Superstar Mohanlal booked for possessing elephant tusk

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 10: Eminent Carnatic vocalist and playback singer K J Yesudas, who has enthralled music aficionados across the world with his profound and mellifluous voice for the last six decades, turned 80 on Friday.

People from various walks of life, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and luminaries of music and film world besides socio-cultural personalities, wished the legendary singer, popularly called as 'gana gandharvan' (the celestial singer) by his fans, on his birthday.

Regional newspapers came out with special pages and television channels with exclusive programmes as a tribute to the singer, who has recorded over 80,000 songs in various genres in almost all languages of India including about 25,000 film songs, Carnatic bhajans and devotional songs.

Besides Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Odia, his voice gave life to songs in Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian during a career spanning over six decades.

Yesudas, whom the country had honoured with Padma Vibhushan in 2017, is the recipient of eight national awards, 25 Kerala state awards, five state awards of Tamil Nadu and four of Andhra Pradesh.

"On the special occasion of his 80th birthday, greetings to the versatile K J Yesudas Ji. His melodious music and soulful renditions have made him popular across all age groups. He has made valuable contributions to Indian culture. Wishing him a long and healthy life," Modi tweeted.

The Left veteran also shared a photo of the veteran singer along with the tweet.

Meanwhile, Yesudas this morning visited the Mookambika Temple at Kollur in Udupi district of Karnataka along with his family, a practice he has been following for the last four decades.

Draped in the traditional Kerala style kasavu mundu and shawl, 'dasettan', as he is known among his hardcore fans cutting across ages, Yesudas offered prayers along with his wife Prabha and sons and performed special poojas at the Goddess Saraswathi temple.

Hundreds of music buffs gathered at the shrine to wish the octogenarian singer.

Considered as one of the best playback singers in the country, Yesudas had begun his music career in the tinsel town with the Malayalam song "Jathi bhedam matha dwesham" in the year 1961 and sang in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films among other languages.

Yesudas's foray into Bollywood saw him recording various memorable hits, including "Jab Deep Jale Aana" and "Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara".

Chennai, Jan 15: Superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday called for neutrality in journalism and urged media outlets to report the truth.

Addressing an event organised by Tamil magazine ''Thuglak' in Chennai, the superstar-turned-politician said that the country needs a journalist like the late Cho S Ramaswamy, who helmed the publication for decades.

"The times, politics and society are going bad. In such a scenario, the media had a huge responsibility towards the people," he said.

Some television channels are biased towards political parties, Rajinikanth said. He added that media, critics and journalists must report the truth impartially.

Comparing true news to milk and fake reportage to water, Rajinikanth said people will not be able to distinguish between the two if they are mixed.

"Only journalists need to tell which portion is milk and which is water...write the truth and don't make a lie seem like truth," he said, amid applause.

New Delhi, Jun 3: "This year feels relentless," actor Priyanka Chopra said urging Mumbai residents to take precautionary measures in view of Cyclone Nisarga.

The cyclone storm is approaching the north coast of Maharashtra with a speed of 11 kilometres per hour, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday.

Sharing Mumbai's famous Bandra-Worli Sea Link road picture on her Instagram story, the actor wrote: "Cyclone Nisarga is making its way to Mumbai, my beloved home city of more than 20 million people, including my mom and brother."

"Mumbai hasn't experienced a serious cyclone landfall since 1891, and at a time when the world is so desperate, this could be especially devastating," the 'Don' actor added.

"This year feels relentless. Please, everyone, find cover, take precautions, and follow the guidelines outlines. Please stay safe everyone, " said Chopra as she shared a swipe up link to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) page that details the Do's and Don'ts for Mumbaikars to take on Cyclone Nisarga.

Earlier, the IMD had stated that the severe cyclonic storm is expected to impact the Maharashtra coast by the afternoon/evening of June 3.

On Tuesday, actor Vicky Kaushal shared a picture of the cloudy sky on the photo-sharing platform and hoped that the "first showers only bring relief and joy and not too much drama." The 'Raazi' actor also urged people to stay safe.