| Coordinates | 53°31′26″N20°18′12″N |
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| Name | Prakash Raj |
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| Birthname | Prakash Rai |
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| Birthdate | March 26, 1965 |
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| Birth place | Puttur, Karnataka, India |
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| Yearsactive | 1986-present |
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| Spouse | Lalitha Kumari (1994-2009)Pony Verma (2010-present) |
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| Occupation | Film actor, producer |
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Prakash Raj is the screen name of Prakash Rai (),a National Film Award-winning Indian method actor and producer in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam language films. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor in 2009 for his role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan and won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for the Mani Ratnam film Iruvar.
Early life
Prakash Raj was born to a
Tulu speaking
Bunt family in
Puttur (near
Mangalore), Karnataka,on Mar 26,1965. He studied in St.Joseph's Indian High School in Bangalore. He won the President's Scout award in 1982. He later joined St. Josephs College of commerce, Brigade road, Bangalore, where he participated in many plays, most of which were in Kannada .
Film career
He has acted in
Kannada,
Tamil,
Telugu,
Malayalam, and
Hindi films. His original name 'Prakash Rai' in Kannada screen was rechristened to 'Prakash Raj' by
K. Balachander for Prakash Raj's debut movie 'Duet'. His first major role was in the 1993 film
Duet, directed by veteran director
K. Balachander. He achieved fame through Tamil films, where he did most of his films.
Prakash Rai began his acting career with Kannada Doordarshan serials like Bisilu Kudure and Guddada Bhootha. He later took up small supporting roles in kannada films like Raamachari, Nishkarsha, Lockup Death and etc and was noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics. His breakthrough role came in form of Harakeya Kuri starring Vishnuvardhan and Geetha, directed by K S L Swamy. His performance in the movie was noticed by Geetha and she in turn introduced him to her mentor, the noted director K. Balachander a Tamil film director. Prakash Raj re-entered Kannada films with a bang through Nagamandala in 1997, directed by T.S. Nagabharana which was selected for Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival 1997.
Prakash Raj is a very famous actor in South India for a wide variety of roles he has performed, most notably as a villain in Tamil and Telugu and of late, as a character artiste. He is considered to be one of the most natural actors in the film industry, and has a good reputation for his acting skills. He is also the highest paid villain in Indian cinema. He was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar. The movie was about the relationship between politicians M.G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, which he won the best supporting actor award,where he had a chance to act with the malayalam superstar and one of the most talented actor of indian film industry Mohanlal.
One of Prakash Raj's greatest hits was his role of Villain in telugu film Okkadu, where he plays the role of factionist, a gangster who is in love with Bhoomika Chawla. After Okkadu, Prakash Raj was flooded with offers. The film was remade in Tamil as Ghilli. The same movie got remade in Kannada as Ajay starring Puneet Rajkumar. The versatile actor then co-starred with major stars and also acted in movies with newcomers. His 2007 production Mozhi, where he played an important role, was a box office hit and praised by critics proving that he can play a comedy role just as good as playing a negative character. Prakash Raj has already had four releases this year, all in which he plays a prominent role. He is acting in more than half a dozen films at the moment including his own production, Abhiyum Naanum.
His production venture in Tamil Mozhi, directed by Radhamohan, starring himself, Jyothika, Prithviraj and Swarnamalya was a blockbuster. He recently acted as a rich businessman in Venkat Prabhu's second film Saroja, a box-office hit. His latest movie is Abiyum Naanum in Tamil. He made the same movie in Kannada as 'Naanu Nanna Kanasu' which was very well appreciated by kannada audience.
Awards
2008 -
Best Actor for the
Tamil movie
Kanchivaram.".
NDTV
2003 -
Special Jury Mention for exemplary performance. "The Special Jury award (instituted for the first time it is said) goes to Prakash Raj for doing a commendable job in the 12 films (in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada) he had worked in, in the past one year".
1998 -
Best Supporting Actor for the
Tamil Movie
Iruvar.
Personal life
Prakash divorced his first wife actress, Lalita Kumari. He married Pony Verma, a
choreographer on August 24, 2010 in Punjabi style wedding.
Producer
Recently he took on the mantle of producer and has produced several movies in Tamil (
Kollywood). Most of the movies he produced are box-office hits and also are critically acclaimed. His movies are generally acclaimed by the audience as good quality movies and are also considered as family entertainers. He produced the movie
Dhaya in which he acted as the hero with actress
Meena which was a hit and earned him a special jury award (a prestigious national award) for his performance. Also as a producer his selection of movies typically have natural storylines. His movie
Poi (
lie in English) which is directed by his mentor, veteran director
K. Balachander, was a non grosser. It has
Uday Kiran as the hero. Both the director (K. Balachander) and producer (Prakash Raj) acted in this movie as Good and Bad.
Prakash Raj had danced in a whole song for his film Vellithirai, a folk song named "Kanchi Paanaiyin Maela."
His Last kannada production naanu nanna kanasu completed 100 days successfully across karanataka and his next production venture titled "AKASMAATH" is a remake of his telugu hit "Aithe" and stars himself along with new actors.The movie is scheduled to go on floors September 2010 and is Directed by Dayal Padmanabhan.
Director
Prakash Raj has directed '
Naanu Nanna Kanasu' in Kannada (2010). This is the remake of his own production 'Abhiyum Naanum' .
Interview
A recent interview to a Tamil Satellite Channel he said he is
Agnostic. He
dubs for his characters in various languages he plays. He is well versed in
Kannada,
Telugu,
Tulu,
English,
Malayalam,
Tamil and
Hindi . He considers
K. Balachander as his guru and
mentor.
Filmography
References
External links
Category:1965 births
Category:Indian actors
Category:Kannada film actors
Category:Mangaloreans
Category:National Film Award winners
Category:Non Malayali actors acted in Malayalam-language films
Category:People from Mangalore
Category:Tamil film actors
Category:Tulu people
Category:Living people
Category:Indian agnostics
Category:Indian film actors
Category:Hindi film actors
Category:Indian television actors
Category:Indian film producers
Category:Telugu actors
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