A brief description of the’*’ marked words can be seen in the comments.
In the year 2003 the National awards committee faced a strange situation. Eight movies from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka including Maniratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal (1), Krishnavamsi’s (2) Khadgam (sword) competed for the best actor award. However, all the entries bear the name of one actor. Astonished by the actor’s histrionics and his ability to speak in all the south Indian languages with equal ease, the committee conferred a special jury award “For versatile and powerful performance in different languages and Contribution to South Indian cinema” and presented it to him by the hands of A P J Abdul Kalam. With three National Awards, six “Nandi”(3) Awards of the Andhra Pradesh Government and Tamil Nadu Government’s prestigious “Kalaimamani”(4) in his kit, he is hungry for more. That’s Prakash Raj.
Hailing from Bangalore, he was born in a lower middle class family to a binder in Government Press. Drawing inspiration from the prizes he won in debates, elocutions and plays he joined the Kannada theatre after completing B. Com from St Joseph’s college in Bangalore. During the emergency he traveled on a cycle through out the state and gave around 2000 performances against the government. Soon he understood that theatre is not going to help him financially. Before entering the film industry he dabbled in various activities-as a scriptwriter, fighter, set designer, reporter, model for photo comics. Balachander (*5) introduced him to the film industry in the year 1994. That movie that marked the beginning of an era is “Duet” for which he received two thousand rupees as remuneration. He was introduced to tollywood in the movie “Sankalpam”(will) in 1995. Though acting is something related to the senses, he strongly believes that we should know the language to emote correct expressions. In this pursuit he learnt telugu, tamil, kannada, malayalam, hindi and simhala. This actor who was once turned down by All India Radio, Bangalore that his tone doesn’t suit the media won adulations from Amitabh Bachan that his voice and pronunciation are outstanding, during the shooting of the movie “khakhi”. From such a humble beginning, he reached a stage now that scriptwriters make sure that there is a character in their movie, which can be donned only by him.
So, what is behind the huge success? “I observed that there is a dearth of character artists in the south film industry. I want to fill the gap”, he said in an interview given to a leading news magazine. What makes him so special is the versatility. If there are three movies running in a multiplex, Prakash Raj will be part of the cast in some or all of the movies. He might be the villain in one of them and father of the heroine in the other. You can see him acting as the father of Arti in “Nuvvu Naku Nachav”(I liked you) and the same actor as the brother of Asin in “Sivamani” and a young faction leader who wants to marry Bhumika in “Okkadu”(The One). He changes his body language and physique to suit the character. Though he is the most sought after actor, there are instances of reducing his remuneration or acting for free, just for the sake of bagging the character. Directors who have a challenging character to be donned, but cannot afford him can straightly go and ask for his dates.
His interests include gardening in his farmhouse at Old Mahabalipuram road in Chennai and spending time on the seashore. He is also a voracious reader of Osho and Jiddu Krishna Murthy (6). Be ready to be surprised, if he quotes Sri Sri (7) from “Mahaprasthanam”(*8), in these days when most Telugu people don’t know who he is. Though gossips are ripe in the film industry that he is head strong, he comes late to the shootings; people who know him intimately will deny it. Infact, he gifted his personal makeup man a house in Madhapur in Hyderabad on his birthday.
Here is a brief listing of some of the mile stones in his career-
Iruavar- He acted as Karunanidhi in this Maniratnam directed movie about the life and times of MGR, the legendary Tamil actor who later became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
Anthahpuram (*9)- One of his all time favorite characters. He acted as a faction leader in this Krishna vamsi directed movie.
Appu- This eunuch character won the appreciation of Kamal Hassan, Sivaji Ganesan (10) and Bharati Raja. (10)
Shakti- He entered bollywood with a cameo role in this Hindi remake of “Anthahpuram”.
1996: Nandi Award for best villain in the movie Gun Shot.
1997: National Award for best supporting actor in the movie Iruavar.
1998: Nandi Award for best character actor in the movie Anthahpuram.
1998: Special Jury National Award for the movie Anthahpuram.
2000: Nandi Award for best supporting actor in the movie Azad.
2003: Special Jury National Award “For versatile and powerful performance in different languages and Contribution to South Indian cinema”.
2003: T N Government’s “Kalaimamani”.
(Inputs assorted from various movie magazines).
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Maniratnam’s movie with the backdrop of LTTE.
Telugu movie director known for his creativity and taking. Some people consider him to be on par with Maniratnam.
Annual Awards given by Andhra Pradesh government to improve excellence in Telugu cinema.
Award given by Tamil Nadu Government for outstanding contribution to arts and society.
Director who directed actors including superstars Rajni Kanth, Chiranjeevi and Kamal Hassan and known for some of his outstanding works.
A spiritual leader and philosopher known for his writings. Also established a residential school on the gurukul model of teaching, at Horsely hills in Andhra Pradesh.
One of the greatest poets of Telugu Literature, whose collection of poems “Mahaprasthanam” gave inspiration to a number of youth and student movements during the period 1965-1980. The Maoists in Andhra Pradesh treat it as their Bible.
A collection of poems by Sri Sri.
The private house of the kings is called by this name.
Noted Tamil Directors.