Prakash Raj

He contested in the 2019 Indian general election as an independent candidate for the Bengalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, but lost. Prakash Raj barely secured 2.5% of votes in the election.

Prakash Raj started his active political movement with the hashtag #justasking on social media after his friend Gauri Lankesh's assassination incident in September 2017.

He acted with actor Kamal Haasan in the film Thoongaa Vanam (2015). He acted in the Telugu movie Bharat Ane Nenu (2018.

He then directed the Telugu and Tamil bilingual film Dhoni. In 2014, he directed the multilingual film Oggarane (in Kannada), Ulavacharu Biryani (in Telugu) and Un Samayal Arayil (in Tamil). The Tamil and the Telugu versions didn't do any miracles at the box office, while Oggarane, the Kannada version became the runaway blockbuster hit of the year.

As a producer, he has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for Puttakkana Highway, directed by his long-time theatre friend B. Suresh in 2011. Prakash was also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi during the show's second season.

In 2011, he produced the Tamil version of the Tamil-Telugu bilingual Payanam in 2011, starring Nagarjuna Akkineni and himself. In 2012, he produced two Tamil films; Mayilu and Dhoni. In 2013, he produced a Telugu-Tamil bilingual film; Gouravam. He produced a multilingual film Oggarane (Kannada), Ulavacharu Biryani (Telugu) and Un Samayal Arayil (Tamil) in 2014. Oggarane became a huge blockbuster hit that year.

Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu. The couple divorced in 2009. He married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They have a son, Vedhanth.

He took on the mantle of director with Naanu Nanna Kanasu, in Kannada in 2010, for which he was the joint producer. The film completed 125 days successfully in the theatres across Karnataka, becoming the biggest hit of the year. He was nominated for the Filmfare South "Best Director" category for his very first film.

The first non-Tamil film that he produced was his directorial debut in Kannada Naanu Nanna Kanasu in 2010, a remake of his own Tamil production Abhiyum Naanum, for which he was the joint producer, along with his long-time Bengaluru theatre friend, Kannada director-producer B. Suresh. In 2011, he acted and jointly produced the Kannada film Puttakkana Highway, again with B. Suresh, who directed the film. It was a milestone in Prakash's production career since Puttakkana Highway won him the National Award for Best Regional Film for the year 2010–2011, and an award in the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival of 2011.

Since Wanted (2009), Prakash Raj has been a regular villain in Hindi language Bollywood movies, including Singham (2011), as Jaikant Shikre, Dabangg 2, as Bachcha Singh, Mumbai Mirror (2013), as Shetty, and the movie Policegiri, opposite Sanjay Dutt and Prachi Desai, as Nagori.

He played an important role in Venkat Prabhu's Saroja. In 2008, he produced a film titled Abhiyum Naanum and played an important character in it. He remade the movie in Kannada as Naanu Nanna Kanasu.

Prakash became a producer beginning with the Tamil film Dhaya (2002), in which he starred with actress Meena. It earned him a Special Jury National Award for his performance. He later produced films in Tamil such as Naam (2003), Azhagiya Theeye (2004), Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005), Poi (2006), (starring Uday Kiran, his mentor K. Balachander and himself), Mozhi (2007), Velli Thirai and Abhiyum Naanum, which won many Tamil Nadu State Awards in 2008, and Inidhu Inidhu in 2010.

A polyglot, he played a variety of roles, most notably as the antagonist and, of late, as a character actor. Prakash, as an actor has won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani Ratnam's Iruvar, a National Film Award – Special Mention (feature film) for the Telugu film Antahpuram, directed by Krishna Vamsi in 1998 and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan,

He acted in many Telugu films, including Antahpuram (1998), which earned him a National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention.

Prakash re-entered Kannada films through Nagamandala in 1997, directed by T. S. Nagabharana, which was selected for the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival in 1997. He was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's biopic Iruvar. The movie dealt with the relationship between politicians M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He starred in many Malayalam films in 1996: The Prince, Indraprastham and Oru Yathramozhi, the last of which released in 1997. He also acted in Pandippada, with Dilip in 2005, Thekkekara Superfast in 2003, Keerthichakra in 2006, Amal Neerad's Anwar and Shyamaprasad's sensational movie Elecktra in 2010. For most of his Mollywood movies, he will render his own voice. He will also be seen in his upcoming movie Achayans.

After working in the Kannada television industry and the Kannada cinema for a few years, he made his debut in Tamil cinema through Duet (1994), by K. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil. In remembrance, he named his production company Duet Movies. Prakash has also worked in a number of Hindi-language films.

Prakash Raj (born 26 March 1965) is an Indian film actor, director, producer, thespian, television presenter, activist and politician who is known for his works in the South Indian film industry, and Hindi-language films. He acted in back-to-back stage shows for ₹ 300 a month in the initial stages of his career, when he joined Kalakshetra, Bengaluru, and he has 2,000 street theatre performances to his credit.

Prakash Raj was born in Bangalore, Karnataka (then known as Mysore State), as Prakash Rai on 26 March 1965 in a lower-middle-class family. His mother tongue is Kannada, while his father is a Tuluva.