It is almost impossible for anyone to match Rajinikanth’s charisma on screen, especially since the 1990s, when he became the sole nucleus of his movies. In Thalapathi (1991), director Mani Ratnam also brings out the exceptional actor in him. So, it’s a double whammy for his co-actors. Yet, Mammootty holds his own against Rajinikanth at every turn, delivering a phenomenal portrayal.

Devaraj might not rank among Mammootty’s greatest performances of all time, simply because he has delivered even better ones. However, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that, despite having ‘Aura’kanth (a popular internet portmanteau of aura and Rajinikanth) in his element right next to him, Mammootty sets the screen ablaze with his precise, understated, and subtle performance, further elevated by a raspy voice modulation, slightly reminiscent of Marlon Brando’s in The Godfather (1972) and Amitabh Bachchan’s in Agneepath (1990).

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The way Mammootty channels his character’s emotions, cleverly choosing his moments to go from explicit to minimalist, underscores his mastery of the craft.

Surya as the key to Devaraj’s humanity

In his initial scenes in Thalapathi, Devaraj (Mammootty) wears an eerily guarded demeanour. He’s inscrutable, if not for the content of the words he speaks. His low-register delivery only adds to his sinisterness, giving the feeling that everyone and everything around him falls silent the moment he starts talking. The first time we see him truly smile is when he’s in front of his wife, Selvi (Geetha), introducing her to his new best friend, Surya (Rajinikanth).

From that moment on, whenever Devaraj is with Surya or talking for his best friend — like the scene where they go to Subbulakshmi’s (Shobana) house to meet her father (Charuhasan) and request that he marry her off to Surya — he becomes expressive. Whenever he is with Surya, Devaraj shows his happiness, sadness, anger, regret, and remorse in an unfiltered manner. It’s as if he isn’t scared to be expressive in front of his best friend, like he is in front of his wife. It’s as if Surya brings out the human in Devaraj.

Thalapathi is a retelling of Karna’s story from the Mahabharata, with a special focus on his camaraderie with Duryodhana. (Credit: IMDb)

But there is one more scene when that eerily guarded demeanour fills Devaraj’s face yet again. Towards the end, when Surya tells him not to make harsh decisions and to roll back his order to kill Collector Arjun (Arvind Swamy), we see Devaraj’s sinisterness once again. That moment makes one feel that when the police emotionally and physically thrashed him in the preceding scenes, they unknowingly unleashed the monster chained within Devaraj.

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When Surya resists his demand to murder Arjun, Devaraj talks to him with the same inscrutable face — which the former had seen only once before, during their first meeting, when they were still foes — and accuses him of being lenient towards the collector, which he assumes is because Arjun is married to Subbulakshmi. As Surya shouts at him for questioning the honesty of his friendship, Devaraj looks at him with dead eyes.

Here, Rajinikanth gets the explosive lines and the space to go loud with his performance. But Mammootty matches it with just his commanding and riveting glance, along with a few terse dialogues.

A quiet assertion of authority: The ‘Mudiyaath’ moment

On paper, Devaraj is formidable, authoritative, and punchy, but he doesn’t have as much aura or swagger as Surya. But it’s there on screen. That’s, to a great extent, Mammootty’s contribution. The actor’s brilliance is that he doesn’t reduce the character to monotony. He explores its length and breadth well, which is why Thalapathi is remembered for his portrayal as well.

The best way to understand the depth and sharpness of his depiction is an analysis of the way he sends chills down everyone’s spine and asserts his authority with a simple “Mudiyaath (No)” to Collector Arjun during a meeting, which the latter convened to direct Devaraj and Surya to stop their gangster activities.

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Devaraj and Duryodhana: Reinterpreting the grey

A retelling of Karna’s story from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, with a special focus on his camaraderie with Duryodhana, Thalapathi argues that villainy is subjective and depends on the perspective from which one views a person, a situation or an action.

From Surya’s (Karna) point of view, his mother Kalyani (Kunti), played by Srividya, is in the wrong for abandoning him as a newborn; however, from her perspective, she had no other option as she was a minor.

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Surya and Devaraj (Duryodhana) believe they are serving the people, even if that means taking the law into their own hands. In contrast, Arjun (Arjuna) sees them as criminals. Surya and Devaraj argue that this is because Arjun, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, does not understand the helplessness of unprivileged people and how the system ignores their suffering. However, as a righteous bureaucrat, Arjun believes that anyone who commits a crime is a criminal.

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Despite being in love with Surya, Subbulakshmi (Draupadi) eventually marries Arjun. Surya believes this is because of his social status and the fact that he is an orphan and an outlaw, but she is powerless against her father’s wishes.

Given the movie’s emphasis on relativism, the performances needed to be layered and multifaceted. Mammootty’s depiction of Devaraj/Duryodhana — portrayed here almost like a misunderstood king — is arguably the most attuned to the intricacies of Thalapathi’s narrative.

The beauty of the unsaid

The movie features several moments when Mammootty subtly yet magnificently adds weight and detail to the character through his gestures. For instance, there’s a scene where Devaraj introduces Surya to the newborn daughter of Ramana, a man Surya killed recently. Realising who she is, Surya stands there numb, staring at the little one’s mother, Padma (Bhanupriya), with guilt.

Meanwhile, Devaraj tells the child she can ask Surya anything and that he will always be there for her. As the child starts crying, Devaraj takes her back from Surya’s hands and heads towards Padma, before subtly looking at Surya to read his face. This glance not only establishes Devaraj’s compassion towards Surya and his plan for the child’s future, but also reiterates that he’s the absolute kingmaker, deciding everyone’s fate.

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Mammootty and Rajinikanth in director Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathi.

But it’s not just such nuanced portrayals that Mammootty excels at; he also delivers the expressive moments brilliantly well. Be it the scene when Devaraj comes to meet Surya at his home — after learning that Surya refused to jump ship to the rival side despite a lucrative offer — and tears up like an abandoned little boy who has just felt the warmth of a loving hug for the first time, or the scene when he angrily pleads with Charuhasan’s character to marry Subbulakshmi to Surya, or the one towards the end when he realises that Surya still chose to stand by his side despite learning that Arjun is his brother, Mammootty masterfully adds significant depth to Devaraj.

The Mammootty-Rajinikanth chemistry

The impeccable on-screen chemistry Mammootty shares with Rajinikanth, most evident in the meeting scene at the Collector’s residence, where they communicate through silences and between the lines — as though they are one body and one soul — also contributes to Thalapathi’s brilliance.

And who can forget them dancing together like two cute little boys in the iconic “Kaattukuyilu” song, composed by the maestro Ilaiyaraaja?

While Mani Ratnam has managed to flesh out most characters in Thalapathi well — something missing in many of his earlier scripts — the way Devaraj’s character arc is crafted, even with Surya himself having a proper one, deserves extra commendation.

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The first time we see Devaraj, he is ruthless and will do anything to ensure that people fear him. But towards the end, he becomes the human he dreamt of after becoming friends with Surya. When Surya admits that Arjun is his brother and Kalyani is their mother, Devaraj tears up and pleads with Surya to share his family with him, underscoring how lonely he had been till then.

At 75, Mammootty still amazes us with his phenomenal performances, with the most recent one being his National Award-winning one in Bramayugam (2024), but there’s no denying it didn’t start today or recently. Like the 35-year-old Thalapathi, he has owned the screen and our hearts many times.

Cinema cannot exist in a vacuum; it’s all about the discussions that follow. In the Cinema Anatomy column, we delve into the diverse layers and dimensions of films, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourses.