He has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. His original name 'Prakash Rai' in
Kannada screen was rechristened to 'Prakash Raj' by K. Balachander for Prakash Rai's
debut movie 'Duet'.
Prakash Raj 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.
Prakash Rai 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 Rai is a very famous actor in South India for a wide variety
of roles he has performed, most notably as a villain and of late, as a
character artiste, in Tamil and Telugu. 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,
alongside Superstar Mohanlal. The movie was about the relationship
between politicians M.G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, which he won
the best supporting actor award alongside Mohanlal, who won the best
actor award.
One of Prakash Rai'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. He is presently
shooting for a Telugu film in Hyderabad called Kotha Bandham - Meeru
Naaku Ardham Kaaru, in which he plays an IAS officer.Unfortunately, he
has been banned from Telugu Film industry due to the troubles he caused
in filmmaking. He is concerned about his productions in Tamil and unable
to manage all the fields.
Awards
National Film 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.
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.[citation needed] 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.
Now he is also very busy as a producer for his 3 forthcoming films.
Prakash Raj had danced in a whole song for his film Vellithirai, a folk
song named "Kanchi Paanaiyin Maela."
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, Tulu, English, Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu. He considers K. Balachander as his guru and mentor. |
