Prabhu Deva Birthday Special

Prabhu Deva, born on 03 April 1973, is the son of noted dance master Mugur Sundar. From a young age, he was a fan of Michael Jackson and would often practice Jackson’s dance moves. He also is a fully-trained Bharatha Natyam dancer.

He made his first screen appearance in Maniratnam’s Mouna Raagam in the song Pani Vizhum Iravu. He was given his first major role by director Pavithran who had him share the lead with Sarathkumar in the film, Indhu. He shot to fame in his solo lead film, Kadhalan (1994) directed by Shankar. The film went on to become the highest grossing film of 1994.

Undeterred by the box-office failure of his next film, Raasaiyaa, Prabhu Deva landed roles in two big budget ventures in 1996 – Love Birds and Mr Romeo – both of which had lukewarm success at the box-office. He returned to form in Rajiv Menon’s Minsara Kanavu where he shared the lead with Aravind Swamy and Kajol. This film won four national awards, three state swards and one Filmfare award. The national awards included one for Prabhu Deva for the Best Choreography for the song Vennilave Vennilave.

Prabhu Deva’s first assignment as dance choreography was given to him by Kamalhaasan for the 1989 film Vetri Vizha. This led to the two of them collaborating for the 1999 film Kaadhala Kaadhala. Happy to play supporting roles, he was also part of Vijayakanth’s Vaanathai Pohla and Engal Anna.

Then came a decline in his popularity despite critically acclaimed performances in Ezhaiyin Sirippil and Ullam Kollai Poguthey. He then turned his attention to films in other languages and also increased his choreography assignments.

In 2005 he made his directorial debut in the Telugu blockbuster Nuvvostunante Nenoddantana which had Siddharth and Trisha in the lead roles – This film was later remade into Tamil as Something Something Unakkum Enakkum. The success of this film saw him direct 14 other films, but with mixed success. His directorials in Tamil include Pokkiri, Villu, Engeyum Kaadhal and Vedi.

After a hiatus of 16 years, Prabhu Deva returned to the Tamil screen in the film Devi and had mixed box-office success with his subsequent films. IN 2021 he astarred in Pon Manickavel.

In recent times, Prabhu Deva’s script selection has not been the best. Barring his appearance in Vijay’s The Greatest of all Time, none of his films have enjoyed much success.

Prabhu Deva married actress Ramlatha in 1995 but were separated in 2008 after Prabhu Deva’s much publicised affair with actress Nayanthara. It was during the filming of Villu that Prabhu Deva’s son passed away from cancer, and the fact that he was not there for his son’s final days was the last straw for Ramlatha. Prabhu Deva separated from Nayanthara in 2012. He married Mumbai-based Himani in May 2020.