No 20 Madras Mail: When Mohanlal and Mammootty made us believe they would take a bullet for each other

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Although the movie isn’t extraordinary, it stands as a testament to both actors’ individual and combined capabilities, as well as how far a movie can soar if the cast and crew share a solid bond. The high rewatch value of No 20 Madras Mail isn’t just due to Mohanlal and Mammootty, but also to Joshiy’s master craftsmanship, Dennis’ remarkable screenwriting, Jayanan Vincent’s impeccable cinematography, Ouseppachan’s hit songs, SP Venkatesh’s impressive background score, the other cast members’ exceptional acting talent, and, above all, the rapport they all share.

No 20 Madras Mail

With the aim of watching a cricket match live in Madras (now Chennai), Tony Kurishingal and his two friends — local politician Kumbalam Hari (Jagadish) and detective novelist “Hitchcock” Kanjikkuzhi (Maniyanpilla Raju) — board the No 20 Madras Mail (now known as the Thiruvananthapuram–Chennai Superfast Mail). On board, they come across a young woman, Devi (Suchitra), who is travelling to Madras with her parents, Geetha (Jayabharathi) and RK Nair (MG Soman). Ever since then, a drunk Tony has been disturbing the family, constantly trying to woo Devi and harassing her.

Superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal during the 2023 Keraleeyam event in Thiruvananthapuram. (Credit: Instagram/@mohanlal)

On the way, film actor Mammootty (the actor playing a fictionalised version of himself here) boards the train, and Tony starts pestering him from that point on. However, Mammootty finds him adorable and tolerates him and his friends. But they are all left shocked upon reaching Madras when they discover Devi’s body in the washroom. As all fingers point to Tony and his friends, they flee the scene. The remainder of No 20 Madras Mail follows their efforts to prove their innocence and find the culprit.

Mohanlal in his element

The character of Tony Kurishingal, a spoiled young brat who lives by the philosophy of “celebrate every moment to the fullest (with liquor),” appears tailor-made for Mohanlal even now. While he comes across as annoying, prying, and irreverent to others, those who love him find Tony’s antics cute. Only an actor capable of making even Tony’s most irksome behaviours seem endearing could pull it off. And, even today, there’s no one quite like Mohanlal who can achieve that effortlessly.

Hailing from an affluent family, Tony mostly spends his time with Hari and Kanjikkuzhi, living a carefree life. The main reason he has nested between them is that he belongs to a dysfunctional family in which his stepmother loathes him. Once the movie reveals this, we feel extra sympathy and affection for Tony, realising that all his shenanigans are to conceal his scarred self.

Since Mohanlal can ace layered performances and ensure that the emotions his characters experience hit the audience square in the chest with minimalist acting, Tony is a cakewalk for him. From Tony’s naughtiness and playfulness to his emotional, tense, and recalibrating moments, the actor nails it in No 20 Madras Mail.

What adds to the brilliance of the performance is his mind-blowing ability to act drunk on screen. Without sticking to a single metre throughout the first half, mapping his journey from Kottayam to Madras, Mohanlal pays proper attention to Tony’s buzz level at different junctures and switches accordingly. When he leaves the bar for the railway station at the start, Tony is heavily blitzed. But by the time he arrives at the railway station, he has slightly sobered up. As soon as Tony and his friends enter the train, they start drinking again, and Mohanlal increases the drunkenness and decibel level in his performance accordingly.

Mammootty: The Vallyettan

On the other hand, Mammootty maintains restraint throughout the movie. Although he enjoys Tony’s high spirits and smiles with joy at all his naughtiness, he doesn’t let go of his big brother persona and even looks out for the gang after a certain point. From his body language and responses, it’s clear that he, too, once celebrated life the same way but has since matured and would rather lie back and see kids having fun now.

Mammootty knows Tony is jealous of no longer being everyone’s centre of attention. He knows Tony’s ego is slightly hurt when all others start talking only about him after he enters the train. Hence, he gives Tony the attention he yearns for, and here a brotherly bond between Mohanlal and Mammootty becomes all the more evident through their interactions. When Tony asks to touch Mammootty and then kisses his cheek, Mammootty smiles warmly, almost as if Tony were his younger brother he once raised.

Mohanlal and Mammootty in director Fazil’s Harikrishnans. (Credit: IMDb)

When RK Nair finally loses his cool and lashes out at Tony, it’s Mammootty who steps in to diffuse the situation, reminding the former, “Weren’t we too once their age?” After Tony and his friends become embroiled in the Devi murder case, Mammootty goes above and beyond to help them prove their innocence, even though he knows his involvement could affect his public image.

Towards the end, Mammootty even embraces his Vallyettan persona for Tony and his friends and negotiates with the actual murderer, without even considering his own safety. In the climax, he also lets go of his calm, composed demeanour, embraces his braveheart self, and even gets into a physical altercation with the villain and his gang for his little brother.

Thus, writer Dennis and director Joshiy utilised not just aspects of Mohanlal and Mammootty’s public personas but also amplified certain facets of their actual selves, thereby authentically fictionalising the real. The ‘cute’ Mohanlal and ‘caring’ Mammootty gelled so well on screen that it almost made one feel they would even take a bullet for each other in real life.

Mohanlal recommended Mammootty for No 20 Madras Mail

Although No 20 Madras Mail became a massive success, Dennis Joseph completed its script under immense pressure. Firstly, he was fixed as the writer just one day before Joshiy and the team had to commence filming, as the project the director had planned for this period had to be postponed for various reasons. Furthermore, Dennis had to write the scenes set in Chennai first, which begin only towards the middle of the movie, and complete writing the second half before moving to the former.

Interestingly, Dennis and Joshiy’s initial idea was to cast a smaller star like Jagathy Sreekumar as the celebrity who helped Tony and his friends, since it was just a cameo role and the narrative was clearly headlined by Mohanlal’s character. But as the scripting progressed, Mohanlal suggested to Dennis that they consider Mammootty for the role. Although impressed by the idea, Dennis felt it would be too much to ask Mammootty, an equally strong superstar in Malayalam cinema as Mohanlal, to play an extended cameo in the latter’s movie. While Joshiy also liked the idea of casting Mammootty, he too felt it would be a big ask, Dennis revealed during an appearance on Safari TV’s “Charithram Enniloode” programme.

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Nonetheless, Dennis gathered courage and approached Mammootty, who agreed immediately, much to everyone’s surprise. Not only that, but the megastar also provided them with immediate dates so that the movie’s production, already underway, wouldn’t be affected.

Dennis Joseph’s No 20 Madras Mail connection

However, this doubled Dennis’ struggles as a writer, as he had to ensure proper weightage for Mammootty’s role as well. What helped him in the process was his experience travelling on the Madras Mail umpteen times over the years.

During that era, most film professionals used the Madras Mail for their frequent commutes to Chennai, which was the unofficial capital of South Indian cinema. Hence, Dennis had many anecdotes he could include in the script, and even a tipsy Tony’s constant, hilarious query to Mammootty — “Am I being a disturbance to you?” — had actually happened to the writer once during a journey on the same train.

How the film caused a fallout between Joshiy and Dennis Joseph

Dennis got the idea for the story from his friend Harikumar, who is credited in the movie’s opening. No 20 Madras Mail marked his reunion with Joshiy after several notable collaborations, including Nirakkoottu, Aayiram Kannukal, Shyama, Nyayavidhi, New Delhi, Thanthram, Sangham, and Nair Saab, among others.

However, during its production, they had a professional fallout after the director allegedly had other writers make changes to the second half of Dennis’s script for No 20 Madras Mail without informing him. This pained Dennis greatly. Although they maintained a strong personal bond until Dennis’ demise in 2021 and collaborated again on the Suresh Gopi-starrer Bhoopathi (1997), the professional rapport they once had disappeared forever.

Nevertheless, No. 20 Madras Mail remains one of their most iconic collaborations, as it does for Mohanlal and Mammootty. Now that the two superstars are gearing up to share the screen in Mahesh Narayanan’s Patriot — marking their on-screen reunion in lead roles after 17 years since Twenty:20 (2008) — will we see the magic that transpired in No 20 Madras Mail once again? We will have to wait until May 1, 2026, to find out.

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