Mohanlal starred in Iruvar (1997) — Mani Ratnam's most structurally ambitious film, a dual biography tracing the intertwined lives of two men modelled on M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi. Mohanlal played the screen idol turned politician with a physical magnetism that the role demanded and an emotional vulnerability that gave it depth. It is one of Mohanlal's most celebrated performances outside Malayalam cinema, and the film remains a landmark in Mani Ratnam's career — the moment his ambition as a storyteller expanded from the personal to the political-historical.
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