Prashanth

Prashanth
Born	Prashanth Thiagarajan 06.04.1974
Other names	Kadhal Ilavarasan
Alma mater	Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai Christian College Black Belt in TaekWondo - Korea (Martial Arts) Graduated Music - Trinity College of Music - London Graduated - Computer graphics. ILM
Occupation(s)	Film actor, VFX Director
Years active	1990 – present
Parent(s)	Thiagarajan Shanthi
Awards	Kalaimamani (1998)
Website	www.actorprashanth.com

Prashanth (Tamil: பிரஷாந்த்; born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is an Indian film actor who appeared in several distinct Tamil films, as well as many Telugu films, Hindi and Malayalam films. Apart from his career, Prashanth also owns a seventeen-storied Jewellery Tower (The world’s Largest Jewellery Tower) in Usman Road, T’Nagar , housing some of the world’s leading jewelers like JOY ALUKKAS & many labs like IGI (International Gemological Institute).

Acting career

1990s

Prashanth started off as a leading romantic hero in the 1990 surprise hit Vaigasi Poranthachu. The low budget film with its hit music by Deva(Debut) and the image of an Star(Thiagarajan) son, made the film instant smashing hit resulting the successful launch of Prashanth, then he surprised everyone by accepting Malayalam film Perumthachan written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. His performance as the son of legendary carpentar Perumthachan (played by Thilakan )won him rave reviews. The film was a commercial success as well & won national Award. Prashanth completed Hat-trick of hits with Balu Mahendra' s Vanna Vanna Pookkal. But R. K. Selvamani' s Tamil-Telugu Bi-lingual Chembaruthi, became blockbusters in both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh establishing Prashanth as the numero uno Romantic star of South Indian films. Prashanth made his Bollywood debut with movie I Love You ironically the remake of his debut film Vaigasi Poranthachu, produced by Time Vedeos created a huge Bolywwod market foa Prashanth but he opted to stay only with south Indian movies. Subsequently he also acted Telugu movies like PREMA SIKKARAM & LATTI (the debut of director Gunasekhar). Offers from Telugu industry started pouring but Prashanth was concentrating only in Tamil movies. Meantime Prashanth's contemporaries Vijay debuted in 1992 and Ajith Kumar made his debut in 1993. He continued doing the romantic roles in Tamil films like Unakkaga Piranthen opposite Mohini Kizhakke Varum Paattu - Enga Thambi with Subhashri (Debut), Rasa Magan with Hindi actress Madhubala. He again teamed with R. K. Selvamani in Kanmani, Senthamizh Selvan, which had music by M. S. Viswanathan & Ilaiyaraaja as a team, done good business especially in rural centers. Later Tholi Muddhu, the Telugu remake of Hindi blockbuster Dil many scenes had continuity issues due to the death of actress Divya Bharti. Bi-lingual film Anokha Premyudh (Hindi) and Mani Ratnam's Thiruda Thiruda (Tamil. Telugu-Thonga Thonga & Hindi- Chor Chor) all received rare reviews from critics & media. Prashanth experimented as an actor for the first time as Drag in Aanazhagan directed by his father Thiagarajan. Later he teamed with Pooja Bhat in Kalloori Vaasal, followed by Krishna and Mannava. Midas touch director Shankar's Jeans became an alltime superhit victory after the string of many success. He followed the super success once again in Kannedhirey Thondrinal along with Simran. Agathiyan' s Kaadhal Kavithai too was a success like Jodi with Simran - Hello with debutant Preeti Jhangiani respectively. But much expected Aasaiyil Oru Kaditham and Poomagal Oorvalam made a good business the box-office.

2000s

His first release of this decade Good Luck did well, also his next release Appu, the remake of Hindi hit Sadak (the subtle performance as a taxi driver suffering from mental agony due to his sister's death and the lover caught between 2 lady loves were appreciated) the film done well, while Parthen Rasithen became a super success. But the much awaited Director Kamal’s (Debut) Piriyadha Varam Vendum along with Shalini had a delayed release due to her marriage with actor Ajith Kumar who refused send his wife to complete the movie, harming its potential success. He followed with success like Chocolate and Majunu, but director Hari 's debut film Thamizh released along with Vijay' s Thamizhan became a smashing success, but another debutant director Susi Ganeshan' s Virumbugiren had a delayed release resulting in failure in spite of good reviews. Later Sundar C' s Winner became a huge success at the box-office and Prashanth's combination with comedian Vadivelu' s hilarious performance was the highlight. Prashanth's subsequent releases Jai, Shock and Aayudham fared well at the box office except London which done moderate business.

2003-2011

Prashanth's marital problems. He got married to Prof. Dr.Rangabashyam’s wife’s brother’s daughter & she left the house within two months of the marriage, she started black mailing Prashanth & when he was not succumbing to her demands she made Police complaint on Prashanth & his parents for dowry harassment. On investigation it was found that she was already married (in 1998 and her marriage was registered in Chennai) and to get huge money from Prashanth she planned the whole bigamy. Prashanth went to Family court demanding his marriage to be declared Null & void. After a long drawn out trail, the court declared his marriage as Null & Void on the basis that she had concealed her earlier marriage & played fraud on Prashanth to get married to him. She appealed in the High court again & after a strenuous trail the High court also declared his marriage as Null & Void on the basis of the fraud played by her. These court issues delayed all Prashanth’s movies and he was also not in a mood take up new movie projects, due to shuttling back and forth to the courts.. Meantime Prashanth accepted and started work in R. K. Selvamani's Pulan Visaranai II, a sequel to the director's 1990 blockbuster, however despite completion, it is yet to release due to producer's financial problems. Morgan's Taxi Driver alongside Reemma Sen and Namitha was also planned amidst much hype, as well as marking the debut young music composer G. V. Prakash Kumar the film. Jambhavan, which released in September 2006, had gone through production hassles notably after the lead heroine Nila had a spat with the producers and delayed the film's shoot. The film opened to negative reviews but did well in the Box office. Debutant director's Bhuvanaraja's Adaikalam, a family drama, gained positive reviews but the low key nature of the release hampered any chance of a successful box-office run. Featuring no lead heroine, the film told the tale of an estranged family with Thiagarajan, Saranya and Uma also in the cast and a critic noted that "as the brother and the bitter son, Prashanth has churned out what is arguably one of his better performances till date”. His final release of the year was Shiva Shanmugam's Thagapansamy which featured Prashanth in the role of a village do-gooder, with Pooja and Namitha in other pivotal characters. The film opened to below average collections and average reviews from critics, though Sify.com noted that to "watch the film for the one-man-show of Prashanth, as he is the only silver lining in a film with a confused and confounded plot”. Prashanth had no film releases between January 2007 and April 2011, but was involved in the production of two mega budget magnum opus productions during the period - Ponnar Shankar (in Tamil- Raja Kottai Ragasyam in Telugu & “ Prashanth Veer” in Hindi) and Mambattiyan. Prashanth has also started *Prashanth Gold Tower* (the world largest Jewellery Tower, in T’Nagar, Chennai ) housing some of the world renowned names in the jewellery trade including JoyAlukkas & many other international jewelers & Diamond/Gold testing laboratories.It was Inaugurated by His Excellency, the then Governor of Tamilnadu in 2008.

2014

Since all his court problems have been settled, Prashanth is now happily back to his acting career in a big way. He is doing three projects back to back. The action romedy movie *SAAHASAM* in Tamil is progressing at a fast pace & Tamil Music director Vijay Antony’s NAAN is being remade in Hindi with Prashanth in a meaty role. The other projects in Tami/Telugu/Hindi are being structured and Prashanth will have many releases in 2014.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1990	Vaigasi Poranthachu	Kumaresan	Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut - South
1991	Perumthachan	Kannan Viswakarman	Malayalam film
1992	Vanna Vanna Pookkal	Shiva
	Chembaruthi	Raja
	Unakkaga Piranthen	Krishna
	I Love You	Kishen	Hindi film
	Laati	Guna	Telugu film
1993	Enga Thambi	Pichumani
	Tholi Muddhu	Prashanth	Telugu film
	Thiruda Thiruda	Azhagu
	Kizhakke Varum Paattu	Shakthi
1994	Rasa Magan	Prabhakaran
	Anokha Premyudh		Telugu film
	Kanmani	Raja
	Sendhamizh Selvan	Selvan
1995	Aanazhagan	Raja
1996	Kalloori Vaasal	Sathya
	Krishna	Krishna
1997	Mannava	Eashwar
1998	Jeans	Vishwanathan, Ramamoorthy
	Kannedhirey Thondrinal	Vasanth
	Kaadhal Kavithai	Vishwa
1999	Poomagal Oorvalam	Saravanan
	Jodi	Kannan
	Hello	Chandru
	Aasaiyil Oru Kadidham	Karthik
2000	Good Luck	Surya
	Appu	Appu
	Parthen Rasithen	Shankar
2001	Piriyadha Varam Vendum	Sanjay
	Star	Moorthy
	Chocolate	Aravind
	Majunu	Vasanth
2002	Thamizh	Thamizh
	Virumbugiren	Sivan
2003	Winner	Sakthi
2004	Jai	Jai
	Shock	Vasanth
2005	Aayudham	Siva
	London	Sivaraman
2006	Jambhavan	Velan
	Thagapansamy	Kadhirvel
	Adaikalam	Anbu
2011	Ponnar Shankar	Ponnar, Shankar
	Mambattiyan	Mambattiyan
2014	Saahasam		Filming

External links

• Prashanth at IMDb