The greatest actor you’ve missed?

Whatrsquos it about Kerala Indiarsquos most educated state and seemingly the most genteel that even as you watch Christo Tomyrsquos documentary Curry amp Cyanide on Netflix about a Malayali wife Jolly Joseph whorsquos killed off six people including an infantmdashas the film progresses yoursquore drawn to how warm gentle and matronly she looks halfhoping that whatever you are witnessing is fake news and you can offer her a hug insteadCurry amp Cyanide is of course a journalistic account But even for fiction indisputably the most commercially successful crime drama in the history of Indian cinema if you include its Hindi versions are the two parts of Jeethu Josephrsquos Drishyam Vision 2013 rsquo21With Mohanlal playing the accidental murderer in it no thatrsquos not the spoiler only the starting pointmdashsomehow the thriller starts to feel uncannily genialThere is no insecure grotesquery for darkly effect At least I caught the sequel like a Sundaywatch best served over spiced buttermilk and banana chipsThe Malayalam actor in the thrillers Nayattu and JosephIf Irsquod emerged from a rock and hit upon Mohanlal on the screen God knows I wouldnrsquot view him instantly as the lock stock openingintervalblock hero Only to burn through his filmography over time to figure why Malayalis consider him the GOATHow do you discover actors On screen how elsemdashitrsquos much harder for those behind the camera to secure equal namefame among Joe public How did I belatedly discover Joju George 46 built a bit like the presentday Mohanlal only biggermdashpractically filling up the screen with the girth to match his instinctive natural confidencepresenceIt was in a Malayalam film Iratta Twin 2023 sometime in the middle of the year while zapping on Netflix as usual to click on something recommendedmdashby a friend not algorithmmdashbefore slipping into sleepMaybe because my eyes were halfopen through the intro minutes of Iratta I actually picked up the phone to google if I wasnrsquot seeing in twos And that they were both the same lead actor George in a double role Of courseItrsquos not like either lead character has prosthetics or much makeup on let alone with VFX at play They even wear the same costume ie the police uniform Both twin brothers are cops Pramod Vinod who couldnrsquot be more diametrically different from each otherVinod is pure vile Hersquos found dead Pramod is emotionally sensitive Among others hersquos the prime suspect in the alleged murder The scene of crime is the police station itselfWhat follows is as much a stellar murder mystery as a flawless masterclass in acting by George Easily the yearrsquos least celebrated finest performanceTherersquos another aspect about discovering actors isnrsquot it You could dig into their other works placing sufficient faith in their filmic choicesAnd sometimes land on a goldmine if itrsquos in a language not your ownmdashwitnessing almost a cinema movement that you become its passionate advocateSuch is how the current lsquoMalayalam Springrsquo in movies came to be Its fine face being the star Fahadh Faasil Super Deluxe Kumbalangi Nights Take Off Trance C U Soon Joji Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyumhellip You look forward to their forthcoming releases Directors can hardly be as productive Somehow I didnrsquot remember George as the IAS officer from Mahesh Narayananrsquos splendid underworld saga Malik Prime Video 2021 The film was understandably focused on Faasil aloneBut produceractor George in and as M Padmakumarrsquos Joseph Prime Video 2018mdashIrsquom guessing the first time he played the cop although retiredmdashsucks you in totally with a dead bearded face and a movie that seamlessly alternates genres over hard rumLikewise George as the cop on the run in the terrific thriller Martin Prakkatrsquos Nayattu The Hunt 2021 on Netflix is a direct precursor to Rohit M G Krishnanrsquos Iratta 2023In the sense of delving deep into the inner workings of a police station and its office politics Together you could watch Iratta as the culmination of Georgersquos consummate cop trilogy of sortsIn a conventional world George would get deemed an arthouse actormdashsomething that Malayalam cinema has a strong history of Only his film so finely balances craft character and story There are no overlong ruminations The messaging is sharply clear Both the politics and aesthetics are in placeI once asked superstar Shah Rukh Khan how he defined ldquodarkartsy stuffrdquo since he mentioned he wasnrsquot drawn to them as an actor He said with a smile ldquoWhen the buzzing sound of the fly is louder than the music dialogue delivery is extensively slow and you can hear all the honking and trafficrdquoAn old way to distinguish is if you canrsquot predict the storyline In most regular lsquocommercial cinemarsquo regardless of genre you can What unites Georgersquos cop trilogy likewise the ongoing Malayalam Spring ismdashyou simply canrsquot tell and therefore wonder throughout what happens next in the filmAs with the superhit Drishyam 2 I did not see the end of Iratta coming from any direction The sheer level of Irattarsquos plotting supersedes anything I saw in 2023 thoughGeorge ensures you connect with his roles and ride along He can only be as great as the film Was Iratta the best Indian movie I discovered this year Hell yeahMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper