Mega star Mammootty turns 72; social media flooded with birthday wishes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalam mega star Mammootty turned 72 on Thursday with social media being flooded with birthday wishes for their dear ''Mammookka'' as he is fondly called by everyone, from people of all walks of life including politicians, actors and others from the film industry.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wished the megastar on Facebook and social media platform X.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan also wished Mammootty on X and said that the actor was par excellence and a very fine human being.

''He is an actor par excellence, a very fine human being and the pride of Indian cinema. Birthday greetings to@mammukka #HBDMammootty,'' Satheesan said.

Besides political leaders, actors like Suraj Venjaramoodu, Unni Mukundan and Sunny Wayne also wished him Mammootty on social media.

''With The Gentle Giant. Happy Birthday Mammukka,'' Unni Mukundan said in a Facebook post accompanied by a photograph of him with the megastar.

''Wishing our Mammukka a blockbuster birthday filled with love, laughter, and joy,'' Wayne said on Facebook.

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Mammootty has acted in over 400 films in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English besides Malayalam in a career spanning over five decades. He has won three national awards, eight state and 13 film fare awards, Padma Shri and two honorary doctorate degrees, all of which prove his acting prowess and are also the reason for the massive fan following he has despite a lot of new faces in the industry.

Some of his popular movies include ''New Delhi'', ''Thaniyavarthanam'', ''Oru Vadakkan Veera Gatha'', ''Oru CBI Diary Kurippu'', ''Kutty Sranku'', ''Paleri Manikyam Oru Pathira Kolapathakam'' and so on. He has worked with critically acclaimed directors including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, K G George and T V Chandran and hit-makers like I V Sasi, Joshi, Ranjith, Anward Rasheed and so on.

His debut was the 1971 movie 'Anubhavangal Paalichakal' and his recent films include 'Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam' which won him the best actor at the 53rd Kerala State Film Awards.

Besides movies, the actor also does several charity initiatives through his organisation ''Care and Share International Foundation.''

But a source close to him who has known the actor for several decades, said that in the post-COVID era, Mammootty is one of the the most likeable persons in the film industry and all the airs that he carried in the past have disappeared and that’s probably because he is the most popular Keralite and will continue to do so for years to come.