Chennai, June 23 (IANS) Malayalam superstar Mammootty, who received the prestigious Padma Bhushan award from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday, has now thanked his audiences for their endless love, trust and support which he said had kept him “going every single day”.

Mammootty Kampany, the production house owned by the actor, posted a video clip of the Malayalam superstar receiving the honour from the hands of President of India Droupadi Murmu on its Instagram timeline and wrote, “A moment of immense pride for Indian cinema. Our beloved Mammukka, receiving the Padma Bhushan from the Hon’ble President of India, a recognition for his extraordinary contribution to cinema spanning over five decades. A truly historic and emotional moment. #Mammootty #PadmaBhushan #MammoottyKampany.”

Soon after, the production house posted a message from Mammootty on receiving the honour. In his acceptance message, Mammootty said, “Deeply ​Humbled and honored to be conferred with the Padma Bhushan. My sincere gratitude to the Government of India for this prestigious recognition.”

He had gone on to add, “​An honor like this is a reflection of a five-decade-long journey that wouldn’t exist without you, my incredible audience. Thank you for the endless love, trust, and support that keeps me going every single day. I dedicate this to the beautiful world of cinema and all of you.”

Several celebrities from across the country had congratulated Mammootty when the awards were first announced in January this year. Notable among those who congratulated the Malayalam superstar was actor Kamal Haasan who penned a lengthy, heartfelt post in Tamil congratulating Mammootty.

Pointing out that they hadn’t acted together in any films, Kamal Haasan, in his post, had said, “However, we have been admiring each other from afar. We critique each other when we meet in person. We have been nurturing a ‘Kopperuncholar Pisiranthaiyar’ kind of friendship akin for several years.”

He further went on to add that he now felt that maybe they both could have met in person more often.

Kamal Haasan went on to observe that as a Mammootty fan, his expectation was that his fans should also be Mammootty’s fans.

“My friend Mammootty has now become Padma Bhushan Mammootty. Congratulations to my friend,” he wrote.

For the unaware, the ‘Kopperuncholayar Pisiranthaiyar’ relationship that Kamal Haasan referred to in his post is about the iconic friendship between Chola King Kopperun Cholan and the Pandya poet Pisiranthaiyar.

Although the Chola King and the Pandya poet never met each other, they both trusted each other wholeheartedly to the extent that when the Chola king chose to die, he asked for a seat to be prepared for the poet from his enemy kingdom, trusting that his friend from the rival kingdom would definitely accompany him even unto death.

Despite several people telling the king that the poet would not come, the king firmly trusted his friend to turn up. As expected by the king, Pisiranthaiyar did arrive but by then, the king had passed away.

Thanking the Tamil actor for his heartfelt wish, Mammootty had replied to his Tamil friend saying that they should catch up soon and “make up for the time we’ve lost!”

Taking to his X timeline to respond to Kamal’s post congratulating him, Mammootty had said, “Thank you, dear Kamal, for those truly humbling words. You’re being too kind. And yes, let’s catch up soon and make up for the time we’ve lost (smiley face).”

–IANS

mkr/