Prashanth's fall from grace

People thought Prashanth was the next big thing in Kollywood. They were wrong.

Prashanth was not the next big star of Kollywood, he was already one of the biggest stars of Tamil cinema before he fell off the radar.

To back up my claim, a 1999 article on Hindu’s friday review spoke about who were going to fight it out for the mantle of Superstar(Rajni was doing movies once in 2 years by then). The article extensively talked about Ajith, who was already the biggest young name in the industry. The second most talked about star was Prashanth. He had come fresh out of a sold-out stage show in Malaysia, which he did with 7 top heroines(including Simran, Ramya Krishnan, Devyani and Isha Gopikkar).

Vijay’s name was given a passing mention. I will link the article if I get it.

His fall was both his fault as well as bad fate.

Personal problems - I am going to respect his privacy and not post about his failed marriage. This impacted Prashanth the most IMO. It came at a horrible time and possibly influenced his poor decisions.

Misguidance - Unbeknownst to many, Thiyagarajan played a strong role in the kind of movies Prashanth selected and produced. Thiyagarajan or his team did a lot of blunders. From hiring bad directors to selecting poor scripts, there were simply too many mistakes made. This will become clear in the coming points.

Too many movies, none to win - While Vijay was choosing films with care and Ajith was basically rejecting loads of films to get the right ones(Vaali, Amarkalam) - Prashanth was on a signing spree. In 2001 alone, 4 movies hit the screens - Chocolate, Majnu, Star and Piriyadha Varam Vendum. All these movies failed. Star in fact was almost laughed at. This probably sent him down the wrong path. He started looking at other language movies.

Remake Raja - Jai, Shock, Aayudham(similar to Gilli), Malaiyur Mambattiyaan, Johnny, Saagasam are all remakes. When you don’t get the art of remakes right, the best solution is to stop. Prashanth didn’t. For example, there was no need to remake Aadhi in Tamil. Jr NTR was just being introduced to cine world when Prashanth was already a big star here. Why remake a film from a new comer? Also Aadhi succeeded because of Jr NTR’s references to his Nandamuri family like punchlines and slapping thighs. Anyone with basic cine knowledge would have wondered about this.

Delay of Virumbugiren - Prashanth heavily backed the Susi Ganesan movie while thinking the Hari-driven ‘Thamizh’ would flop. The delay of Virumbugiren hit him hard. Backfire of this plan caused a lot of pain for Prashanth. It is said that Prashanth constantly reminded Hari during the shoot of 'Thamizh' that he was doing the director a huge favour through the movie. In fact, Kavithalaya, the producers of Thamizh decided to sign Simran and Prasahnth for a second time for Hari's next cop movie(you might have heard of this one, I mean it was only the biggest blockbuster of the year). Prashanth refused, predicting incorrectly that Thamizh itself might fail in the BO. This pushed Hari, a bankable director, out of his list.

Miscalculation of acting ability - Prashanth, for all his popularity was not a great actor. He was good at certain areas but he was pretty bad in emoting. Sadly Hari was one of the very few directors who rightly understood his strengths. Most movies gave the impression that Prashanth was trying powerhouse performances like Ajith, Vikram and Satyaraj. Nope. Not even close. I can’t believe no one told him this to his face.

Sundar C’s lean patch - Of all the times that he could have worked with Sundar C, Prashanth chose the worst. The director had a poor run from 2000–2006. He had to almost re-invent his style with the 2010 film Nagaram after which he has been tasting a lot of success. London and Winner are among Prashanth’s poorest films and they came at a very bad time.

Even now, it is not too late for Prashanth. He just has to hire the right guy and get into the right groove. A film about an aging cop, a secret agent, a coach or a mentor would bring him right back in the game. Even now I heard he was in talks to do Andhadhun in Tamil. I don’t think it will work with him. It is bizarre if you think about how little the people around him know about movies.