Prem Kumar (born 18 April 1975), known mononymously as Prem, also popularly called as Nenapirali Prem, is an Indian actor and producer who works in Kannada films. He made his acting debut through the film Praana (2004).[1] However, his major break came through the film Nenapirali (2005) for which he won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Since then, Prem is largely offered films with romantic theme thereby, earning the title Lovely Star in Kannada cinema.[2] Prem also produced the film Pallakki (2007) besides acting in the lead role.
Prem | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Prem Kumar in 2007 Kannada film ′Pallakki′ | |
| Born | Prem Kumar 18 April 1975 (age 49) Karnataka, India |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2004–present |
Prem's other notable films include Jothe Jotheyali (2006), Pallakki (2007), Gunavantha (2007), Savi Savi Nenapu (2010) , Charminar (2013), for which he won his second Filmfare award, Chowka (2017) and Premam Poojyam (2021), which marks his 25th film as an actor.[3]
Career
editPrem debuted in film with the 2004 Kannada film Praana. It was by a team of newcomers: director Prakash, composer Allwyn and the actress Preeti were all new besides Prem.[4] The next year, Prem acted in Rathnaja's debut film, Nenapirali.[5]
Prem picked up a Best Actor Filmfare Award for his performance in the film. In 2006, Prem released Jothe Jotheyali with the actress Ramya.[6]
His next release Pallakki did well for 100 days.[7]
In 2008, Prem teamed up with Rathnaja once more for the film Honganasu.[8]
Prem acted in Ghauttham, a remake of the Tamil film Aahaa..! in 2009.[9] In 2010, he teamed up with heroine Ramya for the film Jothegara.[10] Other films which he signed are Sihi Muttu, alongside Dhyan and Pooja Chopra, Januma Janumadallu with Andrita Ray, a cameo in Shivarajkumar's travel extravaganza Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu and also in Eradane Maduve.[11][unreliable source?]
Prem began his 2011 career with a cameo appearance in the multi-starrer film Eradane Maduve, which had Ananth Nag and Suhasini in the main lead. Later he starred in I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona, a film which made news for its controversial kiss scene between the lead pair.[12] The other film of the year was Dhan Dhana Dhan opposite Sharmila Mandre, which also failed to get the box office collections.[13]
In 2013, he acted in director Roopa Iyer's Chandra.[14] While the Kannada version got a good opening, the Tamil version failed to open even at the box office. This was followed by R. Chandru's Charminar which found success and his performance was talked about with IBNLive.com praising him that "this" could well be considered his best film.[15] He got his second Filmfare Best Actor award for this film.[16] His next release was the two-year-old long pending project Shatru, which featured him in the role of a police officer for the first time. Though he got favorable reviews for his performance, the film failed at the box office.[17]
His other long pending projects like Shatru and Athi Aparoopa released to a cold response at the box office in 2014. However, his other 2014 release Fair & Lovely with director Raghuram performed extremely well at the box office and earned him many accolades and awards.[18] In 2015, Prem re-associated with R. Chandru through the film Male opposite Amulya. The film met with average response both critically and commercially.[19] His next release was a cameo appearance in the all-women crew film Ring Road followed by a lead role in a romantic film Mast Mohabbat in 2016.[20] In 2017, Prem starred as one of the jail inmates in the Dwarakish's 50th production multistarrer film Chowka, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year.[21]
In 2014, he reported that he would appear in Prashant Raj's Dalapathi.[22] Also in the making is director Dinakar Thoogudeepa's Life Jothe Ondu Selfie co-starring Prajwal Devaraj and Hariprriya.[23]
Filmography
editThis section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (November 2022) |
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Praana | Jeeva | |
| 2005 | Nenapirali | Kishore | Filmfare Award for Best Actor |
| 2006 | Jothe Jotheyali | Prem | |
| 2007 | Pallakki | Lakshmikanth | producer |
| Gunavantha | Gunashekar | ||
| 2008 | Honganasu | Sagar | |
| 2009 | Ghauttham | Gautham | |
| 2010 | Savi Savi Nenapu | Prem, Raj | dual role |
| Jothegara | Vishwas | ||
| Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu | Prem | Cameo appearance | |
| 2011 | Eradane Maduve | Vivek | Cameo appearance |
| I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona | Shyam | ||
| Dhan Dhana Dhan | Prem | ||
| 2013 | Charminar | Mohan | Filmfare Award for Best Actor |
| Chandra | Chandrahasa | Bilingual film (Kannada, Tamil) | |
| Shathru | Vijay Surya | ||
| 2014 | Athi Aparoopa | Bharath | |
| Adyaksha | Himself | Cameo appearance in a song | |
| Fair & Lovely | Manoj ("Manu") | ||
| 2015 | Male | Varun | |
| Ring Road | Himself | Cameo appearance in a song | |
| 2016 | Mast Mohabbat | Sri | |
| 2017 | Chowka | Hakki Gopala | |
| 2018 | Dalapathi | Ram | |
| Life Jothe Ondh Selfie | Nakul | ||
| 2019 | Yajamana | Himself | Special appearance in a song "Shiva Nandi" |
| 2021 | Premam Poojyam | Srihari | |
| 2024 | Appa I Love You | Rahul |
References
edit- ^ "Many lessons learned". Bangalore Mirror.com. 6 September 2010.
- ^ Suresh, Sunayana. "20 years, 25 films and so much to be grateful for, says Lovely Star Prem". The Times of India.
- ^ "Prem's 25th film culminates in a journey called Premam Poojyam". Times of India. 9 November 2021.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20041225145537/http://sify.com/movies/kannada/review.php?id=13568850&ctid=5&cid=2427 [bare URL]
- ^ "Nenapirali: Fresh stuff". Rediff.com. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ^ "Jothe Jotheyali is just silly". rediff.com. 25 September 2006. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ^ Movie review
- ^ "Review: Honganasu". www.rediff.com.
- ^ "Gautham". Sify.com. 5 April 2009.
- ^ "Jothegaara". The New Indian Express. 22 September 2010.
- ^ "Prem Kumar - GGpedia". Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ "I did not kiss in 'I'm Sorry...': Prem". The Times of India.
- ^ "Kannada Review: Dhan Dhana Dhan a tedious film". News18 India. 27 June 2011.
- ^ "Roopa and Prem at loggerheads?". The Times of India. 27 June 2013. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013.
- ^ "'Charminar' Review: This Kannada film has a huge emotional appeal- Kannada Reviews- South Cinema-IBNLive". IBN Live. 17 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
- ^ "Mahesh Babu Bags Best Actor At Filmfare Awards Southern Edition". NDTV.com.
- ^ "Movie Review : Shatru". Sify. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013.
- ^ 'Fair and Lovely' Begins
- ^ N., Veena (7 August 2015). "'Male' Movie Review: Watch It For Prem And Amulya's Romantic Jugalbandhi!". Filmibeat.
- ^ "Mast Mohabbat Movie Review". The Times of India. 22 January 2016.
- ^ "Chowka movie review: Packaged 'diluted' drama". Deccan Chronicle. 4 February 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Dalapathi shooting on; Prem & Kriti Kharbanda shake a leg in the city". The New Indian Express. 27 July 2017.
- ^ "'Life Jothe Ondu Selfie' review: A pleasant, realistic take on life and relationships". The News Minute. 24 August 2018.