Lal (actor)

M. P. Michael (born 2 December 1958), better known by his stage name Lal, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, producer and distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam and Tamil films and in a few Telugu films. Lal has won several awards, including a National Film Award – Special Mention for acting (2012), two Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2008, 2013), and a Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam (2008). He is the owner of Lal Media Arts, a post-production studio.

Early life
Lal was born as Michael to the late M. A. Paul and late Philomina, as their eldest son. He received his schooling at St. Augustine's High School, Ernakulam. His brother Alex Paul is a music composer in the Malayalam film industry and his son Jean is a movie director in the same industry. Lal's younger sister Neena's son Balu Varghese is an actor in the Malayalam film industry.

Career
He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, along with his childhood friend Siddique, who would later team up as Siddique-Lal to make many films. Lal and Siddique began their film career working as assistant directors to Fazil in Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu.

Siddique-Lal production had never been dependent on star value or superstar formula that was witnessed in those days in Malayalam cinema. They had always opted out from casting Mohanlal or Mammootty. Ultimately, both of them had changed their thoughts later and when their fourth production film was to get launched, Siddique-Lal had opted for Mohanlal and made Vietnam Colony (1992) which did wonders in the box office too. The duo again had combined in their fifth production and made Kabooliwala (1994), which was also a success.

After that, both decided to part ways as a director pair and Lal turned producer with the Siddique-directed Mammootty-starrer Hitler. Lal debuted in acting with a villain role as Paniyan in Suresh Gopi-starrer Kaliyattam, directed by Jayaraj. Kaliyattam was a new take on Othello, where Lal played Paniyan, the character standing for Iago. He runs a film post-production company named as Lal Media Arts, Kochi. The year 2009 saw his comeback again as a director. He directed the sequel to In Harihar Nagar named 2 Harihar Nagar, which got released and was declared a hit. For his performance in the 2012 film Ozhimuri, he won the National Film Award – Special Mention. He was won of Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor in Thalappavu (2008), Ayaal (2013) and Zachariayude Garbhinikal (2013). He later directed films like King Liar (2016), Honey Bee 2.5 (2017) and Tsunami (2021).

Lal, who also plays an important role in Sulthan (2021) and also heaped praise on Mari Selvaraj for Karnan (2021). Despite being given the most uni-dimensional character in the story Taanakkaran (2022), the actor effortlessly carries the role and leaves arguably more impact than in his previous outing. He roped in to play the role of a warrior in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023).

He starred in the Malayalam web series Kerala Crime Files (2023) as Inspector which was released on Disney + Hotstar.

Personal life
Lal is married to Nancy and they have two children— a son Jean Paul Lal and a daughter Monica Lal. Jean Paul is a film director.

Other crew credits

 * 1987: Manivathoorile Aayiram Sivarathrikal – Script supervisor and assistant director (as Siddique–Lal)