Anand. J (Cinema Correspondent)
A look at leading character actors
PRAKASHRAJ
[monsoonjournal.com] Tipped to be the number one villain and character artist of the modern age, Prakashraj received a shocking news and a very good news at the same time recently. The shocking news was the lackluster performance of his production house movie ‘POI’ directed by his mentor K Balachander. One of ambitious K Balachander’s project POI did not even run for two successful weeks in theatres. This bad run of POI was more shocking to Prakashraj than K Balachander himself since Prakashraj had invested a lot in the movie. On the flip side, Prakashraj has been selected for the role of RAVANA in the 100 crore Hindi film project ‘RAMAYANA’. He will be sharing the screen space with Ajay Devgan and Kajol who don the roles of Rama and Sita respectively. There were rumours that the role of RAVANA was originally offered to Superstar Rajinikanth and he politely refused it. The role of Ravana for Prakashraj will suit him like a tee and it’s a great honour for the tamil actor. Kudos to Prakashraj.
NASSER
Peculiar nosed Nasser is famous for his character roles in Nayagan, Bombay and Thevar Magan. He has from time to time acted in varied roles ranging from character roles to villain roles to comedy roles. Nasser gave a terrific comedy performance alongside Kamal Hassan in the movie ‘Avvai Shanmughi’ which won him lots of accolades. Basically Nasser is a stage actor and he has brought lot of his stage co-actors to filmdom notably Balasingh. Nasser is a favorite among top directors like Maniratnam and Shankar. He is a close friend of actor Kamal Hassan. Nasser’s ambition is to play a part in the film version of the famous novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. According to informed sources, Nasser is currently busy penning a story for his home productions which is supposedly a story about 5 villains. Efforts are on to bring Prakashraj, Raghuvaran, Sathyaraj and Pasupathi to play the main characters along with Nasser himself. Watch this space for more updates on this project.
SUMAN
Long forgotten Suman is staging a comeback in Tamil films after nearly 20 years. He was last seen pitted against the one and only Superstar Rajinikanth in the movie ‘Thee’. Suman played the role of a good cop warring against the gangster Rajinikanth. The movie was a remake of Super hit Hindi film Deewar in which Amithab Bachchan played the role of a gangster. Although Suman earned good reviews for the movie, he was not flooded with offers. He turned his attention towards Telugu films and slowly made a place for himself in the Telugu film industry. He is now a renowned god role actor in Telugu films where he has played lots of god roles like Rama and Krishna in various God based movies. His comeback into Tamil films is marked by a gargantuan villain role pitted against none other than the same Rajinikanth in the movie ‘Sivaji – The Boss’. Its ironical that actor Suman gets to play a reversal of roles in his re-entry into Tamil films. Expectations are sky high for this movie Sivaji and let us hope Suman gets to make his own mark and enthrall viewers.
RAGHUVARAN
The tall lanky actor Raghuvaran is known for his menacing acting style and has done memorable roles in movies like Anjali, Baasha, Puriyadha Pudhir and Mudhalvan. He started his career with ‘Ezhavadhu Manithan’ and has grown into a well deserved character artist. He has had a turbulent career over the last 20 years with his own highs and lows but has now grown into a much more dependable character artist. All the young actors like Vijay, Ajith, Vishal, Surya, Simbhu and Dhanush wants to cast Raghuvaran as their screen dad since he performs well in that role. He is believed to be a friendly advisor for all his young co stars. Surya had a face make over upon Raghuvaran’s advice since Raghuvaran felt that Surya’s face had more resemblance to his father actor Sivakumar. Actor Vishal opines that it was Raghuvaran who suggested and advised him to do more action roles since it suits Vishal the best. According go Vijay it is Raghuvaran who is his favorite screen dad. Actor Ajith says that he has learnt a lot of acting tips from Raghuvaran during the filming of ‘Amarkalam’ which later turned out to be one of his career best. Rumour mills has it that Raghuvaran is playing the coveted role in the magnum opus ‘Sivaji – The Boss’ which was earlier offered to Big B.
MANIVANNAN
Actor Manivannan started his career as Assistant director to Ace director Bharathiraja. He then grew to become a director and later turned himself into acting. He was offered the immemorable villain role by his mentor director Bharathiraja in the movie Kodi Parakkudhu opposite Superstar Rajinikanth. This role turned his career upside down when he started receiving offers upon offers for villain roles. Manivannan chose to act in movies rather than wield the megaphone himself. Manivannan also played an important role in making actor Sathyaraj a huge success through his movie ‘Amaidhi Padai’. Manivannan is one actor who acts in all his movies sans make-up and with his favorite ‘Dhaadi’ (Beard). According to his close associates, he is secretly planning on a magnum opus big budget movie by bringing the great stalwarts Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan together.
VIJAYAKUMAR
Actor Vijayakumar was once a contender for the Superstar throne along with Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan and Jai Shankar. The Superstar throne which is elusive to many eluded actor Vijayakumar as well. Vijayakumar was one of the highest paid actors at a time when Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan were struggling to make a mark in their initial stages of their career. With the time tides, Vijayakumar lost his stranglehold and was reduced to a character artist. Thanks to Director Maniratnam for reinventing actor Vijayakumar through a powerful portrayal of a father caught in between two warring sons in the mega movie ‘Agni Natchathiram’. Director Bharathiraja gave Vijayakumar his lifetime role of an emotional brother in ‘Kizhakku Cheemaiyile’ which won lot of awards and accolades. He followed it up with good performances in ‘Seran Pandian’ and ‘Nattamai’ both with Sarath Kumar. Vijayakumar is happily married to yester year dream girl Manjula and has three daughters and one son. It is sad to note that neither his daughters nor his son has been able to make their mark in the Silver screen although they have had a long career.
PRABHU
Star son of Thespian actor Sivaji Ganesan, Prabhu struggled in his initial stages of his career to earn good name. He had to take support of his father actor Sivaji Ganesan to get a market of his own. Prabhu started his career playing a supportive role in the movie ‘Sangili’ alongside his real life dad Sivaji Ganesan. Later he grew into a actor of substance and stepped away from his father’s shadow. Prabhu had an intense competition from actor Kartik whom he considered his best friend. They both acted together in Maniratnam directed ‘Agni Natchathiram’ and later grew into big stars on their own. Prabhu has tried his hand in comedy and then later turned to character roles. His supporting role in the movie ‘Chinna Poove Mella Pesu’ is still being rated as one of his best especially for his act in the song ‘A pulla karuppayi’. Prabhu has the rare distinction of acting with both stalwarts Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan. His comic timing with Rajinikanth in the movie ‘Guru Sishyan’ was appreciated by one and all. Prabhu has turned his attention towards character roles recently with good performances in the movies ‘Something Something Unakkum Enakkum’ and ‘Thamirabharani’.
BHAGYARAJ
Actor turned Director turned Actor Bhagyaraj is still considered to be one of the best screen play writers in the Indian film industry. He has mesmerized audiences with his powerful screenplay in the movies like ‘Andha Ezhu Naatkal’, ‘Enga Chinna Raasa’, ‘Idhu Namma Aalu’ and Hindi Blockbuster ‘Ek Hi Raasta’. Apparantly Big B was so impressed with Bhagyaraj’s screenplay, he requested Bhagyaraj to write stories for him to suit his image. But Bhagyaraj being Bhagyaraj wanted his foot only in Tamil filmdom and stuck to it. He tried his hand in politics but it never worked for him. He returned to what he knows best and came out with an absolute winner in the form of ‘Parijatham’, a creative movie of his own. He introduced his daughter Saranya and extracted good performances from his lead actors. Bhagyaraj recently took to supportive roles and played a cameo in the movie ‘Something Something Unakkum Enakkum’. He supposedly has an author backed role in the movie ‘Parattai engira Azhagu Sundaram’ alongside Dhanush. To be in the know of Kollywood, watch this space regularly.
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