Prabhu Deva – I just feel that if people write about a film, then they should also write about audience’s response: Birthday Special
Prabhu Deva was born in Mysore, Karnataka on 3 April 1973 to Mugur Sundar and Mahadevamma Sundar. Inspired by his father Mugur Sundar, a choreographer for South Indian movies, he took up dancing, learning Indian classical dance forms such as Bharatanatyam from Dharmaraj and Udupi Lakshminarayanan as well as Western styles.
From his sublime dance moves to his able movie directions, Prabhu Deva has done it all to win the heart of his fans. Prabhu Deva trained himself in Bharatnatyam and also learned the Western Style of dancing. His unmatchable dance moves not only earned him the tag of ‘Indian Michael Jackson’ but also won him National Film Award in Best Choreography.
Prabhu Deva made his debut as a choreographer in 1989 with the Kamal Haasan-starrer Vetri Vizha. Since then, he has choreographed in 100+ movies and we all know how the actors won hearts with Prabhu Deva’s dance steps.
As an actor, Prabhu Deva made his debut in the movie Indhu in 1994. The movie was directed by Pavithran and starred actress Roja. However, it was Shankar’s Kadhalan in the same year that became a breakthrough in Prabhu Deva’s acting career. The movie went ahead to win 4 National Awards.
Prabhu Deva’s debut in Bollywood was a little awkward for the role he got. He played Rakshasha in the 2002-movie Agni Varsha which starred Bollywood stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon and Nagarjuna.
His acting comeback in Bollywood happened after 11 years in the 2013-movie ABCD. Directed by choreographer turned director Remo D’Souza, the movie received positive reviews from the critics. In 2015, Prabhu Deva starred in the sequel ABCD 2 alongside Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor.
Prabhu Deva’s directorial debut happened with the 2005-movie Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. This Telugu romantic movie starring Siddharth and Trisha Krishnan won 9 Filmfare Awards and 5 Nandi Awards. That’s a way to come with a bang. In Bollywood, his directorial debut happened with the Salman Khan-starrer action movie Wanted in 2009. It was this movie that pulled out Salman from the grips of flops and breathed life into his career.
Prabhu Deva has won 2 National Awards for Best Choreography for the movies Minsara Kanavu in 1996 and Lakhsya in 2004. He also won a Filmfare Award for the Best Choreographer in Lakhsya. In 2004, he won a Nandi Award for Best Choreography in Telugu film Varsham. In 2005, he was honored with Filmfare Awards South for Best Choreography for Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. In 2007, he received the Favourite Director award at the Vijay Awards for Pokkiri.
In 2019, Prabhu was honored with Padma Shri for her contribution to the field of Art.