Pratap Pothen
Born	(1952-08-13)13 August 1952 Trivandrum,Travancore Cochin, India
Died	15 July 2022(2022-07-15) (aged 69) Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	Madras Christian College
Occupations	Actor film producer scriptwriter director filmmaker
Years active	1978–1995, 2005–2022
Spouses	Radhika Sarathkumar ​ ​ (m. 1985; div. 1986)​ Amala Satyanath ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	1

Pratap Pothen (13 August 1952 – 15 July 2022) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who acted in about 100 films^[1] and directed 12 films. He appeared inTamil,Malayalam, andTelugu as well asHindi films. He also worked as a scriptwriter and producer for films.

Pratap was born inTrivandrum,Kerala on 13 August 1952.^[2] His father was Pothan of the Kolathinkal house, a businessman who died in 1967, when Pratap was 15 years old.^[2] Pratap had five siblings,^[3] including an elder brother, Hari Pothan, who also worked as a film producer.^[4]

Pratap was educated at theLawrence School, Lovedale inOoty.^[3] Initially, he was interested in painting; however, once he joined college, he started acting in plays with the help of his friends, and gradually got more interested in acting than painting.^[5] After his graduation from theMadras Christian College, Pratap worked as a copywriter in an ad agency inMumbai. Later he also worked at Sistas ad agency and Hindustan Thomson.^[5]

Pratap married actressRadhika in 1985, but their marriage did not last long and they separated in 1986. In 1990, he married Amala Sathyanath, with whom he had a daughter, Keya.^[2][6]

Pratap worked withThe Madras Players.^[5] After seeing Pratap's performance in Shaw's playAndrocles and the Lion,Bharathan invited Pratap to appear in his Malayalam filmAaravam.^[5]

Pratap later starred in three more films:Thakara,Lorry andChamaram.^[5]

He also acted in Tamil films such asMoodupani,Varumayin Niram Sivappu,Nenjathai Killathe,Panneer Pushpangal. His debut as a director was inMeendum Oru Kaathal Kathai, which he received a national award for.^[5] Prathap worked withKamal Haasan inVettri Vizhaa (1989).^[5] The film is noteworthy for being the first Tamil movie to use asteadicam.^[5]

Pratap created three more films in MalayalamRithubhedam,Daisy,Oru Yathramozhi.^[5] His only Telugu film isChaitanya and his only role inBollywood is inGuru.^[5][7] His notable roles in Malayalam cinema includeOnce Upon A Time There Was A Kallan,Ayalum Njanum Thammil,22 Female Kottayam,Idukki Gold,Ezra,Uyare, andBangalore Days.^[8][9]

He directed Tamil films includingJeeva,Vettri Vizhaa,Seevalaperi Pandi andLucky Man.^[5]

In 2006, Pratap Pothan announced that he would directMadhavan in a script written byK. Rajeswar. Pre-production works proved to be difficult and the film went through several changes of title and lead actress, before it was announced that the film would be calledOru Naal Podhuma and would featureRukmini Vijayakumar in the leading female role. The team had made plans to complete shooting for the film in Canada, though creative differences meant that the film was subsequently shelved.^[10][11]

In the last few years, he was busy with his ad agency named "Green Apple" and focused on commercials for MRF Tyres and Nippo. He used to hostNaalaya Iyakkunar onKalaignar TV.^[12]

The turn of the century saw him playing many gratifying roles in films likePriyasakhi,Aayirathil Oruvan andPonmagal Vandhal. As a filmmaker, in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, he directed veterans likeSivaji Ganesan,Mohanlal,Kamal Haasan,Thilakan andNagarjuna.^[13]

Pratap was found dead in his apartment inKilpauk,Chennai on 15 July 2022.^[2][14] He is believed to have died of natural causes.^[14]

Order based on number of films that he acted in.

• Solla Thudikuthu Manasu (1988) (Tamil)

• Naalaya Iyakkunar (2019) (Kalaignar TV) (Tamil)

• Pratap Pothen atIMDb
• Prathap Pothen at MSI

• 1952 births
• 2022 deaths
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• Filmfare Awards South winners
• Male actors from Thiruvananthapuram
• Male actors in Malayalam cinema
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• Indian male actors
• Madras Christian College alumni
• Tamil film directors
• Male actors in Telugu cinema
• 21st-century Indian male actors
• Malayalam film directors
• Tamil film producers
• Film directors from Thiruvananthapuram
• Tamil screenwriters
• Malayalam screenwriters
• Screenwriters from Thiruvananthapuram
• Director whose film won the Best Debut Feature Film National Film Award
• South Indian International Movie Awards winners

• CS1 Hindi-language sources (hi)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from January 2016
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Use dmy dates from January 2016
• Articles with hCards