When Mohanlal jumped from sixth floor without stunt double for a villain role: ‘He also performed a mid-air somersault before landing'

Indian Express

04-05-2025

With the release of director Tharun Moorthy's Thudarum, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's physical agility has once again become the hot topic, with many heaping praise on him for acing difficult stunts with precision. While a younger Mohanlal frequently received and took on roles that allowed him to push the boundaries of his flexibility, such opportunities have been rare in his recent films, leading many to assume that age has diminished his ability to perform complex moves. Nonetheless, the 64-year-old actor has emphatically proven that age is just a number with Thudarum, particularly with the shot featuring him jumping through a picture window and breaking its glass, underscoring that he is still capable of pulling off the unimaginable.
Regardless, this is not the first time he has courageously done such risky action sequences. In fact, actor Shankar once shared a story about how Mohanlal fearlessly jumped off the top of a six-storey building without using a stunt double for a scene in one of their earlier films. 'In cinematographer-turned-director J Williams' Hello Madras Girl (1983), Mohanlal was the villain and I was the hero. There is an action scene involving me and Mohanlal where our fight leads us to the top of a building,' Shankar said during a chat with Silly Monks Mollywood.
He added, 'As we were fighting, Williams asked us to stop. He told us to jump from the top of the six-storey building. I objected to this, but the director insisted and told us that all security arrangements had been made. Despite everything I heard, I started to feel scared because I had never done it before. But then Mohanlal agreed to jump. That's when I also said ok. Not only did Mohanlal jump, but he also performed a mid-air somersault before landing. I just leapt straight across. From that, one can understand his dedication towards cinema.'
Both Mohanlal and Shankar made their on-screen debuts together in director Fazil's romantic tragedy Manjil Virinja Pookkal (1980), with the former playing the main antagonist in the movie headlined by the latter and Poornima Bhagyaraj. Interestingly, they appeared in as many as 30 films together. Their last on-screen collaboration was in Rosshan Andrrews' Casanovva (2012).