Prabhu Deva Sundaram, better known simply as Prabhu Deva is a choreographer, actor, producer and film director in India. He has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. He is generally referred as the "Indian Michael Jackson". He has also featured in numerous commercially booming films.
Early Life of Prabhu Deva
He was born on 3rd April 1973 in Mysore, Karnataka to a "lingayata" family. Prabhu Deva spent his childhood in Chennai. He is the son of the dance master Mugur Sundar also called Sundaram Master and his brother is Raju Sundaram. He has also learned the Indian classical dance forms such as "Bharatanatyam" from Dharmaraj and "Udupi Lakshminarayanan" as well as western styles.
Career of Prabhu Deva
Prabhu Deva first appeared as a boy playing a flute in the song "Panivizhum Iravu", from the Tamil film "Mouna Ragam" (1986). His first movie was `Vetri Vizha` as a dance director. Since then, he choreographed over 100 movies. Before starting his career as a full time actor, he did some song sequences in several films. His first movie was `Kadhalan` with actress Nagma where he was the protagonist. Prabhu Deva`s success can be accredited more to his dancing than anything else.
Prabhu Deva was first noticed by the nation, when he made a brief appearance in a song called "Chikku Bukku Railei" in the film `Gentleman.` This film was a blockbuster hit in 1993. He was given his first lead role by director Pavithran in the romantic drama film "Indhu" (1994).
He made his breakthrough as an actor with Shankar`s film, the romantic drama "Kadhalan" (1994). He also danced with Madhuri Dixit for the song "Key Sera Sera" in the movie `Pukar.` He then acted in the hit movie `Style` along with Lawrence Raghavendra. He has danced with Apache Indian in the song "No Problem" in the film `Love Birds.` His special appearance in "Pokkiri" with Joseph Vijay in the song "Aadungada" was also acclaimed by his audiences. He won crucial approbation for his role in Rajiv Menon`s romantic drama "Minsara Kanavu" (1997). He later appeared as a background dancer for a song in the 1988 Tamil film "Agni Natchathiram".
In 2000 period, he especially worked on the trilingual "One Two Three" (2002), alongside his brothers and Siddique`s "Engal Anna" (2004), with Vijayakanth. He also worked extensively in the Telugu film industry, appearing in multi-starrer films or as the second lead actor, in projects including Santosham (2002), Kalyana Ramudu (2003) and Andaru Dongale Dorikite (2004). He continued to make special appearances and portrayed leading roles in the dance films "Style" (2006), "ABCD" (2013) and its sequel "ABCD 2" (2015). Prabhu Deva planned to release his first video album called "It is boring" in 2013.
Prabhu Deva As A Director
Prabhu Deva has directed some movies which are commercially success. Following are the movies directed by him:
| Film |
Year |
Language |
| Wanted |
2009 |
Hindi |
| Villu |
2009 |
Tamil |
| Vedi |
2011 |
Tamil |
| Singh is Bling |
2015 |
Hindi |
| Shankardada Zindabad |
2007 |
Telugu |
| Rowdy Rathore |
2012 |
Hindi |
| Ramaiya Vastavaiya |
2013 |
Hindi |
| R... Rajkumar |
2013 |
Hindi |
| Pournami |
2006 |
Telugu |
| Pokkiri |
2007 |
Tamil |
| Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana |
2005 |
Telugu |
| Engeyum Kaadhal |
2011 |
Tamil |
| Dabangg 3 |
2018 |
Hindi |
| Action Jackson |
2014 |
Hindi |
Prabhu Deva As A Producer
Prabhu Deva has also produced some movies which are as follows:
| Film |
Year |
Language |
| Devi |
2016 |
Tamil |
| Bogan |
2017 |
Tamil |
| Sila Samayangalil |
2018 |
Tamil |
| Vinodhan |
2018 |
Tamil |
Prabhu Deva As An Actor
Prabhu Deva is an award winning actor as well. Some of his popular and successful movies where he acted are "Indhu", "Kaadhalan", "Raasaiyya", "Love Birds", "Mr. Romeo", "VIP", "Love Story 1999", "Vaanathaippola", "H2O", "Thotti Gang", "Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnula Pelli", "Style", "ABCD", "ABCD 2", "Lakshmi", "Khamoshi" etc.
Prabhu Deva As A Dancer
Prabhu Deva is a two-time winner of the
National Award for Best Choreographer. Some of his popular dancing numbers are as follows:
| Film |
Year |
Song |
| Mouna Ragam |
1986 |
"Panivizhum" |
| Adhikari |
1991 |
"Naiyaandi Melam" |
| Idhayam |
1991 |
"April Mayile" |
| Suriyan |
1992 |
"Laalaku Dol Dappima" |
| Walter Vetrivel |
1993 |
"Chinna Raasave" |
| Pukar |
2000 |
"Kay Sera Sera" |
| Aabra Ka Daabra |
2004 |
"Shiv Om" |
| Wanted |
2009 |
"Jalwa" |
| Rowdy Rathore |
2012 |
"Chinta Ta Chita" |
| Oh My God |
2012 |
"Govinda" |
| Ramaiya Vastavaiya |
2013 |
"Jadoo Ki Jhappi" |
| R... Rajkumar |
2013 |
"Gandi Baat" |
| Happy New Year |
2014 |
Dance instructor |
| Action Jackson |
2014 |
"AJ" |
Prabhu Deva has also sung for the movies "Suyamvaram" and "Ullam Kollai Poguthe". He also has written the lyrics for "Yung Mung Sung".
Awards and Honours of Prabhu Deva
Prabhu Deva has won the National Film Award for "Minsara Kanavu" in the category of "Best Choreography". He has won the
Filmfare Award in the category of "Best Choreography" for "
Lakshya".
Personal Life of Prabhu Deva
Prabhu Deva married Ramlath and had three children, but their eldest son died of cancer. Later they were separated and he is now residing at
Boney Kapoor`s old place called "Green Acres". He also performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012
Indian Premier League on 3rd April in
Chennai along with
Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and American artist Katy Perry.
