BollywoodLife's Hunk of the week: Prithviraj

He’s Malayalam cinema’s hottest pin-up boy, covering the gamut from boy-next-door to romantic hero and action man. Prithviraj, who arrived on the scenes, when he was barely 20, in the super successful Nandanam has huge fan followings in Tamil and Telugu as well.

What’s more, he’s now headed for Bollywood. Prithviraj signed up for a movie opposite Rani Mukerji in Anurag Kashyap’s next. An unbeatable combination of handsome looks and superlative acting make Prithviraj our Hunk of the Week.

Artistic Libra boy, born Oct 16, 1982, Prithviraj may not have dreamt of being an actor since childhood, but it seemed destined. For both dad Sukumaran and mom Mallika were respected actors, and so is big bother Indrajith. Prithvi loved the stage as a student and while studying at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram, he was named Mr LA Fest two years in a row at the annual inter-school arts festival hosted by Loyola School. No one’s repeated the feat since.

Prithvi was still at college, studying computer engineering in Tasmania, in 2002, when he was roped in to star in Nandanam by Ranjith. Then there was no looking back.

After the performance in Nandanam, which earned him rave reviews, film offers came pouring. There were remarkable roles in films like Stop Violence, Velli Thira (2002), Meerayude Dukham Muthuvinte Swapnam (2003), Swapnakoodu (2003), Vellinakshatram (2004), Akale (2004) and Ananathabhadhram (2005). To crown the list of his early films there was the blockbuster Classmates in 2006.

In 2006 he won the Kerala state award for best actor for Vaasthavam. More films, both critically acclaimed and box-office successes followed, such as Arjunan Saakshi directed by Ranjith.

By now, completely under the spell of cinema, he said: “I used to belong to that tribe of people who never knew what they wanted. Now, finally, I am doing something I like. I like the rush of adrenaline, the kick that acting gives me. I want to be an actor till I die.”

Even with his charming demeanour, Prithviraj hasn’t shied away from dark roles. In Vargam (2006) he pulled off the role of a corrupt police officer. His debut in Telugu, too, was in the role of a cop in Police Police in 2010. He played a cop in Mani Ratnam’s Tamil Raavanan as well.

His Tamil debut came in 2005, in K V Anand's Kana Kandein. His second Tamil film Parijatham placed him firmly among the top line of Tamil heroes. And Mozhi, in which he played the ultimate romantic hero, had female audiences swooning.

In April 2011 Prithviraj married girlfriend of four years Supriya Menon, a TV journalist. May we say a few young female hearts were broken...

This accomplished actor has other remarkable talents too. He sang playback for Puthiya Mukham in 2009 and has sung for four other films since. He also takes his role as a producer seriously, having formed August Cinema, the production company, along with Santosh Sivan and Shaji Natesan. August Cinema has produced films Urumi and, more recently, Indian Rupee.

With nearly a dozen films set to release in 2012 and 2013, Prithviraj is as prolific as ever. Coming up also is the Bollywood project, Aiyaa by Anurag Kashyap. It’s looking good for sure!


SOURCE: http://www.bollywoodlife.com/south-gossip/hunk-of-the-week-prithviraj/