About me: I'm a Colorado native and a pop-culture junkie. I've been watching Hindi films on and off since 2001, and in 2009 it became a serious obsession. I watched a LOT of Hindi films, started reading and posting on BollyWHAT, and a year ago I saw my first Telugu film. Since then, I've become a die-hard fan of South Indian films.
About Prakash Raj: The wikepedia entry has all of the basic biographical facts, but what you really need to know is that Prakash Raj is:
a) in about every third South Indian (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam) film you will ever watch. Check out his filmography. Yup, that's a lot of films.
b) AWESOME!!!!!! He's a great dramatic actor (with two National Awards) AND the all-around utility player. He can be a loving or stern father, a righteous or comical police officer, and a whole range of psychotic, maniacally laughing villains.
About the project: I've automatically been adding movies to my "to watch" list when I see Prakash Raj's name in the credits. I kept looking at that filmography on wikipedia, and began to wonder what all of those movies were about, and what would it be like to see them all. I was also reading some random blog about doing something every day for a year, and thus was born "My Year of Prakash Raj", and my goal to see all of Prakash Raj's movies (in a year, give or take.)
Now, to be honest, this isn't really Day One. That was apparently back in 2003, when I first saw Mani Ratnam's Bombay, and it was almost a year ago when I truly fell for the acting chops of P.R., as the bewildered, jet-setting father in Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. At this point I'm anywhere between 15%-25% on the way to my goal, but it feels like Prakash Raj is making films faster than I can watch them, so this may be a (pleasantly) Sisyphean enterprise.
My hope is that in the coming days, weeks, months, etc. that this blog will be a place to record some purposeful and random thoughts about South Indian cinema in general, and the work of Prakash Raj in particular.
Inspired by Tollywood is My Bollywood's inaugural post about filmi muhurats, I'll kick things off with this image from the Tamil film, Giri:
I can't wait to read your reviews. Good luck keeping up with our prolific Prakash Dad!
ReplyDeleteYay! It's official! :)
ReplyDeleteFinally someone to keep track of all the Prakash Raj awesomeness without me having to invent codes on my speradsheets (PRD for Prakash Dad, PRdi for Prakash Raj dishoom, PRV for Prakash Raj villain, PRC for Prakas Raj cop, you get the idea)!
Have fun, and I know it's early, but I sure hope it will be longer than a year! :)
Looks great! We need a dedicated Place of Prakash Pyaar and Prema! Can't wait to read your next post. Welcome to Blogging Southie Style!
ReplyDeleteBlog looks great!! Looking forward to your reviews :)
ReplyDeleteSysyphean is definitely the word to describe this but... I wish you good luck !
ReplyDeleteCandice.
welcome to the blogging world. I am going to announce your blog on Twitter :)
ReplyDeleteHe so deserves it! :D I've been thinking about Prakash Raj more and more lately. He really is such a character actor. He makes every minute he's on screen count. Hope you won't get tired of seeing him all the time :p Happy blogging!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! This should be fun, even if it's awhile before I'm able to track down many of his 90's films.
ReplyDeleteThis is the greatest idea EVER. I can't WAIT to read all your updates. Prakash Raj is totally The Man, and I haven't seen NEARLY enough of his films.
ReplyDeleteLooks good. Sure it will rock.
ReplyDeleteSome people may take offense at the last pic. In India only for dead people or God they use pictures to do puja or remembering them.
Hey but it is baddy prakash . so it may be fine. I am sure Prakash will take it in stride though.
Also Dont forget to watch this obscure movie 'Gun Shot' with Ali as hero where Prakash plays as super psycho
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhpXbKO1Rew
tolly, I wasn't sure if I should include that last photo, since it is a puja for the character who was killed (and it was actually a good, noble character!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to gunshot--I was hoping that kind people would point me to ways to find some of the more obscure films.
Gun shot full movie you can watch at below link (legal link )
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rajshritelugu.com/Video/Gun-Shot
But it does not have sub titles. But there is story synopsis given below the link from which you can possibly understand what is goign on.
hi dustdevil! just discovering your blog as of late, love the concept. If only there were enough time in our lives to watch 200 films in a year (that would be the most awesome year ever!!). :)
ReplyDelete@MinaiMinai, thanks for stopping by. If I find any examples of Prakash Raj doing classical dance, we'll have to do a crossover blog!
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