To gauge the histrionic talent of Rajanikanth or Chiranjeevi, the two superstars of south India, don't see their latest movies. They only show them as super human beings capable of impossible feats. Instead, watch one of their old movies if you get to see them in a re-run at a theatre or on television. The actors in them died long ago when they became superstars, for their fans do not tolerate it if they are shown as any ordinary human being like you or me.

Today, following the success of Narasimham, industry veterans in Kerala fear the same fate for Mohanlal. The stupendous success of the film, which is getting good box office reports even months after its release, has Mohanlal in the role of a rich rowdy zamindar. His dialogue monay Dinesha has become the common opening lines for Keralites. The film's stupendous success may, however, typecast Mohanlal and he might have to come up with similar roles in film after film to satisfy his fans.

Any film attempting to digress from the larger than life image of the star has not met a favourable fate. Fazil's Life Is Beautiful, which cast Mohanlal as a married professor, bombed, thus proving the point.

And though the success of Narasimham may have failed to save the actor in Mohanlal from dying, it has given directors who depend on the hero's charisma to do the trick a new lease of life. No longer need they be jittery about small budget films, which have clicked on the strength of their subject and not the artistes.

Will Mohanlal get to do films with good subjects and show his mettle as an actor or will he remain the superstar who does humanly impossible things on screen and be a demigod? Like Rajanikanth who can fit into the superman roles or Kamal Hassan who has to come up with something new every time to click at the box office, will Mohanlal too be another superstar and not the sensitive actor that he is? Only future will tell. But perhaps, professionally, for Mohanlal all may not be lost yet. A film that is raising hopes of extricating him out of the Narasimham mould is a Priyadarshan film. Once again, Mohanlal's driver produces the film. The proposed project is an out-and-out fun film with many comedians in it. Hope the actor wins over the superstar.