Prakash Raj Biography

thespian and television presenter who is known for his works in the South Indian film industry, and few bollywood films. He 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.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.Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu. The couple divorced in 2009. Prakash Raj claims that he is an atheist. He married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They have a son, Vedhanth.

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 apologised to all the Kannadigas; the issue was resolved.He is also a television presenter and has worked in films of many languages. He is best known for his work in the film industry of South India, and for playing roles of a villain in quite a few Bollywood films. He hails from a Tulu and Kannada-speaking household and is fluent in various other languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. He also has an actor brother named Prasad Raj. He studied at St. Joseph’s Boy’s School, and subsequently, at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Both institutions are in Bangalore. Prakash has three children, Meghana, Pooja, and Sidhu, from his earlier marriage to the actress Lalitha Kumari. His son, unfortunately, passed away in the year 2004. He is currently married to the choreographer Pony Verma. In the first few years of his career, he worked in Kannada Doordarshan, doing serials like Guddada Bhootha, and he also acted in supporting roles in Kannada movies like Nishkarsha.

He gained immense recognition from the movie, Harakeya Kuri, starring alongside actors Vishnuvardhan and Geetha. He has also done many stage shows like Netru, Indru, Naalai, and biopic films like Iruvar. The Indian Government felicitated him with the National Film Award for the Best Supporting Actor, for the movie, “Iruvar”, and the National Film Award for Best Actor for the Tamil movie, “Kanchivaram”. In the form of a tribute to his first movie gaining lot of success, he kept his production company name as “Duet Movies”. He earned commercial success with movies like “Naanu Nanna Kanasu”, which he also directed, and “Poi” He has won many other National Awards too. He has been acting in Bollywood since the year 2000, mostly for dubbing some for his films in Hindi. As a debutant Bollywood actor, he worked in the movie “Shakti-The Power”, in the year 2001. He has also acted in Hindi films like “Buddha Hoga Tera Baap”, “Singham” and “Wanted”.