Prakash Raj

Some Lesser Known Facts About Prakash Raj

• Prakash Raj is an Indian actor, film director, politician, producer, and television presenter, who received the National Film Award in 1997, 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2010.

• Prakash was born to a Hindu father and a Roman Catholic mother. ^[22]The Indian Express

• He faced many financial difficulties in childhood. His father was an alcoholic, and all the financial expenses were managed by his mother single-handedly.

• In school, he used to participate in various stage plays and developed an interest in acting. In an interview, while remembering his school days, he said,
  

  In school, I did plays for the applause. But once I came to theatre, I realised how theatre can be a movement. I didn’t come to theatre to become an actor, I was in search of an identity. All I knew was that I was not comfortable with being an accountant, but I didn’t know that I would reach here.”

• He then participated in college stage plays. In an interview, while talking about the same, he said,
  

  In college, I was more interested in arranging strikes and forming gangs. Once, during second year of college, one of my professors said, ‘You are wasting your time in college.’ Something hit me and I just walked out of the college for five kms and walked straight into Kalakshetra. For the next six months, I did not tell anyone at home that I was actually not going to college, but was doing theatre rehearsals. I started taking acting seriously.”

• He has performed in more than 2000 street plays, and he has been associated with K Balachander school of acting. Initially, he used to get Rs 300 per month for stage plays. ^[23]News Daily India

• After working in various theatre plays, he got an offer to work in a Kannada TV serial. Initially, he played small roles in TV serials, and he bagged the first lead role in 1995 in the Kannada TV serial ‘Guddada Bhootha.’

  

• He then appeared in a few Tamil TV serials like ‘Chinna Chinna Aasaigal’ (1995) and ‘Sahana’ (2003).

• He then ventured into Kannada films. In the beginning, he got cameo roles in films like ‘Mithileya Seetheyaru’ (1998), ‘Muthina Haara’ (1990), ‘Anukoolakkobba Ganda’ (1990), ‘Keralida Kesari’ (1991), and ‘Mallige Hoove’ (1992).

• He has appeared in various Kannada films like ‘Nagamandala’ (1997), ‘Atithi’ (2002), ‘Rajadhani’ (2011), ‘Seizer’ (2018), and ‘K.G.F: Chapter 2’ (2021).

  

• Prakash was introduced to Indian film director K Balachander by one of his co-stars in the Kannada film ‘Harakeya Kuri’ (1993). K Balachander offered Prakash a lead role in one of his Tamil films. He then appeared in various Tamil films like ‘Kalki’ (1996), ‘Iruvar’ (1997), ‘Kanchivaram’ (2008), ‘Abhiyum Naanum’ (2008), and ‘Jai Bhim’ (2021). He received criticism from some of the audience for slapping a man for speaking Hindi in a scene from the film ‘Jai Bhim.’ ^[24]India Today In an interview, while talking about the scene, he said,
  

  After watching a film like Jai Bhim, they did not see the agony of the tribal people, they did not see and feel terrible about the injustice, they saw only the slap. That is all they understood; this exposes their agenda. That said, certain things have to be documented.”He added,For example, the anger of South Indians on Hindi being forced on them. How else will a police officer who is investigating a case react when he knows that a person who knows the local language chooses to speak in Hindi to dodge questioning? That has to be documented, right? The film is set in the 1990s. If that character had Hindi imposed on him, he would have reacted this way only. Probably if it came across as more intense, it is also because that is my thought too, and I stand by that thought.”

• He hosted the Tamil TV quiz show ‘Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kod’ in 2013.

  

• He has also appeared in the English/Hindi film ‘CandyFlip’ (2016).

• Prakash Raj is a popular name in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in many Malayalam films like ‘Oru Yathramozhi’ (1997), ‘Pandippada’ (2005), ‘Elektra’ (2010), ‘Odiyan’ (2018), and ‘Pada’ (2022).

• Apart from South Indian films, he has gained immense popularity in Hindi films as well. Some of his popular Hindi films are ‘Khakee’ (2004), ‘Shart: The Challenge’ (2004), ‘Wanted’ (2009), ‘Singham’ (2011), ‘Dabangg 2’ (2012), and ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ (2013).

• Prakash has acted in Telugu films as well. Some of his Telugu films as an actor are ‘Hitler (1997), ‘Raja Kumarudu’ (1999), ‘Nuvve Nuvve’ (2002), ‘Tagore’ (2003), ‘Maharshi’ (2019), and ‘Vakeel Saab’ (2021).

• He did a nude scene for one of his Telugu films ‘Ongole Gitta’ (2013). He received criticism from the audience for the scene, and the film was released with an ‘A’ certificate rating. During an interview, while talking about the scene, he said,
  

  I did not shed my clothes for creating a sensation, I had no plans to star in that sequence. The script demanded it; as an actor, I have to abide by the script. Director Bhaskar told me that it would be an ‘important’ sequence in the context of the film and I just carried out his instructions.”

• Apart from acting, he is a producer and director. He has produced various films under his film production banner Prakash Raj Productions. He has worked as a producer in Tamil films like ‘Daya’ (2002), ‘Azhagiya Theeye’ (2004), ‘Mozhi’ (2007), ‘Abhiyum Naanum’ (2008), and ‘Mayilu’ (2012).

  

• Some of his Kannada films as a producer are ‘Puttakkana Highway’ (2011), ‘Idolle Ramayana’ (2016), and ‘Arishadvarga’ (2020).

• Prakash has worked in a few Tamil web series like ‘Navarasa’ (2021) and ‘Anantham’ (2022).

  

• In 2016, he started a portable vegetable bazaar named Prakash Raj Veg Mantra at Chitrapuri Colony, Manikonda, Hyderabad.

  

• He is actively involved in social work. His non-government organisations named Prakash Raj Foundation and Just Asking Foundation have been working for the welfare of society for a long time.

• In 2015, he adopted a village named Kondareddypalli in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana. Since then, he has been working on the up-gradation of the village by providing various facilities.

• Under his NGOs, he has been providing help to various organisations like Hasiru Dala for waste pickers’ families, Thamate Centre for Rural empowerment for the families of manual scavengers, Audience Films & FEFSI for daily wage workers’ families of the film industry, Sumangali Seva Ashram, Grama Seva Sangh, Scope Enterprises for supporting fishermen families & other poor families around Kovalam Village, Tamil Nadu.

  

• After the assassination of the Indian journalist-turned-activist Gauri Lankesh in 2017, he started a political movement #justasking on social media. During an interview, he talked about the movement, he said,
  

  #JustAsking is a movement I have started. I want to be with the people. It is my journey, my fight to be, first, an honest, fearless citizen of the country. What it will snowball into I don’t know. But now, I will be airing political views, I will be travelling among people when elections in Karnataka are on, telling people to just ask. I won’t tell them who to vote for but I will tell them who not to vote. That’s my right.”

• In 2019, he was defeated by a BJP candidate by a huge margin of 6 lakh votes in the 2019 Indian general election for the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. He then took to Twitter, to talk about it. He tweeted,
  

  A SOLID SLAP on my face ..as More ABUSE..TROLL..and HUMILIATION come my way..I WILL STAND MY GROUND ..My RESOLVE to FIGHT for SECULAR INDIA will continue..A TOUGH JOURNEY AHEAD HAS JUST BEGUN ..THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO WERE WITH ME IN THIS JOURNEY. …. JAI HIND.”

• During an interview, while talking about joining any Indian political party, he said,
  

  These parties are not honest. I cannot stay at any party for more than three months. I want to be the voice of the people.”

• In 2019, he campaigned in the support of an AAP candidate. While talking to the reporters, he said,

This is what we need, this is my gesture, and my belief, that different people with different thought processes but love for the country come together to make this democracy, to reclaim our republic which is on the verge and that we may lose with the onslaught of communal and hatred politics of the government, which is in place.”

 

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• On 25 August 2021, he got remarried to his second wife, Pony Verma, who is 12 years younger than him. According to the actor, it was his son, Vedhant, who wanted to witness his parents’ wedding. The actor took to Twitter to share a glimpse of his wedding 2.0. In an interview, he talked about his divorce from his first wife and marrying Pony Verma. Prakash said
  

  I met Pony who was choreographing for one of my films. I spoke to my mother and my daughters and said, this is what I want to do, but I wanted Pony to spend time with my daughters. I knew it was her first marriage, though I came with baggage. She also met Lata and my daughters, who said, ‘Cool dad, please go ahead’. Then I went to meet her father and told them that I was divorced. They were shocked initially, but then blessed us. I was going to shoot in Australia for 15 days. She took her father and I took my mother to spend time together, post which we decided to get married.”

• At the beginning of his career, he used his real name Prakash Rai as his screen name. It was the Indian film director K Balachander who asked him to change his name to Prakash Raj. In an interview, while talking about the same, Prakash said,
  

  Director K Balachander changed my name. Apart from launching Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, he was also responsible for launching me. He had changed Rajinikanth’s name and felt that at a time when the Cauvery dispute was hot between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the surname Rai represented just a local community and a state, but he saw a national actor in me and wanted my name to represent that.”

• Prakash Raj is a polyglot and is well versed in languages like Kannada, Tamil, Tulu, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, and English.

• In his leisure time, he loves to grow vegetables and fruits on his zero-pesticide organic farm in Hyderabad.

• He is an avid reader and loves to read autobiographies and historical books.

• Prakash drinks alcohol and often smokes cigarettes. ^[25]The Indian Express ^[26]India Glitz

• He has appeared in various TV commercials like Netmeds, Hero Splendor, and First Klass Refined Palmolein Oil.

• In his Instagram posts, he often slams Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the work of the BJP.

 

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Prakash Raj in ‘Wanted’ (2009)