'This is not minister's birthday celebration'; this is what Suresh Gopi has to say on his 66th birthday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thrissur MP and Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi turns 66 today. Hundreds of people, including fans and party workers, extended wishes to the actor-turned-politician. He will be in Parliament on his birthday as the Speaker election is being held today.

Suresh Gopi said that there won't be any special celebration in connection with his birthday. This is not a minister's birthday celebration. It is the celebration of my family members and people across the world who love me as an artist. That's all," he said to the media.

Suresh Gopi is the eldest of the four children of K Gopinathan and Gnanalakshmi. He was born on 26 June 1958. He made his film debut as a child actor at the age of six.

His real name was Suresh G Nair. It was producer K Balaji who changed his name to Suresh Gopi. The villain role that he played in Mohanlal's 'Irupatham Nootandu' in 1987 turned out to be a turning point in his career. Malayalees hailed him as a superstar as his films with director Shaji Kailas and scriptwriter Renji Panicker became superhits.

Suresh Gopi made his political entry while he was busy in films. He was a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP. Although he contested as a BJP candidate in Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, he ended up in the third position. However, that did not stop him from raising his voice for the people in Thrissur. As a result of his works based in the constituency, he created history in 2024 by becoming the first BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kerala. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, he defeated LDF's VS Sunilkumar and UDF's K Muraleedharan by a margin of over 74,000 votes. He is currently serving as the Minister of State for Tourism, Petroleum and Natural Gas in the third Modi cabinet.