PRASANTH

PRASANTH – Film Actor

Prashanth (born 6 April 1973 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) The son of actor-director Thiagarajan, and his wife Shanti. He has a sister - Preeti, and he is also the first cousin of actor Vikram. Prashanth studied Computer Graphics & Multimedia and went to Trinity College of Music in London.

Prashanth began his career at 17 by appearing in Vaigasi Poranthachu (1990) and went on to feature in other popular films including R. K. Selvamani's Chembaruthi (1992) and Mani Ratnam's action-comedy Thiruda Thiruda (1993). After a brief career lull, Prashanth appeared in a dual role in Shankar's blockbuster romantic comedy Jeans (1998) alongside Aishwarya Rai. In the late 90's and early 2000's, he featured in a few successful films such as Kannedhirey Thondrinal (1998), Kaadhal Kavithai (1998), Jodi (1999), Parthen Rasithen (2000), Thamizh (2002) and Winner (2003).

The actor suffered a setback in the mid-2000s, when he went on signing spree only for several of his projects to become shelved after being launched. In September 2004, Thiagarajan launched Police, a remake of the Hindi film Khakee and the film received coverage from the media after producers had approached Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai for key roles. In interviews during the period, Thiagarajan mentioned the grand scale of the project citing that schedules would also be shot abroad; however the film failed to progress. Prashanth next signed on to appear in Susi Ganesan's village action story Sakkarai in October 2004 only for the film to be discontinued after a grand launch ceremony. In mid-2005, the actor began filming for A. Venkatesh's Petrol and after several leading actresses were approached to play the lead heroine, newcomer Seema was selected. The film continued to shoot schedules for close to a year across India, but Prashanth's marital problems eventually led to delays in the director's schedule and the film remains uncompleted. 

In December 2005, Prashanth accepted and started work in R. K. Selvamani's Pulan Visaranai II, a sequel to the director's 1990 blockbuster, with the film's soundtrack and trailer released by 2006. However despite completion, it is still yet to release and in 2011 Prashanth indicated that the film was still delayed due to producer's financial problems. Furthermore, Ramesh Selvan's action film Runway was launched amidst much publicity in April 2006 but was discontinued despite the team filming a schedule with actress Ferhana. Morgan's Taxi Driver alongside Reemma Sen and Namitha was also planned amidst much hype, with the team announcing schedules in the Middle East as well as marking the debut young music composer G. V. Prakash Kumar; though the film was later shelved. His father's production Kattan with director Suresh of Gambeeram and Arasu also never took off despite an official announcement. The actor's other projects during the period which were announced but never made included Raghuraj's Jockey alongside Gracy Singh, Mukil's Arun Weds Harini and Cheyyaru Ravi's Vithagan.

Moreover, the actor's three films which released in 2006 had all been severely delayed during production and neither of the films made any notable impact at the box office. 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 and became a failure commercially. Debutant director's Bhuvanaraja's Adaikalam, a family drama which had been completed the previous year, 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 a brother and a 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. Prashanth had no film releases between January 2007 and April 2011, but was involved in the production of two heavily delayed productions during the period - Ponnar Shankar and Mambattiyan. The actor also invested in business opportunities, opening a 12 floor jewellery mart in Panagal Park, T Nagar, Chennai in 2008.

Prashanth got married to Grihalakshmi on September 1, 2005. Prashant was falsely accused in a false complaint of cruelty and harassment, by his wife, who was seeking his fortune. Grihalakshmi was later found to be married in 1998 to one Venu Prasad before her marriage with Prashant in 2005.This was registered in Chennai, and she had not obtained a Divorce from this marriage before she married Prasanth, hence the marriage was held to be void, and the proceeding against Prasanth was dismissed.

His movies include:

Year	Film		Notes
1990	Vaigasi Poranthachu		Filmfare Best South Debutant Award
1991	Perumthachan		Malayalam film
1992	Vanna Vanna Pookkal
	Chembaruthi
	Unakkaga Piranthen
	I Love You		Hindi film
1993	Enga Thambi
	Tholi Muddhu		Telugu Film తొలి ముద్దు
	Thiruda Thiruda
	Kizhakke Varum Paattu
1994	Rasa Magan
	Anokha Premyudh		Hindi film
	Kanmani
	Sendhamizh Selvan
1995	Aanazhagan
1996	Kalloori Vaasal
	Krishna
1997	Mannava
1998	Jeans		Indian submission for Academy Award for Best Foreigh Language Film
	Kannedhirey Thondrinal
	Kaadhal Kavithai
1999	Poomagal Oorvalam
	Jodi
	Hello
	Aasaiyil Oru Kadidham
2000	Good Luck
	Appu
	Parthen Rasithen
2001	Piriyadha Varam Vendum
	Star
	Chocolate
	Majunu
2002	Thamizh
	Virumbugiren
2003	Winner
2004	Jai
	Shock
2005	Aayudham
	London
2006	Jambhavan
	Adaikalam
	Thagapansamy
2011	Ponnar Shankar
	Mambattiyan