Thiruvananthapuram, 7 Sep

Malayalam superstar Mammootty turned 74 on Sunday with fans, industry colleagues and politicians greeting him with warm wishes.

For his hardcore fans, the occasion is more joyous as the legendary actor recently recovered from a brief illness and now getting ready for a comeback to the film industry through the much-awaited movie ‘Kalamkaval’.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan posted a photo of the actor on his social media handles and wished him good health and long life.

"Warm birthday wishes to @mammukka. As an artist and cultural icon, he holds a special place in our hearts. Wishing him good health and long life to continue enthralling us with his stellar performances," he said in a post on X.

Mammootty himself posted a photo of himself on his Instagram handle with a caption: "Love and Thanks to All and The Almighty", which went viral within no time among his fans that flooded the social media platform with hearty wishes.

Nivin Pauly and Manju Warrier were among the actors who extended birthday greetings to the megastar, who is fondly called as "Mammukka" by his admirers.

The pan-Indian actor's position as a mega star is still intact with over 400 films in various languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English, besides Malayalam in a career spanning over five decades.

Three national awards, seven state and 14 Filmfare awards, Padma Shri and two honorary doctorate degrees were proof of his acting excellence and mass fan following.

Some of his popular movies include New Delhi, Thaniyavarthanam, Oru Vadakkan Veera Gatha, Oru CBI Dairy kurupuu, Kutty Sranku, Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha and so on.

He has worked with critically acclaimed directors including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, KG George and TV Chandran and hit-makers like I V Sasi, Joshi, Ranjith, Anward Rasheed and so on.

His debut was the 1971 movie Anubhavangal Palichakal.