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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".

Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix finally ended his dry run at the Oscars as he picked up the best actor trophy for his performance in and as "Joker" at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The 45-year-old actor had earlier bagged a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his turn as a failed, unhinged stand-up comedian who descends into chaos.

In a lengthy and rambling speech, Phoenix touched upon racism, climate change and gender inequality. He also remembered his brother River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 23 in 1993.

"When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. He said, 'run to the rescue with love and peace will follow'," Phoenix said. At the Academy Awards and the entire Hollywood award season, Phoenix had emerged as an undisputed frontrunner even though he was up against the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), Adam Driver ("Marriage Story"), "Antonio Banderas ("Pain & Glory") and Jonathan Pryce ("The Two Popes").

An Oscar had eluded Phoenix for the most part of his career, despite his successful collaborations with Ridley Scott ("Gladiator"), James Mangold ("Walk The Line") and Paul Thomas Anderson ("The Master"), all of which had earned him nominations.

But as Arthur Fleck aka The Joker, Phoenix finally managed to break that jinx and became the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the DC comic book villain after the posthumous best supporting actor win to Heath Ledger in 2008.

As Joker, Phoenix took a deep dive into character, capturing its essence as well as maniacal spirit in both body and soul.

He lost 52 pounds to get into the physicality of Fleck and turned to a pathological disorder to get his distinct laughter right.

Phillips wrote the part keeping Phoenix in mind though the actor took some convincing to play the role.

Phoenix started the film's festival circuit tour on a positive note at Cannes last year that followed by stops at Venice and Toronto.

The film had also courted controversies, owing to its theme of gun violence in the movie as well as Phoenix's temperamental press tour that saw him walking out of an interview midway.

But critics and the fans loved the actor's riveting turn in the movie and his pointed speeches.

At the Golden Globes, he called out the industry for its insensitivity towards climate change and pulled up his peers for using private jets for travel, while at the SAGs, he joked how he would always lose a role to DiCaprio and asked Christian Bale to deliver a bad performance for once in his career.

In his acceptance speech at the BAFTAs, Phoenix acknowledged the lack of diversity in the nominations, calling himself a part of the problem. Phoenix's career most praised performances include "Signs ", "We Own the Night", "Two Lovers", "The Immigrant", "Her", "You Were Never Really Here" and "Inherent Vice".

New Delhi, April 5: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Sunday in a written message urged people to stay kind to each other and support each other in the testing times amid coronavirus crisis.
The message was shared by the actor's production company - Red Chillies Entertainment.

"At a time when the human race is facing an immense crisis, there can only be one true response: The expression of Humanity itself. This is a moment for all of us to come together in a collective effort to make each other kinder, stronger and braver to face the days ahead," said Khan.

The message from the megastar can be seen as an attempt to instill positivity and calm amidst the current situation of chaos.

"This crisis is not going to pass in a hurry, it will take its time and its toll on all of us. It will also show us that there isn't really a choice between looking out for ourselves and looking out for one another," he said.

"There's nothing more obvious in the spread of this pandemic than the fact that each one of us is inextricably connected to each other, without any distinction," he added.

He urged people to stay compassionate towards each other and also said that how we deal with this pandemic will define India as a Nation.

"So, while we do whatever we can to support each other in our own small ways, the compassion we show to those who are likely to face the most brutal brunt of both, the pandemic and its economic consequences will define us as a generation and as a Nation," the 'Kal Ho Na Ho' actor said.

"The scourge we are up against. is fearsome and unknown to us. Like all uncharted paths, our journey to overcome every new challenge it throws at us will be arduous. There will be times when the best intentions might yield the wrong results. There may also be times when we accidentally stumble upon important solutions," he added.

The 54-year-old actor urged people to confront each challenge with courage and said that he will do his best it.

"All we can really do is try our utmost to adapt and confront each challenge with courage. As a nation, and as a people, it is our duty to give it all we've got. I am going to try my best and I know each one of you will do so too. Only together we will able to fight through these difficult and unimaginable days. Together. we will overcome," he said.

He also added short poetry which said that a bright day follows this dark night and new beginnings of the day are awaiting.

"Raat ke baad naye diin ki sahar aayegi, Din nahi badlega, tareekh Badal jayegi..." read the message.

King Khan ended the message by urging people to ta maintain a physical distance with others.
"I pray for you and your families, please do the same for me. And follow Physical Distancing..........Physical Distancing.. Physical Distancing...PLEASE," said Shah Rukh Khan.
Earlier on Saturday, the Padma Shri awardee along with his wife Gauri Khan offered their personal office space in Mumbai for quarantine purpose for children, elderly and women.
The couple has also made donations to the PM CARES Fund and shared that his companies -- Kolkata Knight Riders, Red Chillies Entertainment, Meer Foundation, and Red Chillies VFX -- are taking several initiatives to support the relief efforts.