This is where the genre evolved. Mohanlal didn't just do masala; he subverted it. In (1986), he played a gangster who wore white shirts and smoked cigarettes with a style that defined an era. In Aaram Thampuran (1997), he turned the masala hero into a feudal god. These films had the standard revenge plots, but the acting was so charismatic that the clichés became classics.