Star Portrait-Prakash Raj

Prakash Raj is a popular character artist. He was born on 26 March 1965  in Puttur, Karnataka in a Bunt family.

Education

He completed schooling at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore and  later joined St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore.

Personal

 Prakash Rai changed his name to Prakash Raj based on prominent Tamil  film director K. Balachander's advice, however he is still called Prakash  Rai in his home town Karnataka.Prakash married actress Lalitha Kumari in  1994. They have two daughters—Meghana and Pooja and a son, Sidhu. Sidhu  died of injuries sustained in a fall in 2004.The couple divorced in  2009.He married choreographer Pony Verma on August 24, 2010

Films

 He is actor, director, producer and television presenter, who mainly  works in the South Indian film industry. After working in the Kannada  cinema for a few years, he entered Tamil film industry, through K.  Balachander in his movie Duet (1994). In remembrance, he named his  production company Duet Movies. He has played a variety of roles,  most notably as the antagonist and of late, as a character actor. He has  won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani  Ratnam's Iruvar and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2009 for his  role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan. Prakash  Raj is also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi from the game show's  second season onwards.

Producer

Prakash Raj Produced Naanu Nanna Kanasu in Kannada (2010), a remake of his own Tamil production Abhiyum Naanum.His latest directorial venture is a Tamil – Telugu bilingual, sports venture Dhoni named after Indian cricket captain.

Director

He took on the mantle of director and has directed several movies in Tamil (Kollywood). Most of the movies he produced turned out to be box-office hits and were also critically acclaimed.

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 for his performance.. He made Puttakkana Highway in Kannada which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada in 2011.

Mumbai Mirror movie review

Cast: Sachiin Joshi, Prakash Raj, Gihana Khan, Vimala Raman, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sudesh Berry, Aditya Pancholi, Prashant Narayanan
Direction: Ankush Bhatt
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 2 hours 7 minutes

Fri 25 Jan 2013
Story: A powerful and corrupt dance bar-boss exploits the Mumbai cops to boost his sleazy business; but a daring inspector cracks down on his plans, exposing 'rats' amidst his own men-in-uniform.

Movie Review: Chor Police anyone? We've all played the game. But here comes a new twisted tale to show us that there ain't nothing like a good cop or bad cop. A cop is a cop. That sets the premise for this fast-paced police-drama, filled with bad boys and some good fellas.
Shetty (Prakash Raj) is Mumbai's biggest bhai, owning several dance bars - a 'hot-bed' for other nefarious activities for his customers who are always 'tight'. Abhijeet Patil (Sachiin Joshi) is a cocky, super cool (a tad bit stylish too) and an audaciously overconfident inspector; who shows absolutely no mercy for one burning issue - atyachar against women. Of course, along with the 'khakee' comes some 'grey' too. He beds (one-night-stands), bets (on cricket matches) and snorts coke. On the other side, he hooks up with a pretty and pancaked TV crime reporter, Jiah ( Vimala Raman).
Adding more weight to this underbelly drama are characters like the unscrupulous CBI Officer, Yadav (Sudesh Berry) who ends every dialogue with 'carrect me if I wrong?'; Patil's boss-cum-mamu ACP Gaitonde ( Mahesh Manjrekar), Manish ( Prashant Narayanan), another cop and Patil's rival and Shetty's sex-pot, Rani ( Gihana Khan), who also doubles up as his item girl.


Sachiin Joshi does a fairly good job of a cool cop with a chip on his shoulder. His bheja satkaoing whenever he sees a woman abused - relevant in today's times. He slips into the character like a gun in a holster. However, what's missing is a booming baritone that could pack more punch. Prakash Raj, in his silk lungis and hard lines like 'jeeto toh rokda, warna Prem Chopra', adds humour with fear. Sudesh Berry strikes with his Bihari accent in a brief role. Aditya Pancholi tries to evoke fear, but doesn't go far.

Ankush Bhatt's slick flick grittily exposes the nexus between seedy cops and sleazy bars barons, albeit with a lot of Dabangg-isms. It has flaws in the first half, and also too many killings - random and ruthless. However, the second half sums up the suspense - blood soaked in tragic truths and raw realities.

It mirrors the ugly face of Mumbai, but one that's desperately calling for a clean-up job.

Damarukam review

 

Cast: Nagarjuna, Anushka, Prakash Raj, Ravi Shankar
Direction: Srinivas Redde
Genre: Fantasy
Duration: 2 hours 36 minutes

Synopsis: Andhakasura ( Ravi Shankar) is the last surviving asura (demon) who comes back from eons of hibernation to take revenge against the gods who decimated his race. But to realise his dream he needs to sacrifice Maheswari (Anushka). But he finds an unlikely nemesis in Mallikarjuna (Nagarjuna).

Movie Review: The movie lives up to its tag of being a "visual effects extravaganza", at least in terms of sheer quantity. With monsters, devils, sorcerers, gods, naga sadhus and the works. . .this movie probably packs more minutes of vfx than any other Telugu film.

But then quality of the computer generated gimmickry is much harder to ascertain. It depends on what the benchmark is, for they keep changing all the time. If you compare the visual experience with that of Kodi Ramakrishna's 1995 film, Ammoru, this movie would be miles ahead. But compared to Arundhati and Eega, the wizardry seems marginally better at best, save the menacing monster that crops up in the climax episode.

The film has a very simple premise. At the beginning of universe when the gods waged a war against asuras they manage to vanquish all except Andhakasura. Seething with revenge he disappears into oblivion waiting for an opportune time to for vendetta. It presents itself in the form of Maheshwari who is born with the blessings of goddess Parvati. If Andhakasura can marry her and offer her as a sacrifice to the dark forces on the day of total solar eclipse he will be blessed with the power to rule the universe. But to have his way, he first needs to vanquish Mallikarjuna, a protege of Lord Shiva, who stands in the way.

Now that's a decent premise to begin with but the characterization and narrative flow proves to be the film's undoing. Prakash Raj looks a tad tacky playing Lord Shiva and looks more like Swami Nithyanada with a straight nose. Ravi Shankar's get-up looks like a cheap imitation of the nepala manthrikudu character in Pathala Bhairavi. So perhaps more original imagination would have helped here. Brahmandam's comic track is funny in parts.

As far as performances go, well they are over the top but fall short of being good, save for Nagarjuna who essays his role with his trademark panache. Well, Anushka has little to do as far as performance goes and does a good job of upping the glam quotient.

The background score by Devisri Prasad is pretty impressive and the sound of the dhol and chantings about Lord Shiva reverberate all through the film. The songs are good too. The graphics are good but they just seem to have a video game feel to them. It's just that the movie doesn't come together as an experience.

Tip Off: As long as you go to the movie not expecting to be blown off your seat, you won't walk out disappointed.