10 Malayalam Celebrities Who Made A Mark In Hindi

Priyadarshan or Priyan as film lovers call him, has done a record 31 films in Hindi alone. That is a staggering number of films for a non-Hindi director. The closest any has gone is Telugu director K Raghavendra Rao, who has done 17 films in Hindi. Priyan started his Bollywood career with ‘Muskurahat’ (1992), which was a remake of his own ‘Kilukkam’ (1991) which starred Mohanlal. Though his first movie bombed, he made a strong comeback with ‘Gardish’ in 1993, starring Jackie Shroff. The film was a huge hit and started a string of Hindi movies from Priyan. Many of his films are remakes of hit Malayalam films and has turned out to be huge hits at the box office. His collaboration with Khiladi Akshay Kumar turned out to be very successful, with the duo delivering some of the most memorable comedies in Bollywood including ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Garam Masala’, ‘Bhagam Bhaag’, etc.

Regarded as one of the best actor alive in India today, Mohanlal’s filmography somewhat resembles the list of ‘Best Malayalam films’. The actor has also made a stellar presence in Bollywood too. His first movie in Hindi was the Ram Gopal Varma directed gangster classic, ‘Company’ (2002). He starred in the film as Sreenivasan IPS, Commissioner of Police, who tries to bring the mafia under control. A big star cast including Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi, Manisha Koirala and Seema Biswas was present in the film. But Mohanlal’s performance as the soft spoken police commissioner was remarkably different from the exaggerated loud and hysterical cop roles Bollywood had seen then. He starred in two more films later, ‘Aag’ and ‘Tezz’, with both of them not faring well at the box office.

Another legend, Mammootty has acted in more non-Malayalam films than Mohanlal. Most of the movies he has done in non-Malayalam languages are all well remembered ones. Be it ‘Azhagan’, ‘Kandukondein Kandukondein’ and ‘Thalapathy’ in Tamil, ‘Swathy Kiranam’ in Telugu etc. He has done three films in Bollywood – ‘Triyathri’ (1990), ‘Dhartiputra’ (1993) and ‘Sau Jhoot Ek Sach’ (2005). But he is most remembered for ‘Baba Saheb Ambedkar’ which was released in many languages including English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. Mammootty’s acting in the film was highly appreciated and bagged him the National Award for Best Actor in 1999.

Asin Thottumkal, popularly known as Asin made her debut in a Malayalam movie, ‘Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka’ (2001) directed by Sathyan Anthikad. She got her first break through a Telugu film, ‘Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi’ which even won her a Filmfare award for Best Telugu Actress. There was no looking back after the stupendous success of the Tamil revenge drama, ‘Ghajini’ (2005). She made her Bollywood debut through the remake of the same film, this time instead of Surya, the film had Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan playing the hero. The film was a huge hit, and became the first Bollywood film to collect more than Rs 1 billion. She has starred in many more successful movies in Hindi including Salman Khan’s ‘Ready’ (2011), Akshay Kumar’s ‘Housefull 2’, ‘Bol Bachchan’ and ‘Khiladi 786’.

This is a rare case, where a complete outsider comes up and rakes in the moolah with his debut film. Siddique just did that. A veteran of sort in his own industry, Siddique forayed into Bollywood by remaking his Malayalam flick ‘Bodyguard’ which starred Dileep. The Malayalam version was just an above average hit. But the Hindi version had Salman Khan and the film was made to suit his persona, resulting in a film which became the highest opening day grosser as well as the biggest grosser ever for a single day. The total worldwide gross of ‘Bodyguard’ comes up to Rs 2.3 Billion!

Making his debut in Bollywood opposite Rani Mukherji in ‘Aiyya’ (2012), Prithviraj Sukumaran has been described by as one of the few south Indian actors with pan-Indian appeal. Starting his career as a solo hero in 2002 at the age of 19, he has a very popular face in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. His second film in Hindi was ‘Aurangzeb’ which was released in 2013. The film as well as his performance was highly praised.

He is regarded as one of the top cinematographers in India today. He is the first cinematographer in the Asia Pacific region to be awarded the prestigious American Society of Cinematography (ASC) membership. Moreover he is a director who has done eleven films till now apart from the 45 feature films he has cranked the camera for. Sivan made his Hindi film debut with ‘Halo’ in 1996. The film won the National Award for Best Children’s Film. His most remembered film in Hindi is ‘Asoka’ which was produced and starred superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Though the film bombed at the B-O, Sivan’s penchant for stunning visuals and storytelling was highly appreciated. His other film, ‘Tahaan’ was screened in film festivals around the world including, Rome, Stuttgart, Cairo, London and New York film festivals.

Most known for his comedy flicks like ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’ (2006) and ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’ (2005), Sangeeth Sivan is the brother of cinematographer Santhosh Sivan. Before entering into Bollywood, Sangeeth had made ‘Yodha’, which was a flop but considered as a cult classic today. The film was also the first film for which AR Rahman (Dilip Kumar back then) scored music. He made his Bollywood debut with ‘Zor’ starring Sunny Deol and went on to direct films like ‘Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne’ (2003), ‘Ek- Tha Power of Money’ (2006), ‘Click’ (2009) and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ (2013).

One of the top actresses of the 90’s, Revathy’s filmography in Malayalam include some of the classics like ‘Devasuram’, ‘Kattathey Kilikkodu’ and ‘Mayamayooram’. She has done thirteen films in Hindi including the recently released, ‘Margarita With A Straw’ (2015). Her most famous films in Hindi would be Priyadarsan’s ‘Muskurahat’ (1992), ‘Ab Tak Chhappan’ (2003) and ‘Two States’ (2014). She turned director with ‘Mitr : My Friend’ in 2004. Her most important achievement is ‘Phir Milenge’ (2004) which she directed and conveyed a very strong message. The film also had a strong cast including Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty.

Arguably, the most loved Malayalam heroine ever, Sobhana has acted in more than 200 films in several languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. She won the National Award for Best Actress twice, for her performance in ‘Manichithrathazhu’ (1993) and ‘Mitr My Friend’ (2002). She has acted in three Hindi movies till now namely, ‘Mitr My Friend’ (2002), ‘Apna Aasmaan’ (2007) and the Priyadarsan comedy, ‘Mere Baap Pehle Aap’ (2008).