As Mammootty turned 75 on September 7, many of us wrote heartfelt odes praising his skill as an actor and his willingness to take on unconventional roles, unburdened by superstardom’s norms. Over a career spanning about five decades, he has enthralled audiences time and again, positioning himself as one of Indian cinema’s finest actors.But just like any other phenomenal talent, Mammootty has also been a part of dreadful movies and delivered inept performances. While discussing Sonu Sisupal’s Vamanapuram Bus Route (2004) last week, I described the Mohanlal-starrer as one of the worst Malayalam films of the 2000s. However, that was such a weird period for Malayalam cinema that nadirs were common, and far too many contenders vied for the title of the decade’s absolute worst movie.Must Read | Aasha movie review: Urvashi, Joju George anchor a flawed yet compelling drama-thrillerPramod Pappan’s ‘impact’ on Malayalam cinemaChest number 2 in the tournament is director duo Pramod Pappan’s “masterpiece,” Thaskaraveeran (The Great Robber), featuring Mammootty and Nayanthara in the lead roles.The movie revolves around Arakkalam Kochu Baby (Mammootty), an infamous robber in Mumbai, who returns to his native village in Kerala decades after running away. While his primary aim is to save his elderly parents from debt, Baby is also determined to take revenge on Malayil Eapen (Innocent), who murdered his grandfather, Arakkalam Peeli (Madhu), years ago. Amid all this, he falls in love with Thankamani (Nayanthara). As he makes plans to bring down Eapen’s empire, the latter gears up to fight back.It’s doubtful any other Malayalam filmmaker’s repertoire boasts as many abominations as Pramod Pappan’s. Despite their directorial debut, Vajram (2004), starring Mammootty himself, being lacklustre, the duo went on to make five more movies, each progressively worse. Mammootty and Nayanthara in Thaskaraveeran. (Screenshot: YT/ChiriyoChiri; enhanced using AI)As difficult as it is to pick the best among Mammootty’s films and performances, it’s also hard to name the shoddiest Pramod Pappan movie ever, as each one is equally disastrous. But the hilarious part is that they consider themselves trailblazers who introduced novel technologies to Malayalam cinema.Story continues below this adAfter rocking theatre audiences to sleep with Vajram, Pramod Pappan returned with Thaskaraveeran the very next year. In the movie, much like Peeli, Kochu Baby is portrayed as a master in creating masks of people’s faces. He uses these masks to impersonate others and rob them. Pramod Pappan thought this was such a “eureka!” idea that they crafted an entire film around it.However, their idea was very thin. Firstly, as soon as Baby wears one of these masks, his height and body shape also somehow change to match the person he is pretending to be. The movie doesn’t explicitly state this, but we see Baby impersonating Eapen’s son Thommi (Siddique) — despite being notably bigger and taller than the latter — just by wearing the mask.Don’t Miss | Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar review: Parvathy’s thriller is held back by convenient writingHilariously, this isn’t even a sci-fi film for Pramod Pappan to justify such portrayals. It’s simply a drama-thriller, and the creators apparently thought this plot device made total sense.Story continues below this adWhy Mammootty’s Thaskaraveeran became a disasterThaskaraveeran is one of those movies where it’s glaringly evident that the filmmakers were either highly influential or wordsmiths who could easily deceive stakeholders with their story narration and launch a film featuring bigwigs. Pramod Pappan’s ineptness as directors is palpable throughout the movie.In one sequence, Peeli’s former robbery partner and Eapen’s father, Itty (Spadikam George), invites him for drinks at night. The next moment, we see Peeli, Itty, and Eapen drinking in public in broad daylight, where a fallout occurs between them. In the subsequent scene, Peeli returns home, and it’s suddenly night. The conversation among his family members reveals that Peeli left while everyone was asleep, suggesting that the earlier drinking session actually happened at night as per the script, yet Pramod Pappan filmed it during the daytime and included those visuals as is in the final cut, without adequate colour grading.Sure, maybe it’s one of those nights when the sun forgot to set.Even the characterisations are deplorable. The first time we see Malayil Eapen, the movie’s antagonist, he is walking around with a huge English grammar book. In this scene, he cracks childish jokes, accompanied by “Johnny Johnny Yes Papa” as background music. While it’s clear the makers wanted to use Innocent’s comedic prowess here, it also underscored how uncertain Pramod Pappan was about the narrative, crafting scenes based on who the actor playing the part was rather than the other way around.Story continues below this adMammootty’s getup — particularly the way his hair and moustache have been styled, which I am sure was never in vogue across humanity — is just as tragic as the movie’s dimwit dialogues, the most idiotic being, “Nee thanthakku pirannavanalla mone, thanthede thanthakku pirannavana.” Sure, it implies that Baby is more like his grandfather, smart and brave, than his father; but the line sounds so stupid and a literal translation of it means that Baby is actually his grandfather Peeli’s son.ICYMI | Mohanlal masterfully played MGR in Iruvar, then went on to look like his photocopy in a dudWritten by Dennis Joseph?!Mammootty and Nayanthara’s romantic scenes aren’t just cringeworthy but outright pukeworthy, with artificial dialogues and overacting disguised as cuteness.The most unfortunate fact is that Dennis Joseph, one of the most revered and successful screenwriters in the industry, penned Thaskaraveeran’s script and dialogues based on a story by Antony Eastman. Why, Dennis, why? Why did you do this?Story continues below this adDespite getting composer Ouseppachan to create a cute little number like “Chenthamareye Vaa,” Pramod Pappan ruined it with terrible visuals, further highlighting their abysmal directorial skills.The duo might be tech wizards, or so they claim, but why do bouts of flashing accompany the cuts at several junctures, repeatedly jolting one out of the movie?I am sure Pramod and Pappan patted each other on the back every time they came up with such ideas. If only they had someone in their lives to slap them back to reality, we wouldn’t have been subjected to more of the “Pramod Pappanic Approach.” Yes, that’s what they call their “signature.”The film also marked the debut of Ashkar Saudan, who has time and again proven that he is totally unfit for acting but still gets movies because he is Mammootty’s nephew.Story continues below this adI wouldn’t call Thaskaraveeran the worst Mammootty movie. I mean, come on, his filmography includes Love in Singapore (2009), Mayabazar (2008), Drona (2010), White (2016), and more. However, this Thaskaraveeran analysis is a tribute to Mammootty for gifting us Pramod Pappan. If not for them, who would have made our 2000s so memorable?SCREEN Exclusive | ‘Filmmaking may change in 3-4 years due to AI’: Kiran Das on turning director with UnmadhamAnyway, enough Malayalam cinema for now. Why don’t we move to Tamil? Oooo, how about that film where it looked like Rajinikanth supplied only his head for the whole movie and the rest was created using CGI? It was helmed by one of the biggest commercial directors in Tamil cinema, with whom the superstar made two massive blockbusters. But this “dam” film was so disastrous that it more or less ended the legendary helmer’s directorial career.Ugh, so long till next Monday.Memories of Blunder is a column in which we dissect some of the worst South Indian movies and performances of all time. No offence to anyone whose name surfaces here. They may all have potential, but they blew it that one time. However, don’t play the song if you can’t face the music, right?