Prakash Raj, one of the most loved faces of Indian cinema, celebrated his 57th birthday on March 26. Prakash has played a villain in several films, with often a comic or eccentric finesse for decades. His work has been appreciated by the audience from all walks of life cutting across language boundaries.
Starting with Kannada films, Prakash Raj entered Tamil cinema with Duet, directed by K Balachander. The movie, based on a French film named Cyrano de Bergerac, received a lot of acclaim. It did not do well at the box office, though.
Although Prakash Raj appeared in a series of Tamil films following Duet, 1996’s Iruvar by Mani Ratnam was the turning point for him. This movie also marked the big-screen debut of Aishwariya Rai, who would go on to become a big-league actor later.
Prakash delivered a splendid performance in Appu, a remake of the Hindi film Sadak. He played the character of a transgender named Maharani, a character portrayed by late actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar in the original. His performance in Appu was widely praised.
He got a chance to share screen space with reigning Tamil superstar Rajnikanth in Padayappa. He then established his position as the eccentric villain with the Vijay starrer Gilli. His performance in Gilli led to him being offered the villainous role in many other movies like Pokkiri and Singam. He brought a sense of comedy in his performance even while he was playing a ruthless villain and that set him apart from the rest. He even alternated between playing ruthless villains and positive supporting characters such as in Vasool Raja MBBS which was a remake of the Sanjay Dutt starrer Munna Bhai MBBS.
He won the National Award for his film Kanjivaram directed by Priyadarshan. Apart from acting, the versatile actor has also directed films like Dhoni and Un Samayal Arayil.
