Kerala's Superstar Mohanlal might be earning plaudits as an actor par excellence and his performance on stage as karna might have thrilled the critics but his box office ratings have dropped miserably and hit the lowest with Kaakkakuyil's flop.

The superstar reached the pinnacle with Narasimham, which broke all box office records last year. The movie, which was out and out action stuff, with the hero in a role, which would have suited more to Rajanikanth, was a major success.

The success of Narasimham proved to be a curse in disguise, for him. After seeing Lal in such a big action movie, audience could not accept his films that followed, in which he was seen in soft and sober roles. So, after Narasimham, Lal did not have any hit to his credit and gave a series of flops.

The first in the series was Fazil's Life is beautiful, which had Lal in the role of a married man and the movie had no dishum dishum... scenes. The audience, which had seen Lal as a toughie in Narasimham, could not take him as a soft guy in Life Is Beautiful. So, the movie bombed at the box office.

Next came I V Sasi's Sraddha, though being an action film, it still bombed because it could not rise to the audience's expectations.Then came Devadoothan of Sibi, in which Lal was a music composer. For the first time a Mohanlal film stopped its run in the first week itself. A miserable flop, indeed! The producer had to sell his theatre and his house.

Now its Kaakkakuyil directed by Priyadarshan, backed by Sargachitra Appachan, the man with Midas touch. The team of Priyadarshan -Mohan Lal has always done wonders but this time their magic also did not work. Kaakkakuyil has unfortunately been termed as a super flop by the trade. The grapevine says that the producer is pumping in money to keep the film going but the word is got out that Lal 's box office is in a bad shape. He desperately needs a hit to regain his box office position.

So, now he is looking forward to his forthcoming action movies, which are expected to place him back in his box office position. His forthcoming movies include Praja, a political thriller with masala, directed by Joshi. And then you have Ravanprabhu directed by scriptwriter Renjith, in which Mohan Lal is a rowdy.

Kamal, who was ready with a subject of Lohitadas with Lal as a lorry driver and with no fights, is now rewriting the subject to make it into an action-oriented stuff. Thampi Kannathanam, who made potboilers with Lal, is doing Utthaman, which is nothing but a film to boost the heroism.Will all these films save the Star's sinking career? Let's see!