New Delhi: As Malayalam superstar, Mohanlal turned 61 today (May 21), netizens have taken to Twitter to send out warm birthday wishes to the actor. Mohanlal, commonly known as Lal in the industry and lovingly called Laletten by his dear ones and fans has been the winner of five national awards.


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With over four decades of experience on-screen in Malayalam cinema along with appearances in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films, he is one of the most admired Indian actors and has acted in more than 340 films. 


While you may know a lot of his films and popular roles played by him, we bet you didn't know he was a wrestling champion before he entered showbiz!


So, on the occasion of his 61st birthday, let's take a look at some lesser-known facts about the actor:


1.  Mohanlal is the son of Viswanathan Nair, a former bureaucrat and Law Secretary with the Kerala government, and is the youngest among his siblings.


2. Before he made his acting debut he was the Kerala state wrestling champion during 1977 and 1978.


3. Lal made his acting debut at the young age of 18 in the film 'Thiranottam' in 1978, however, the film's release was delayed by 25 years due to censorship problems.


4. He made his screen debut as an antagonist in the 1980 romance film 'Manjil Virinja Pookkal'. The actor went on to play the antagonist in several of his consequent films.


5. In 2009, he became the first Indian actor to be awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. He is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in 2010 and the University of Calicut in 2018.


6. On the personal front, Mohanlal got married to the daughter of the Tamil film producer K. Balaji Suchitra on April 28, 1988. The happy couple share two children - Pranav Mohanlal and Vismaya Mohanlal.


We wish Mohanlal a very Happy Birthday!