Thiruvananthapuram,  Versatile actor, Superstar Mohanlal, on Friday turned 61 as wishes poured in from all corners for Kerala's most popular son.

Winner of five national awards, for those in the industry he is Lal, but those who consider him dear refer to him as 'Laletten' and for actress Neena Gupta he is Mohan.

As the Covid pandemic is in full swing, there will be no celebrations.

The superstar is at the moment resting at his Chennai residence.

His glittering screen career began way back in 1978, when he did his first film 'Thiranottam', which was canned, but he has had no reason to look back as he has had a wonderful career donning the grease paint for some 345 films.

The biggest blockbuster of his, directed by Priyadarshan -- "Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham" is currently held up for release on account of the lockdown and its producer, who is also his closest aide - Antony Perumbavoor said they are planning to release the film in August.

Their last film 'Drishyam-2', a sequel, released on the OTT platform turned out to be a blockbuster hit and Perumbavoor on the superstar's birthday said they are working on a new film , directed by Jeethu Joseph who directed the sequels 'Drishyam'.

Incidentally, on Thursday Mohanlal appeared on the video wall singing as part of a musical tribute that was shown just before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in for an unprecedented second term.

As birthday wishes poured in, one was from a first year engineering college student from Malappuram-Vaishnav, who in a matter of 8 hours drew 100 pictures of the actor in various roles from his films on a canvas and is waiting to meet the actor to gift him.

The li'l champs of ZEE Keralam's music reality show SaReGaMaPa Keralam Li'lChamps have come up with a birthday tribute to Mohanlal in the form of short videos compiling all-time hit songs of Lalettan's films.

In 2009, he was inducted into the Territorial Army as a (Hon) Lt.Colonel.

And now all eyes are on his debut directorial venture -- Barroz, that has already started rolling, but now wound up on account of Covid. It is a 3D film and is expected to go on the floors next year.