Mammootty to have quiet 56th birthday

Malayalam superstar Mammootty plans to celebrate his 56th birthday Monday in a quiet way and says he has made no resolutions for the occasion either.

Speaking to IANS over telephone from Chennai, the actor said he prefers to have a quiet birthday.

'I have no birthday resolutions either. I am waiting for my son to arrive from Kochi and my daughter who is in Bangalore is not coming,' said Mammootty.

Since his birthday falls during Ramzan this year, the actor, a devout Muslim, plans to remain indoors.

'Today I am taking the day off and tomorrow I am going to Palani (a temple town in Tamil Nadu) for the shooting of 'Chattambinadu',' said the veteran.

Asked if he was expecting to get a national award, with the 55th National Film Awards to be announced later Monday, Mammootty laughed.

'See, a few days before the awards are announced speculations are aired. I think I have overcome such moments and I only concentrate on what I have undertaken, and such things no longer bother me,' said the three-time national award winner.

In a career spanning close to three decades, he has acted in more than 300 Malayalam films besides Hindi, Telegu, Tamil and English.

Apart from his hectic shooting schedules, the actor is also the chairman of the Communist Party of India-Marxist backed Kairali TV channel since its inception in the late nineties.

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Roja joins Congress?

Veteran South Indian actress and Telugu Desam Party Mahila president Roja visited Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy at his camp office in Hyderabad on Sunday and presented him with a bouquet. This is being rumoured to be a symbol of switching her loyalties to the Congress.

Former TTD Chairman B. Karunakara Reddy accompanied Roja during the 20-minute meeting which came less than a fortnight after she stoutly denied the Chief Minister’s remark that she had expressed willingness to join the Congress.

The actress said that she was yet to take a decision on joining the Congress, but indicated it was only a matter of time when she said, "I have no objection to work under a leader (Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy) who cares about his followers and will not leave them when they are in distress."

The actress claimed that she had met the Chief Minister to compliment him for bringing the NTPC-BHEL joint venture to Chittoor district and also dismissed reports that she had decided to quit the TDP as she was not given a prominent post. Roja had been keeping herself away from the TDP party affairs for some time now and her brothers were said to have convinced her to join the Congress.