Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has been facing plenty of flak for his comments about Mohanlal in an old conversation with TNIE's Express Dialogues section following the actor's Dadasaheb Phalke Award win. In the interview, Adoor criticised Mohanlal's depiction of some of his characters, calling them "good rowdy" and suggesting that the actor glorified those roles. "Mohanlal has a 'good rowdy' image in people's minds. I cannot do such a role. I do not believe in the 'good rowdy' concept. A rowdy is a rowdy. How can he be a good person?" the filmmaker said in response to a question about whether he never considered casting Mohanlal in a film.

The other day, actor Baiju Santhosh supported the criticism against Adoor with a response to a clip, including a portion cut from the interview, posted on social media.

The clip also contains a portion from Mohanlal's recent speech from the Kerala State Government's felicitation for him following his prestigious award win, a function that also featured Adoor as an esteemed guest. In the speech, Mohanlal thanked Adoor for "speaking about him" in many functions, a comment that the clip suggests is a way of the actor sarcastically responding to the filmmaker's criticism. Under the post, Baiju said, "Mohanlal became a superstar because he never acted in this man's films."

Many supported Baiju's view, including the person who shared the combined clip. Baiju holds Mohanlal in high regard as an actor, having starred with him in many films.

It is also worth noting that Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the first Malayali to win the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and that, after Mohanlal's recent achievement, he said he has great respect for the actor's skills.