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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".

New Delhi, Mar 4: Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar, who is all set to make her acting debut opposite Akshay Kumar in Prithviraj, says she's has always been interested in history.

"While growing up, I was really interested in history, the tales of grand kingdoms and larger than life historical heroes. I had always been fascinated with the story of Prithviraj and Sanyogita and life came to a full circle for me when I was offered this film," Manushi said.

Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Prithviraj is based on the life and heroism of the king Prithviraj Chauhan. It stars Akshay in the title role while Manushi plays Sanyogita, the love of his life.

For Manushi, being offered Prithviraj by Aditya Chopra was a sweet coincidence. She reveals, 'While growing up, I was really interested in history, the tales of grand kingdoms and larger than life historical heroes.'

The glamourous girl, who has been voted the most desirable woman in the recent past, reveals that she is 'blessed' to be playing the role of the gorgeous Rajput princess.

'When I was given the narration of the film, I had a smile on my face thinking that I’m listening to a story that I had been most interested about reading in school. Prithviraj and Sanyogita is a fascinating story and a beautiful chapter in the history of India and I’m blessed and fortunate to have got the opportunity to bring Princess Sanyogita’s story to life,' she says.

Manushi’s Bollywood debut is being directed by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi who directed the biggest television epic 'Chanakya', based on the life and times of the most influential political strategist of India, and the multiple award-winning Pinjar.

'Prithviraj' will release worldwide in Diwali 2020.

Mumbai, Jul 17: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan who is currently getting treated for coronavirus in Mumbai's Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital on Friday expressed gratitude towards his fans for their prayers for his well being.

Bachchan took to Twitter to thank his fans and also said that he is receiving messages from his concerned fans on all of his social media platforms.

"I receive all your blessings and love and prayers for our well being .. on SMS, on WhatsApp, on insta on Blog .. and all possible social media," he tweeted.

"My gratitude has no bounds .. Hospital protocol is restrictive, I cannot say more .. Love," his tweet further read.

Fans of the superstar have been organising special prayers in different parts of the country for his speedy recovery.

Besides Big B, his son, actor Amitabh Bachchan, daughter-in-law, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan also tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
His actor wife, however, actor Jaya Bachchan, tested negative for the virus.