More about Prasanth

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He is the current hot flavour among teenagers. Call him lover Boy or call him chocolate hero, Prashanth has certainly floored teenagers in the South. Actor-producer-and director Thyagarajan's son certainly is a sensation: At 25years of age, he already has 43 successful films to his credit in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.

Take a look at Prashanth's resume first. A Bharatanatyam exponent, he is trained in an array of martial art forms from Kung Fu to Karate (a Black Belt no less!), and from Silambam to Kalahari. Gymnast, roller-skater, and an expert in horseriding and rowing! And if all that does not impress you, here is some morePrashanth is also a high board driver and a long distance sea swimmer. He has a penchant for music and plays several instruments. In fact, he passed third grade in music (piano) from the Trinity College of Music, London.

Prashanth captured the popular attention with his very first film. Vaigasi Poranthachi was not only a silver jubilee hit, the film won him the best new face award for 1990. From there on, it was history. For Prashanth would set landmarks down the years over the past decade. Sample a few: His second film, Balu Mahendra's Vaana Vaana Pookal, won the National Award for 1991. The super success of his fourth film, Chembaruthi, established Prashanth as one of the top heroes in the industry. His winning spree continued with Sathya Movies Enga Thambi, Thirpur Mani's Unakkaga Piranthen, Manivannan's Rasamagan, Manoj Kumar's Senthamizh Selvan, R K Selvamani's Kanmani and Mani Rathnam's Thiruda Thiruda. All this, and he was only 22 years old!

Prashanth has made forays into Bollywood with I Love You, Anokha Premyudh and dubbed hits such as Chor Chor. His first Malayalam attempt, Perunthacham, won a National Award and Prashanth was overnight popular in Kerala as well.

The actor's god show is evident in his Telugu ventures too. Tholi Muddu (with Divya Bharthi), Prema Vijayam, Laathi, Prema Sikkaram, Prema Padam, Allari Prema and Mani Rathnam's Donga Donga have put Prashanth in the Telugu big league too.

Perhaps it has something to do with the judgment Prashanth shows in selecting his films. Till date, he is yet to do a role where he might have seemed miscast, or a film that did not befit his potential.

The best of Prashanth so far certainly must be Anazhagan, directed by his father Thyagarajan. The film presented Prashanth in a very different and unexpected dimension. Maanava saw another great performance. When ace tennis star-turned-Hollywood producer, Ashok Amritraj launched Jeans, one of the costliest films ever made and starring Aishwarya Rai, Prashanth was the obvious choice. The Shankar-directed film was made in three languages, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Jeans celebrated a silver jubilee run down south. By then, Prashanth had reached an unshakable position in the tinsel world.

The Tamil Nadu government conferred the prestigious Kalaimani Award on Prashanth. He is incidentally the youngest star to receive the honour.