SANTHOSH CHANDRAN

DOHA POPULAR Indian actor, Padma Shri Mammootty, will be in Doha to receive an award for his contribution to Indian cinema. Organised by Media and Advertising Division of Argon Global in association with Safari Group of Companies, ‘AG Vision Award Night’ will held on April 13 at Al Ahli Stadium in Doha.

Mammootty, a three-time Best Actor National Film Award winner (a record shared with Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan) is attending a function in Doha after 13 years of interval.

Besides the National Film Awards, the actor has also won five Kerala State Film Awards, and 11 Filmfare Awards. Mammootty was honoured a Doctor of Letters by ‘University of Kerala’ and by the ‘University of Calicut’ in Kerala. Vanitha, a leading women’s magazine in Malayalam has chosen Mammootty, as the actor with the highest youth appeal in Kerala, after a survey among its fans and readers.

Mammootty has also acted in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and English films.

He starred in the biographical English language film Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar directed by Jabbar Patel.

Besides Mammootty, 50 prominent artists from the South Indian film industry will also attend the function.

The actor from south India touched the pinnacle of his career in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha — a film directed by T Hariharan and penned by MT Vasudevan Nair.

While speaking to the media in Doha on Wednesday, Abdul Gaffoor, the CEO of Argon Global (the organiser) said, “The show will be one of the biggest events which Doha has ever seen. It is for the first time that such a large number of artists from the Indian film industry will participate in a stage show in Qatar. AG Vision will organise an award presentation ceremony every year to honour talent in the Malayalam film industry.” Talking about the need for such programmes, Gafoor said, “Films are still a powerful medium of communication and influence a large number of people, particularly youngsters.

We hope programmes of this kind will promote quality cinema in India and will be an inspiration for young artists to be attracted to cinema” The president of the Ideal Indian School and the coordinator of the programme Hassan Kunhi said, “Considering the large crowd expected at the show, we have taken all necessary precautions.

Al Ahli Stadium in Al Hilal can accommodate 10,000 to 15,000 people. The ample car parking at the stadium will also attract a large number of people.” The programme designer Pramod Pappan said, “The show which will showcase advanced digital technology will be a new experience for the people of Doha” Renjini Haridas, the most popular face of Kerala television channels will be the anchor of the programme.

The tickets of the show are priced QR100, QR200 and QR500 and will be available at different outlets in Doha soon.

The other notable actors expected at the show are Salim Kumar, Siddique, Manoj K Jayan, Suraj Venjaranmoodu, Unni Mukundan, Bhama, Roma, Ananya, Kottayam Nazeer, Ambika, Kalpan and Guinness Pakru.

Actor Nadirshah is the director of the programme.