Prakash Raj Biography:
Born: 26 March 1965
Age : 54 years
Birthplace : Bengaluru
Height: 1.75 m
Spouse: Pony Verma (m. 2010), Lalitha Kumari (m. 1994–2009)
Children: Sidhu Rai, Meghna Rai, Pooja Rai, Vedhanth
Education: St. Joseph’s Indian High School PU College
Prakash Raj was born as Prakash Rai on 26th March 1965. He is an Indian film actor, director, producer, thespian, television presenter, activist and politician. Prakash is known for his incredible work in the South Indian film industry and Hindi films.
Early life:
Prakash has acted in back-to-back stage shows for 300rs 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. After working in the Kannada television industry and the Kannada cinema for a few years, 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. Prakash has also worked in a number of Hindi films. Apart from his mother tongue Kannada, Prakash Raj’s fluency in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi and English has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.
He has 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 (feature film) 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. Suresh in 2011. Prakash was also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi during the show’s second season.
Personal Life:
Prakash Raj was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka (then known as Mysore State) in a lower-middle-class family. His brother is Prasad Rai, who is also an actor. He completed schooling at St Joseph’s Indian High School, Bangalore and joined St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore. Prakash Rai changed his surname to Raj based on prominent Tamil film director K. Balachander’s advice; he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka. [Citation needed] Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu. The couple divorced in 2009. Later he married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They soon had a son name Vedhanth.
Career:
Prakash began his acting 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.
Prakash 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 will also be seen in his upcoming movie Achayans.
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.
Since Wanted (2009), Prakash Raj has been a regular villain in Hindi language Bollywood movies, including Singham (2011), as Jaikant Shikre, Dabangg 2, as Bachcha Singh, Mumbai Mirror (2013), as Shetty, and the movie Policegiri, opposite Sanjay Dutt and Prachi Desai, as Nagori. He acted with actor Kamal Haasan in the film Thoongaa Vanam (2015). He acted in Telugu movie Bharath Ane Nenu.
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 Film fare South “Best Director” category for his very 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). The Tamil and the Telugu versions didn’t do any miracles at the box office, while Oggarane, the Kannada version became the runaway blockbuster hit of the year.
Prakash became a producer beginning with the Tamil film Dhaya (2002), in which he was seen in the lead role 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), starring Uday Kiran, his mentor K. Balachander and himself), 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 in 2010, 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. Suresh. In 2011, he acted and jointly produced the Kannada film Puttakkana Highway, again with B. 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.
His first Telugu production was the Tamil-Telugu bilingual Payanam (Gaganam) in 2011, starring superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni and himself in the lead role. 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.
Prakash raj will be seen starring as Mohan Kumar in Batla House an upcoming Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Nikkhil Advani. Inspired by the Operation Batla House that took place in 2008, the film stars John Abraham in the lead role as a police officer named Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.The film is scheduled to release theatrically on 15 August 2019.
Body statistics:
As of 2019 Prakash Raj is 54 years old and his sun sign is Aries. He is 5 feet and 9 inches (175 cm) Tall and weighs around 80 kg (176 lbs.). His body measurements maybe (chest-waist-biceps) 40-32-14 inches. Prakash has brown eyes and black hairs.
Favorite Things:
- Food: Biriyani.
- Actress: Trisha.
- Film: Aakasamantha.
Facts:
- Prakash initially gained interest in acting after his first play in 7th
- He got his name ‘Prakash Raj’ from director ‘Balachander.
- He is owner of Production Company called ‘Duet Movies’.
- His son sidhu was just 5 years old when he died after falling from a table while flying a kite.
- Buddha has a big impact on his mind and lifestyle.
- Tamil actress Geetha helped him in his struggling days by introducing him with Balachander, after which he took him in a ‘duet’.
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