Prakash Raj | |
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 Raj at the 2018Kerala Literature Festival | |
| Born | Prakash Rai (1965-03-26)26 March 1965 (age 60) Bangalore,Mysore State, India |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards | Full list |
Prakash Raj (bornPrakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works inTamil,Telugu,Kannada,Malayalam,Hindi andEnglish-language films.[1][2] he is the recipient ofseveral accolades, including fiveNational Film Awards, eightNandi Awards, eightTamil Nadu State Film Awards, sixFilmfare Awards South, fourSIIMA Awards, threeCineMAA Awards, and threeVijay Awards. Apart from his native language Tulu and Kannada, Raj's fluency in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, andMarathi has placed him among the most sought after actors inIndian cinema.[3]
After working in stage shows and television in Kannada for a few years, Raj ventured into films. He made his debut inTamil cinema throughDuet (1994), byK. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil. In remembrance, he named his production companyDuet Movies.[4][5]
Apolyglot, he played a variety of roles, most notably as the antagonist and, of late, as a character actor. Prakash, as an actor has won aNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 forMani Ratnam'sIruvar, aNational Film Award – Special Mention for the Telugu filmAntahpuram, directed byKrishna Vamsi in 1998[6] and aNational Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role inKanchivaram, a Tamil film directed byPriyadarshan.[7]
As a producer, he has won aNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada forPuttakkana Highway, directed by his long-time theatre friendB. Suresha in 2011. Prakash was also the host ofNeengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi during the show's second season.[8]
Prakash Raj was born as Prakash Rai on 26 March 1965 to aTuluva father and aKannadiga mother inBangalore,Karnataka.[9][10][11][12] His brother is Prasad Raj, who is also an actor.[11][13] He completed schooling atSt. Joseph's Indian High School and joinedSt. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore.
ActressGeetha introduced Prakash Raj to prominent Tamil film directorK. Balachander. Prakash Raj changed his surname from 'Rai' to 'Raj' uponK. Balachander's advice;[14] he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state,Karnataka.[15]
Prakash Raj married actressLalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu who died in 2004 when he was five years old after sustaining injuries from a fall while kite flying.[16][17] The couple divorced in 2009.[18] Later, he married choreographerPony Verma on 24 August 2010.[19] They have a son, Vedhanth born in 2015.[20][21]
Prakash Raj's father is a Hindu and his mother a Roman Catholic, but he identifies himself as a non-believer.[22]
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Prakash Raj acted in back-to-back stage shows for₹300 a month in the initial stages of his career, when he joinedKalakshetra, Bengaluru, and he has 2,000 street theatre performances to his credit.[10]
Prakash began his television career withDoordarshan serials such asBisilu Kudure (Kannada) andGuddada Bhootha (Tulu and Kannada). He later took up supporting roles inKannada films such asRamachari,Ranadheera,Nishkarsha andLockup Death. He was noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics. His breakthrough role came inHarakeya Kuri, directed byK. S. L. Swamy starringVishnuvardhan, with whom he had acted in other films such asMithileya Seetheyaru,Muthina Haara andNishkarsha. His performance was noticed byGeetha, the lead heroine of the film, who introduced Prakash to her mentorK. Balachander, a Tamil director. He acted under the screen name "Prakash Rai" in Kannada films and was given the name "Prakash Raj" byK. Balachander for his debut Tamil filmDuet,[22] which saw him playing his first major role.
Prakash re-entered Kannada films throughNagamandala in 1997, directed byT. S. Nagabharana, which was selected for the Indian Panorama in theInternational Film Festival in 1997. He was also a part ofMani Ratnam's stage showNetru, Indru, Naalai. In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's biopicIruvar. The movie dealt with the relationship between politiciansM. G. Ramachandran andM. Karunanidhi, for which he won theNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He starred in manyMalayalam films in 1996:The Prince,Indraprastham andOru Yathramozhi, the last of which released in 1997. He also acted inPandippada, withDilip in 2005,Thekkekara Superfast in 2003,Keerthichakra in 2006, Amal Neerad'sAnwar and Shyamaprasad's sensational movieElecktra in 2010. For most of his Mollywood movies, he will render his own voice. He was also seen in the movieAchayans along with Jayaram.
He acted in many Telugu films, includingAntahpuram (1998), which earned him aNational Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention.
He played an important role inVenkat Prabhu'sSaroja. In 2008, he produced a film titledAbhiyum Naanum and played an important character in it. He remade the movie inKannada asNaanu Nanna Kanasu.
Prakash Raj also acted in a 2004-released multi starrer hit filmKhakee along withAmitabh Bachchan,Aishwarya Rai,Ajay Devgn,Akshay Kumar &Tushar Kapoor, playing Assistant Commissioner of Police Shrikant Naidu, Angre's main mole in the police force. SinceWanted (2009), Prakash Raj has been a regular villain inHindi languageBollywood movies, includingSingham,Dabangg 2,Mumbai Mirror (2013), andPolicegiri.
He acted with actorKamal Haasan inVasool Raja MBBS, which was a critical and commercial success. Then, he paired again with Kamal Haasan inThoongaa Vanam (2015). He acted in the Telugu movieBharat Ane Nenu (2018). He will be seen inMajor, which is directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka.[citation needed]
Prakash took on the mantle of director withNaanu Nanna Kanasu, in Kannada in 2010, for which he was the joint producer. The film completed 125 days successfully in the theatres acrossKarnataka, becoming the biggest hit of the year.[23] He was nominated for the Filmfare South "Best Director" category for his first film.
He then directed the Telugu and Tamil bilingual filmDhoni. In 2014, he directed the multilingual filmOggarane (in Kannada),Ulavacharu Biryani (in Telugu) andUn Samayal Arayil (in Tamil).[24][25][26][27] Although the Tamil and Telugu versions did not do any miracles at the box office, the Kannada version became the runaway blockbuster hit of the year.[28][29][30][31][32][33]
Prakash became a film producer beginning with the Tamil filmDhaya (2002), in which he starred with actressMeena. It earned him a Special Jury National Award for his performance. He later produced films in Tamil such asNaam (2003),Azhagiya Theeye (2004),Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005),Poi (2006),Mozhi (2007),Velli Thirai andAbhiyum Naanum, which won many Tamil Nadu State Awards in 2008, andInidhu Inidhu in 2010.[citation needed]
The first non-Tamil film that he produced was his directorial debut in Kannada,Naanu Nanna Kanasu, a remake of his own Tamil productionAbhiyum Naanum, for which he was the joint producer, along with his long-time Bengaluru theatre friend, Kannada director-producerB. Suresha.[34] In 2011, he acted and jointly produced the Kannada filmPuttakkana Highway, again with Suresh, who directed the film. It was a milestone in Prakash's production career sincePuttakkana Highway won him theNational Award for Best Regional Film for the year 2010–2011,[35] and an award in the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival of 2011.[36]
In 2011, he produced the Tamil version of the Tamil-Telugu bilingualPayanam in 2011, starringNagarjuna Akkineni and himself. In 2012, he produced two Tamil films;Mayilu andDhoni. In 2013, he produced a Telugu-Tamil bilingual film;Gouravam. He produced a multilingual filmOggarane (Kannada),Ulavacharu Biryani (Telugu) andUn Samayal Arayil (Tamil) in 2014.[24][25][26][27]Oggarane became a huge blockbuster hit that year.[28][29][30][31][32][33]
Prakash Raj adopted the villages of Kondareddypalle inMahabubnagar District,Telangana state[37]and Bandlarahatti inChitradurga district, Karnataka state.[38]
Prakash Raj started his active political movement with the hashtag #justasking on social media after his friendGauri Lankesh's assassination incident in September 2017.
He contested in the2019 Indian general election as anindependent candidate for theBengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency.[39][40] Raj lost the election, securing around 28,906 Votes (2.41%) in the election.[41]
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Prakash has been involved in several controversies.
He was banned by Telugu film producers six times in the past. Prakash reacted to this by saying:
"If people who work with me say that I play hide and seek, why do they repeat me? Why am I inMahesh's nine films out of his ten. Why don't you judge me with my work? How I go about it is not important. I don't go by the rules. I put my foot down, I don't take mediocrity. There are certain locations where I can come only at 12 in the morning. I don't go by the rules."[42]
It was the first time that an actor was banned by the Telugu industry.[43] Telugu film industry insiders interpret the ban as a conspiracy by several big heroes and producers. Problems started during the shooting of the Telugu filmsPawan Kalyan'sJalsa,NTR Jr'sKantri, andAllu Arjun'sParugu.[43][44][45][46][47]
There was controversy for his naked appearance in a sequence in his latest Telugu releaseOngole Githa. The film got an "A Certificate" from the Censor Board. Prakash reacted by saying: "I did not shed my clothes for creating sensation, I had no plans to star in that sequence. The script demanded it; as an actor, I have to abide by the script. DirectorBhaskar told me that it would be an 'important' sequence in the context of the film and I just carried out his instructions."[48][49]
Several Kannada organisations staged protests in front of theatres since they felt that some of the dialogue in a scene in the Hindi filmSingham, starringAjay Devgan and Prakash were derogatory against the Kannadigas. TheKarnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) had demanded the deletion of all "objectionable" dialogue from the movie. The screening was stopped in major centres of Karnataka. The controversial scene starts off with Prakash threatening Ajay that he would bring 1,000 people from the Karnataka border to thrash him. Ajay (who plays Bajirao Singham, a Maratha), retorts that one lion would suffice to shoo away a thousand dogs. The controversy assumes significance in the backdrop of the decades-old border dispute between Karnataka andMaharashtra. Kannada protesters also felt that Prakash, being aKannadiga should have told the team that it is not right. Prakash reacted to it to theKannada and theTelugu media by saying: "I am a Kannadiga myself and I love my mother tongue Kannada. I'm very proud of my community and would never deliberately do anything to hurt my people. How would I allow conversations that provide pain to people of Karnataka in any movie in which I am cast? There is nothing controversial about the dialogue. I am a Maratha in the movie, the controversy has started just because I am a Kannadiga and I used the word 'Karnataka border' in the film because the villain in the film stays inGoa, the Karnataka border."[50][51][52] Finally the dialogue was removed, and the whole team ofSingham including the directorRohit Shetty, the production house "Reliance Big Entertainment", and Prakash apologized to all the Kannadigas; the issue was resolved.[53][54][55][56]
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