam superstar Mammootty was once offered a villain role by noted Tollywood producer Allu Aravind, but he shut the latter up, by asking whether he could ask the same to megastar Chiranjeevi.

Mammootty will be next seen in his upcoming movie Mamangam, which is set for release on December 12. The Malayalam film is also dubbed and released simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Allu Aravind is releasing its Telugu version across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Its Telugu trailer was premiered on the YouTube Channel of Lahari Music on November 8 and it has got 571,546 views so far.

Allu Aravind recalls conversation with Mammootty

Having proved his mettle, Mammootty forayed into Telugu film industry with director K Vishwanath's 1992 musical drama Swati Kiranam. Later he starred in Tollywood flicks like Surya Putrulu (1996), Railway Coolie (1998) and Yatra (2019). During the trailer launch of Mamangam, Allu Aravind recalled his 10-year-old conversation Mammootty. He said that he was spellbound by Mammootty's acting in his debut film.

"When the Telugu film Swati Kiranam was happening, I heard that K Viswanath was roping in a Malayalam actor called Mammootty as the lead actor. I was slightly skeptical about the film doing well and wondered why Viswanath chose Mammootty as the lead. But once I saw the film, I was spellbound by Mammootty's acting and couldn't even get up from my chair," Deccan Chronicle quoted Aravind as saying.

Adding that he didn't know much about the actor then, he went on, "Soon, I met him and got to know him. And around then, I called him, saying that I had a great role for him, and it was for a villain's character. He simply replied, 'Can you ask the same to Chiranjeevi?' and I put my phone down."

Mamangam is one of the biggest budget movies of Mammootty's career and the superstar all excited about its release. Talking about its story, he said, "The story reveals around love, betrayal and revenge, and connects to every part of India, not only Kerala. We have erected big sets to bring back the feel of the sixteenth century, which is when the story took place."