Prabhu Deva

Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada language films.

In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed dancing styles and has garnered two National Film Awards for Best Choreography.

Prabhu Deva was born in Mysore, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka state) 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.

Raju Sundaram and Nagendra Prasad are his brothers.

Deva first appeared as a boy playing a flute in the song "Panivizhum Iravu", from the Tamil film Mouna Ragam (1986).

He later appeared as a background dancer for a song in the 1988 Tamil film Agni Natchathiram.

Deva's first venture as a choreographer was the Kamal Haasan starrer Vetri Vizha (1989).

He has since then choreographed for over 100 movies.

From choreography, he went into acting.

Beginning with a series of acting roles in the 1990s and early 2000s, Prabhu Deva featured in several commercially successful films including Kadhalan (1994), Love Birds (1996), Minsara Kanavu (1997) and VIP (1997).

After a series of cameo appearances in songs from Tamil films, Deva was given his first lead role by director Pavithran in the romantic drama film Indhu (1994).

Appearing alongside actress Roja and Sarathkumar, Deva's ability to dance was fully utilised in the song sequences, with gaana and disco music thereafter being regularly featured in his films.

He made his breakthrough as an actor with Shankar's sophomore film, the romantic drama Kadhalan (1994), where he portrayed a young student who first stands up against his lover's father and then an international terrorist.

The film was highly lauded for its technical prowess and went on to win four National Film Awards, while A. R. Rahman's songs and Deva's choreography, especially in the songs "Mukkabla" and "Urvasi Urvasi", became very popular across India.

Despite starring relative newcomers, the film went on to become the highest grossing Tamil film of 1994 and the commercial success made Deva a bankable actor.

The film also saw success through its dubbed Telugu and Hindi versions, creating a market for Deva in other Indian regional industries.

While his next project Raasaiyya (1995) garnered poor reviews and collections, he continued to attract big-budget films and worked in two further films with music by Rahman in 1996, Love Birds and Mr. Romeo.

Shot extensively in London, Love Birds received a wide theatrical release in overseas destinations and won Deva positive reviews for his portrayal.

Meanwhile, for Mr. Romeo, Deva charged a comparatively high ₹60 lakhs for his remuneration and appeared in a double role alongside Shilpa Shetty and Madhoo.

The music and dance portions of both films were praised by critics, though both endured middling performances at the box office.

Deva won critical acclaim for his role in Rajiv Menon's romantic drama Minsara Kanavu (1997), where he portrayed a streetwise hairstylist who inadvertently attracts the attention of a young woman, who he tries to help set up with another man but instead falls in love with her.

Featuring Deva alongside Arvind Swamy and Kajol, the film went on to win four National Film Awards, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and a Filmfare Award mostly for the film's soundtrack by Rahman.

Meanwhile, Deva also won the National Film Award for Best Choreography for his work in the song "Vennilave".

A critic from Indolink.com wrote: "it is easy to become a fan of Prabhu Deva after this movie if you are not one yet", while Rediff.com referred to his performance as "graceful".

Minsara Kanavu performed well at the box office and also had a wide release in Hindi, under the title Sapnay.

His following release, the romantic comedy V. I. P. (1997), featuring an ensemble cast of Abbas, Simran and Rambha also did well commercially.

Indolink.com described the film as "probably the feel-good movie of 1997", adding that "this movie is important as its probably the coming of age for Prabhu Deva" and that "he has definitely matured since his Kadhalan days and shows a lot more restraint and a little flair for comedy".

During the period, Deva also signed a big-budget bilingual Hindi and Tamil production titled Mazhai Vara Poguthey opposite Juhi Chawla.

Despite beginning production, the film was later cancelled.

After further critically acclaimed performances in Kaathala Kaathala (1998), Vanathai Pola (2000), Pennin Manathai Thottu (2000), Alli Thandha Vaanam (2001) and Engal Anna (2004).

Deva then failed to recreate the success of his earlier films and his box office value began to decline and he subsequently made appearances in supporting roles in Tamil.

Deva continued to win critical acclaim and commercial success with his roles in the comedy film Kaathala Kaathala (1998), co-starring Kamal Haasan and the drama film Ninaivirukkum Varai (1999).

Regarding his performance in the latter film, a reviewer from Indolink.com cited that "Prabhu Deva gets a wonderful script and character that he's comfortable in".

In 1999, Deva, Shobhana and A. R. Rahman performed with a Tamil cinema dancing troupe at the "MJ & Friends" Michael Jackson tribute concert in Munich, Germany.

He then successfully ventured into direction with the 2005 Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, and the success of the project prompted further offers for Deva as a director.

He then went on to make highly profitable films in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages such as Pokkiri (2007), Shankar Dada Zindabad (2007), Wanted (2009), Rowdy Rathore (2012), R... Rajkumar (2013) and Singh is Bliing (2015).

As of 2010, he serves as chairman and director of the Prabhu Deva's Dance Academy in Singapore.

In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to dance.