Misplaced Pages

Prakash Raj

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Prakash Raj (actor)) Indian actor Not to be confused with Prakash Raj (footballer).

Prakash Raj
Raj at the 2018 Kerala Literature Festival
BornPrakash Rai
(1965-03-26) 26 March 1965 (age 59)
Bangalore, Mysore State, India
Occupations
  • Actor
  • film producer
  • director
  • television presenter
  • politician
Years active1986–present
WorksFull list
Spouses
Children4
AwardsFull list

Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, and Hindi-language films. he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards. Apart from his native languages Tulu and Kannada, Raj's fluency in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, English, and Marathi has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.

After working in stage shows and television in Kannada for a few years, Raj ventured into films. He made his debut in Tamil cinema through Duet (1994), by K. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil. In remembrance, he named his production company Duet Movies.

A polyglot, he played a variety of roles, most notably as the antagonist and, of late, as a character actor. Prakash, as an actor has won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani Ratnam's Iruvar, a National Film Award – Special Mention for the Telugu film Antahpuram, directed by Krishna Vamsi in 1998 and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan.

As a producer, he has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for Puttakkana Highway, directed by his long-time theatre friend B. Suresha in 2011. Prakash was also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi during the show's second season.

Personal life

Prakash Raj was born as Prakash Rai on 26 March 1965 in Bangalore to a Tuluva father and a Kannada mother.

His brother is Prasad Raj, who is also an actor. He completed schooling at St. Joseph's Indian High School and joined St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore. Actress Geetha introduced Prakash Raj to prominent Tamil film director K. Balachander. Prakash Raj changed his surname from 'Rai' to 'Raj' upon K. Balachander's advice; he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka.

Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha 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. The couple divorced in 2009.

Later, he married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They have a son, Vedhanth born in 2015.

Prakash Raj's father is a Hindu and his mother a Roman Catholic, but he identifies himself as a non-believer.

Film career

Main article: Prakash Raj filmography

As an actor

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
Find sources: "Prakash Raj" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Prakash Raj acted in back-to-back stage shows for ₹300 a month in the initial stages of his career, when he joined Kalakshetra, Bengaluru, and he has 2,000 street theatre performances to his credit.

Prakash began his television career with Doordarshan serials such as Bisilu Kudure (Kannada) and Guddada Bhootha (Tulu and Kannada). He later took up supporting roles in Kannada films such as Ramachari, Ranadheera, Nishkarsha and Lockup Death. He was noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics. His breakthrough role came in Harakeya Kuri, directed by K. S. L. Swamy starring Vishnuvardhan, with whom he had acted in other films such as Mithileya Seetheyaru, Muthina Haara and Nishkarsha. His performance was noticed by Geetha, the lead heroine of the film, who introduced Prakash to her mentor K. Balachander, a Tamil director. He acted under the screen name "Prakash Rai" in Kannada films and was given the name "Prakash Raj" by K. Balachander for his debut Tamil film Duet, which saw him playing his first major role.

Prakash re-entered Kannada films through Nagamandala in 1997, directed by T. S. Nagabharana, which was selected for the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival in 1997. He was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's biopic Iruvar. The movie dealt with the relationship between politicians M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He starred in many Malayalam films in 1996: The Prince, Indraprastham and Oru Yathramozhi, the last of which released in 1997. He also acted in Pandippada, with Dilip in 2005, Thekkekara Superfast in 2003, Keerthichakra in 2006, Amal Neerad's Anwar and Shyamaprasad's sensational movie Elecktra in 2010. For most of his Mollywood movies, he will render his own voice. He was also seen in the movie Achayans along with Jayaram.

He acted in many Telugu films, including Antahpuram (1998), which earned him a National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention.

He played an important role in Venkat Prabhu's Saroja. In 2008, he produced a film titled Abhiyum Naanum and played an important character in it. He remade the movie in Kannada as Naanu Nanna Kanasu.

Prakash Raj also acted in a 2004-released multi starrer hit film Khakee along with Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar & Tushar Kapoor, playing Assistant Commissioner of Police Shrikant Naidu, Angre's main mole in the police force. Since Wanted (2009), Prakash Raj has been a regular villain in Hindi language Bollywood movies, including Singham, Dabangg 2, Mumbai Mirror (2013), and Policegiri.

He acted with actor Kamal Haasan in Vasool Raja MBBS, which was a critical and commercial success. Then, he paired again with Kamal Haasan in Thoongaa Vanam (2015). He acted in the Telugu movie Bharat Ane Nenu (2018). He will be seen in Major, which is directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka.

As a director

Prakash took on the mantle of director with Naanu Nanna Kanasu, in Kannada in 2010, for which he was the joint producer. The film completed 125 days successfully in the theatres across Karnataka, becoming the biggest hit of the year. He was nominated for the Filmfare South "Best Director" category for his first film.

He then directed the Telugu and Tamil bilingual film Dhoni. In 2014, he directed the multilingual film Oggarane (in Kannada), Ulavacharu Biryani (in Telugu) and Un Samayal Arayil (in Tamil). 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.

As a film producer

Prakash became a film producer beginning with the Tamil film Dhaya (2002), in which he starred with actress Meena. It earned him a Special Jury National Award for his performance. He later produced films in Tamil such as Naam (2003), Azhagiya Theeye (2004), Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005), Poi (2006), Mozhi (2007), Velli Thirai and Abhiyum Naanum, which won many Tamil Nadu State Awards in 2008, and Inidhu Inidhu in 2010.

The first non-Tamil film that he produced was his directorial debut in Kannada, Naanu Nanna Kanasu, a remake of his own Tamil production Abhiyum Naanum, for which he was the joint producer, along with his long-time Bengaluru theatre friend, Kannada director-producer B. Suresha. In 2011, he acted and jointly produced the Kannada film Puttakkana Highway, again with Suresh, who directed the film. It was a milestone in Prakash's production career since Puttakkana Highway won him the National Award for Best Regional Film for the year 2010–2011, and an award in the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival of 2011.

In 2011, he produced the Tamil version of the Tamil-Telugu bilingual Payanam in 2011, starring Nagarjuna Akkineni and himself. In 2012, he produced two Tamil films; Mayilu and Dhoni. In 2013, he produced a Telugu-Tamil bilingual film; Gouravam. He produced a multilingual film Oggarane (Kannada), Ulavacharu Biryani (Telugu) and Un Samayal Arayil (Tamil) in 2014. Oggarane became a huge blockbuster hit that year.

Humanitarian work

Prakash Raj adopted the villages of Kondareddypalle in Mahabubnagar District, Telangana state and Bandlarahatti in Chitradurga district, Karnataka state.

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Prakash Raj
President presenting the Best Actor Award to Prakash Raj for the film Kanchivaram, at the 55th National Film Awards

Political career

Prakash Raj started his active political movement with the hashtag #justasking on social media after his friend Gauri Lankesh's assassination incident in September 2017.

He contested in the 2019 Indian general election as an independent candidate for the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. Raj lost the election, securing around 28,906 Votes (2.41%) in the election.

Controversies

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 in Mahesh'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."

It was the first time that an actor was banned by the Telugu industry. Telugu film industry insiders interpret the ban as a conspiracy by several big heroes and producers. Problems started during the shooting of the Telugu films Pawan Kalyan's Jalsa, NTR Jr's Kantri, and Allu Arjun's Parugu.

There was controversy for his naked appearance in a sequence in his latest Telugu release Ongole 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. Director Bhaskar told me that it would be an 'important' sequence in the context of the film and I just carried out his instructions."

Several Kannada organisations staged protests in front of theatres since they felt that some of the dialogue in a scene in the Hindi film Singham, starring Ajay Devgan and Prakash were derogatory against the Kannadigas. The Karnataka 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 and Maharashtra. Kannada protesters also felt that Prakash, being a Kannadiga should have told the team that it is not right. Prakash reacted to it to the Kannada and the Telugu 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 in Goa, the Karnataka border." Finally the dialogue was removed, and the whole team of Singham including the director Rohit Shetty, the production house "Reliance Big Entertainment", and Prakash apologized to all the Kannadigas; the issue was resolved.

References

  1. "I stopped taking life for granted after my son's death: Prakash Raj". The Times of India. 10 July 2013. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  2. "dinakaran". 6 December 2000. Archived from the original on 6 December 2000. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  3. "Prakash Rai responds to detractors". The Times of India. 23 December 2017. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. 'I cannot allow love to rule my thoughts' Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, hindu.com, 8 June 2004.
  5. Catching them young! Archived 26 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Malathi Rangarajan, 19 August 2010 The Hindu
  6. "46th National Film Festival 1999, pg 82" (PDF). nic.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  7. "55th National Film Awards for the Year 2007" (PDF). Press Information Bureau (Govt. of India). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  8. Raghavan, Nikhil (14 February 2013). "The game changer". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  9. ^ "I cannot allow love to rule my thoughts". The Hindu. 8 June 2004. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  10. ^ "Prakash Raj Openheart with RK ABN Andhrajyothy". YouTube. 6 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  11. "Actor Prakashraj". dinakaran.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2000. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  12. "Actor Prakash Raj | Open Heart with RK | Full Episode | ABN Telugu – YouTube". YouTube. 10 June 2019. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  13. Prakash Raj's brother debuts in Kollywood – Tamil Movie News Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Indiaglitz.com (23 September 2010). Retrieved on 10 June 2014.
  14. Gupta, Priya. "I stopped taking life for granted after my son's death: Prakash Raj". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  15. "Prakash Raj: Not getting Hindi film offers after criticising Modi". The Times of India. 5 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  16. "Prakashraj and Pony Verma get married". Thaindian News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  17. "Actor Prakash Raj's son dies". The Times of India. 21 March 2004. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  18. "Prakash Raj Granted Divorce". Yahoo! India. 19 November 2009. Archived from the original on 23 November 2009.
  19. "Prakash Raj marriage with Pony Verma". www.supergoodmovies.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  20. "Little hero Vedhanth, big villain Prakash Raj – Telugu News". IndiaGlitz.com. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  21. "Cute Vedanth's picture – Andhra Headlines". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  22. ^ "I stopped taking life for granted after my son's death: Prakash Raj". The Times of India. 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  23. "'Naanu Nanna Kanasu' in Hindi". Deccan Herald. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  24. ^ "Prakash Raj set to take Kannada film industry by storm". Ibnlive.in.com. 17 September 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  25. ^ "Prakash Raj To Remake Malayalam Hit – Prakash Raj – Duet Movies – Tamil Movie News". Behindwoods.com. 18 August 2012. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  26. ^ "'Vaggarane' from Prakash Raj – Kannada Movie News". IndiaGlitz.com. 14 September 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  27. ^ "Prakash Raj in Kannada version of Salt and Pepper". The Times of India. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  28. ^ "Prakash Raj's Oggarane is a huge success at the Box Office". Rediff. 16 June 2014. Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  29. ^ "Oggarane Success!". 14 June 2014. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  30. ^ "Prakash Raj S Oggarane Is A Huge Success At The Box Office - Movie News :: MovieSamachar.com". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  31. ^ "[News] Prakash Raj's Oggarane is a huge success ... – Veooz 360". Veooz. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014.
  32. ^ "Filmy Filmy – Bollywood News – Bollywood ShowBiz and Celebrity photos – Bollywood gossip". Filmy Filmy. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  33. ^ "Oggarane film success press meet". Nth Wall. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  34. "Prakash Raj finalizes". Behindwoods. 11 November 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  35. "National Film Award for Prakash Raj – Puttakkana Highway | Cine Vedika | Telugu |Film News | Daily Serials | TV Shows | Movies| Music". Cine Vedika. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  36. "'Lucky' wins the Golden Bherunda award at BIFF – IBN South – IBN Bangalore – ibnlive". Ibnlive.in.com. 26 December 2011. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  37. "Humanity of Prakash Raj Makes tollywood industry proud". TNP. Hyderabad, India. 7 September 2015. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  38. "Prakash Raj vows to make Chitradurga village fluoride-free". Coastaldigest.com – The Trusted News Portal of India, Coastal Karnataka. 27 January 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  39. "Prakash Raj gets 'whistle' symbol from Bengaluru Central, urges citizens to be 'whistleblowers'", Times Now, 29 March 2019, archived from the original on 1 April 2019, retrieved 1 April 2019
  40. "Prakash Rai files nomination from Bengaluru Central". Deccan Herald. 22 March 2019. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  41. "Election results: Prakash Raj calls defeat in Bangalore Central a "solid slap on my face"". www.businesstoday.in. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  42. "An Interview With Prakash Raj – Interviews". CineGoer.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  43. ^ "Tollywood bans Prakash Raj". The Times of India. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  44. "Multifaceted actor Prakash Raj banned in Tollywood". Kollywood Today. 2 June 2008. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  45. "Prakash Raj banned in Tollywood!". Sify. 1 June 2008. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  46. "Ban on Prakash Raj – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz.com. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  47. "Tamil movies : Prakashraj banished from acting". Behindwoods.com. 11 September 2006. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  48. "Videos – Prakash Raj Defends nude scenes in 'Ongolu Gittha'". IndiaGlitz.com. 27 March 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  49. "Prakash Raj defends his nude act scenes in Ongole Gitta – Oneindia Entertainment". Entertainment.oneindia.in. 5 February 2013. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  50. "Singham dialogue offends Kannadigas – Entertainment – DNA". Dnaindia.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  51. "Remove derogatory remarks from all prints of Singham". The Hindu. 24 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  52. "Prakash Raj's dialogues in Singham become controversial". Andhravilas. Archived from the original on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  53. "We're sorry, says Singham team". The Times of India. 24 July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  54. Hooli, Shekhar (24 July 2011). "Singham team tenders apology to Kannadigas – Oneindia Entertainment". Entertainment.oneindia.in. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  55. "Tv9 – Prakash Raj's dialogues in Singham become controversial". YouTube. 25 July 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  56. "TV9 – "Prakash Raj" Apologizes Kannadigas". YouTube. 23 July 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2013.

External links

National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1967–1980
1981–2000
2001–2020
2021–present
National Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1984–2000
2001–present
National Film Award – Special Jury Award (feature film)
1978–1980
1981–2000
2001–present
National Film Award – Special Mention (feature film)
Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nandi Awards
1981–1990
1991–2000
2001–2010
2011–present
Category
IIFA Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor
1972–1989
1990–2009
2010–2019
Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Supporting Actor
2002–2018
2020–present
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Telugu
Nandi Award for Best Character Actor
Nandi Awards
1994–2000
2001–2010
2011–present
Category
SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Kannada
Malayalam
Tamil
Telugu
SIIMA Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu
2011–2020
2021–present
Categories: