Mohanlal bounces back

superstar Mohanlal was going through a rough patch sometime back. Veteran actor Thilakan was on a crusade against Mammootty and him and accused them of scuttling his film career. A smear campaign unleashed against Mohanlal, the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movies Artistes (AMMA), by Thilakan even got the support of Sukumar Azhikode, well-known writer and orator. However now, the campaign against the star has died down and Mohanlal has emerged a winner. The tide has changed for the actor as a university in Kerala is set to confer a honorary doctorate on him tomorrow. Mohanlal will be given a D Litt, for his contributions to Indian cinema. Thats not all; the star, who was given the honorary title of Lieutenant Colonel in a special ceremony at the office of the Ministry of Defense last year, will start his army training towards the end of the month. Mohanlal, speaking on the sets of his new film titled Oru Naal Varum (A Day Will Come), said, �I�m honoured to be conferred a doctorate. Cinema has given me everything in life and I will continue acting till the end. This movie, written by noted writer, director and actor Sreenivasan and directed by TK Rajiv Kumar, also marks the coming together of the successful combination of Mohanlal and Sreenivasan. In the movie, Sreenivasan plays a corrupt Town Planning Officer, who tries to demolish a house built by Mohanlal. Sameera Reddy plays Mohanlal�s wife, an IT professional. About being cast as one of Priyanka Chopra�s seven husbands in Vishal Bhardwaj�s next film Saath Khoon Maaf (which is said to be based on Ruskin Bond�s Susanna�s Seven Husbands), Mohanlal said, �I would have loved to do the film. Vishal came down to Kochi and narrated the story to me and I was hooked. But after that, he didn�t get back to me to discuss the dates or sign me up. Now it�s too late, as I have other commitments. Mohanlal is also excited about his forthcoming Kandahar which is to be directed by Major Ravi and produced by the actor himself along with a Mumbai-based corporate. It is based on the hijacking of the flight IC-814 in 1999 by five Pakistani militants who forced it to land in Kandahar with 186 hostages on board. Amitabh Bachchan has an important part as the father of one of the passengers while Mohanlal role will be that of a commando involved in the rescue act. Said Mohanlal, �Kandahar will be an action-adventure film. We have to get permission from the army and home ministry to shoot in different locations; we will start the shoot in a few months.� On doubts being raised about Suriya doing the film, Mohanlal said, �Suriya had agreed to do the film initially but later, called and said he had reservations as Prakash Raj was said to be making a film with a similar storyline. I assured him that both the films were different, but if he was still not convinced, he didn�t have to do it