Biography

Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju (born 23 October 1979), known mononymously as Prabhas ([p?ab?a?s]), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema,^[4] Prabhas has featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list three times since 2015 based on his income and popularity.^[5][6][7] He has received seven Filmfare Awards South nominations and is a recipient of the Nandi Award and the SIIMA Award.

Prabhas made his acting debut with the 2002 Telugu drama Eeswar, and later attained his breakthrough with the romantic action film Varsham (2004). His notable works include Chatrapathi (2005), Bujjigadu (2008), Billa (2009), Darling (2010), Mr. Perfect (2011), and Mirchi (2013). He won the state Nandi Award for Best Actor for his performance in Mirchi.^[8][9] In 2015, Prabhas starred in the title role in S. S. Rajamouli's epic action film Baahubali: The Beginning, which is the fourth-highest-grossing Indian film to date. He later reprised his role in its sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which became the first Indian film ever to gross over ?1,000 crore (US$155 million) in all languages in just ten days, and is the second highest-grossing Indian film to date.

In addition to acting in films, Prabhas is also the brand ambassador for the Mahindra TUV300. He is the first south Indian actor to receive a wax sculpture at Madame Tussaud's wax museum.^[10]

Career

2002–2011: Debut and breakthrough

Prabhas (third from left) along with Kangana Ranaut, Allu Arjun, Puri Jagannadh, and Aditya Ram during the film Ek Niranjan's audio release

Prabhas started his movie career with Eeswar in 2002. In 2003, he was the lead in Raghavendra. In 2004, he appeared in Varsham and Adavi Raamudu. In 2005, he appeared in Chakram and in the film Chatrapathi, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, in which he portrays the role of a refugee, exploited by goons. It had a 100-day run in 54 centers.^[16] Idlebrain.com stated that he had a unique style and macho charm in his screen presence.^[17] Later he acted in Pournami, Yogi and Munna, an action-drama film came out in 2007, followed by the action-comedy Bujjigadu in 2008. In 2009 his two films were Billa and Ek Niranjan. Indiaglitz called Billa stylish and visually rich.^[18]

In 2010 he appeared in the romantic comedy Darling. The film opened to positive reviews. The Times of India gave a two and half star rating explaining "Director Karunakaran extracts good performances from his actors, but can't come up with a refreshing plot. It looks like the director hasn't really come out of his Tholi Prema hangover as he dishes out yet another one-sided love saga but fails to come up with a valid and logical reason to make a Gen Z lad to hold back his feelings for his lover until the last moment. However, he compensates it all, by adding loads of fun moments in the film and the screenplay does have its share of some touching moments."^[19] In 2011, he appeared in Mr. Perfect, another romantic comedy. The review site GreatAndhra rated the film with three stars and noted "The film comes across as a clean, family entertainer and the intention of the makers must be appreciated.^[20]

2012–2014: Continued career

In 2012, Prabhas starred in Rebel, an action film directed by Raghava Lawrence. Sashidhar from The Times of India stated, "The film belongs to hard-core Prabhas fans as the movie is stylish and visually rich but not much in content".^[21] Purnima Ranawat from NDTV said, "Rebel serves up fare for the mass audience. The film will be definitely liked by Prabhas' fans. Watch it for the dancing talent of Tamannaah Bhatia and action skills of Prabhas."^[22] Radhika Rajamani from Rediff.com gave the movie one and half stars out of five and said, "Working with hardly any storyline, director Raghava Lawrence had made a film that is arduous to watch... Rebel is a movie for the masses and certainly not for the discerning audience."^[23] He rendered voice for a short cameo for the film Denikaina Ready (2012).^[24]

In 2013, Prabhas starred in Mirchi. Jeevi of Idlebrain.com gave a rating of 3.25 out of 5, commenting that "First half of Mirchi is decent. Flashback episode which occupies 100% of second half is good. Climax could have been better. The plus points of the film are Prabhas, music and all-round orientation. On a whole, Mirchi has all the ingredients of a commercial potboiler".^[25] Mahesh S Koneru gave his verdict that "At the Box Office, the film will turn in a good commercial performance", giving the film a score of 3.25/5.^[26] Way2movies also gave a rating of 3.25/5, giving the verdict that "Prabhas rocks the show in this decent yet formulaic commercial entertainer".^[27] Super good movies gave the film 3 stars in a scale of 5, reviewing that "Go and Watch Mirchi, It entertains both Class and Mass. It is a worth watch."^[28] Prabhas made his Hindi cinema debut in 2014 by doing a cameo role in the item number "Punjabi Mast" from the film Action Jackson.^[29]

2015–present: Baahubali and pan-India films

From left to right: Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah and S. S. Rajamouli at the first look launch of Baahubali: The Conclusion in 2016

In 2015, Prabhas appeared as Shivudu/Mahendra Baahubali and Amarendra Baahubali in S.S. Rajamouli's epic Baahubali: The Beginning which is the fourth-highest-grossing Indian film to date.^[30][31][32] The film started a new film movement named Pan-India films. Prabhas reprised his role in its sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which became the first Indian film ever to gross over ?1,000 crore (US$155 million) in all languages in just ten days, and is the second highest-grossing Indian film to date.^[33][34][35] He won the SIIMA Award for Best Actor (Telugu) for his performance in The Conclusion.^[36] He increased his weight to 105 kg for Baahubali's character.^[37]

The success of Baahubali has propelled Prabhas to become a pan-Indian actor, receiving significant following in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi languages.^[38][39]

In 2019, Prabhas starred in Sujeeth-directed action thriller Saaho. Despite receiving unfavourable reviews, the film went on to gross over ?433 crore.^[40][41] Later in 2022, Prabhas starred in the period romance film Radhe Shyam directed by Radha Krishna Kumar which received mixed reviews.^[42]

As of March 2022, Prabhas has three films under various stages of production.^[43] The first of which is the Prashanth Neel-directed action film Salaar.^[44] He has completed shooting for Adipurush, an adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana where he plays the role of Rama. The film helmed by director Om Raut also stars Saif Ali Khan.^[45] He also started filming for Nag Ashwin's untitled sci fi film, tentatively titled Project-K where he stars alongside Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan.^[46] His 25th film Spirit was announced in October 2021.^[47] Directed Sandeep Reddy Vanga was signed as its director under the production of UV Creations, T-Series and Bhadrakali Pictures.^[48]

Brand endorsements

Prabhas, who has been signed on by Mahindra & Mahindra as brand ambassador for the new Mahindra TUV300 car, has made his debut in the television commercial arena with their new ad in 2015.^[49] He generally does not endorse brands frequently.^[50] News 18 reported that he rejected brand endorsements worth ?150 crore in 2020.^[51]

In the media

Prabhas is often referred as "Darling" or "Pan-India star".^[52] He was ranked second in Times' Most Desirable Men for the year 2017,^[53] and twelfth in 2018.^[54] He was then added to the Forever Desirable list of Hyderabad Times in 2019.^[55][56] He was the most searched actor on Google in Karnataka, for the year 2019.^[57] He is the only actor from south cinema to feature in the magazine Eastern Eye's 2019 listing of the 10 Sexiest Asian Men.^[58][59] He was also featured in the GQ in their listing of the most influential young Indians of 2017.^[60] In 2021, he has been named the ‘Most Handsome Asian Male’ in the Fancy Odds annual list.^[61]

Pooja Dhar of Pinkvilla cited him as "one of the most humble and down to earth Indian actors" in her article.^[62] In September 2020, Prabhas adopted 1650 acres of land in Khazipally Reserve Forest, and made additional donations for the development of the eco-park in the name of his late father.^[63]

Filmography

From left to right: Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, S. S. Rajamouli, Karan Johar, Prabhas, Rana Daggubati at the trailer launch of the Hindi version of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes	Ref.
2002	Eeswar	Eeswar	Telugu	Debut Film
2003	Raghavendra	Raghavendra	Telugu
2004	Varsham	Venkat	Telugu
	Adavi Ramudu	Ramudu	Telugu
2005	Chakram	Chakram	Telugu
	Chatrapathi	Siva / Chatrapathi[a]	Telugu
2006	Pournami	Siva Kesava	Telugu
2007	Yogi	Eeswar Prasad / Yogi[a]	Telugu
	Munna	Munna	Telugu
2008	Bujjigadu	Bujji / Linga Raju / Rajinikanth[a]	Telugu
2009	Billa	Billa / Ranga[b]	Telugu
	Ek Niranjan	Chotu	Telugu
2010	Darling	Prabhas "Prabha"	Telugu
2011	Mr. Perfect	Vicky	Telugu
2012	Rebel	Rishi / Rebel[a]	Telugu
2013	Mirchi	Jai	Telugu
2015	Baahubali: The Beginning	Mahendra Baahubali / Amarendra Baahubali[b]	Telugu Tamil		[64]
2017	Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
2019	Saaho	Sidharth Nandhan Saaho / Ashok [a]	Hindi Tamil Telugu		[65]
2022	Radhe Shyam	Vikramaditya	Telugu Hindi		[66]
2023	Adipurush	Raghava	Hindi Telugu	Post-production	[45]
	Salaar	Salaar	Telugu	Filming	[44] [67]
	Project K	TBA	Telugu Hindi	Filming	[46]

Other roles

Awards and nominations

Prabhas awards and nominations

Prabhas at the launch of the trailer for Baahubali
showAwards and nominations
Totals[c]
Wins	6
Nominations	13
show Note

See also

• List of Indian film actors