The Paternal Stamp of Prakash Raj.

    

      

   It is a well known fact that Prakash Raj is one among the most distinguished actors of Indian Cinema.He has been an active player of roles in Tamil,Telugu,Kannada,Malayalam and Hindi films.His contribution to Tamil Cinema has been very unique and indisputably versatile.As a villain and character actor,he has made indelible impressions to the extent of creating the most wanted position for him,in Tamil Cinema.This article being specially confined to the father roles played by him,any reference to his other types of roles will be irrelevant and redundant.
    I think Sivaji Ganesan did most dynamic father roles much early in his career,{may be in his late thirties} in films like Paar Magale Paar and Motor Sundaram Pillai.This trend was followed by actors like Kamalahasan in Oru Kaidhiyin Diary and Nayakan,Satyaraj in Pakal Nilavu and Vedham Pudhidhu,and Napoleon in films like Puthu Nellu Puthu Naathu and Nadodi Thenral. This article singularly focuses on the father characters that Prakash Raj started playing from his thirty seventh year of age.It was the film Kaadhal Sadugudu directed by V.Z. Durai in which Prakash Raj first appeared as the father of a beloved daughter,played by Priyanka Trivedi.It was a rural based character that carried dignity and respect.This character was strangely prone to a kind of psychological fixation,underpinning the belief that the first impression formed about a person could be the final impression.
   It so happened that the first meeting between him and Vikram,the hero,marked a bad beginning leading to a firm misconception that the hero was a bad person.The successive meetings between the duo,were all undesirable happenings that made Prakash Raj confirm his negative opinion about the hero.Naturally,when he came to know that Vikram and his daughter were in love he could not digest it.Though the film was a simple family drama,the emotional intricacies of the character of Prakash Raj, formed the centre stage and his father role deserved a special acclaim on account of the ruggedness and naive layers of a plain father figure. 
    Prakash Raj made his performance impressively memorable,by his clear and categorical dialogue delivery,which ever remains as his amazing asset.The climax of the film pictured a delicate change in perceptions and emotions,driving to a happy coming together of Prakash Raj and Vikram almost as father and son,rather than as father in law and son in law.The film will be remembered more for Prakash Raj than for anybody else,despite the fact that the sub plot relying on Vivek's comedy was a great treat.
    The next father role that Prakash Raj performed was as the boxer dad of Jeyam Ravi,in M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi directed by M.Raja. Here,Prakash Raj was a wayward father with a weak mind in a strong body.As the husband of two wives and as an aggressive guy dedicated to boxing,with a mind never ready to accept defeat,Prakash Raj understood the complexities of the character and played it with force and fascination.The climax of the film showed him as a reformed guy,with his deeper love for family values,revealing the niceties of the father role that he portrayed.
     Thirdly,Prakash Raj was seen as a rowdy father with an impeccable love for his timid son.It was the film Arindhum Ariyamalum directed by Vishnuvardhan.Prakash Raj came as Adhi Narayanan,father of Sathya Narayanan {Navdeep} and the film was a breezy entertainer because of the all pervading,subtle intrusion of comedy element,thanks to the vigorous role play of Arya as the henchman of Prakash Raj.The interesting element of the father role was that,the father did not want to be seen as a rowdy in the eyes of his son,because of the love and concern he had for his son.In a similar vein Prakash Raj performed as the petty thieving father of a petty thieving son {Kreshna} in Alibhabha directed by Neela Shekar,spending anxious moments with fears of his son falling into a wider criminal net thrown by unknown elements.The nagging fears ultimately led him into the hands of cruel thugs and getting killed by them.Both these films carried the elements  of a Saran film,in the sense that they presented a huge quantum of craving for adventure and aggressive encounters . 
    The fourth father role that he did was Veerappu a remake of the famous Malayalam movie Spadikam starring Thilakan and Mohanlal as father and son.This film directed by Badri showcased Prakash Raj  as a school teacher whose wrong perceptions of discipline ended up in transforming his intelligent and self motivated son{Sundar. C},into a thug and virulent fighter against all evils.In addition to this, the teacher himself had a shady past clouded in an extramarital affair, by which he had a daughter.As it was more an action movie than a family drama,it was the son who took into his grip his father's fragile situation after the murder of his father's illegitimate daughter, for which his father was sent to prison.Slowly, the father realizes how he has spoilt the life of his only son by his teacherly norms of rigidity and rightness of behaviour. Ultimately, his son gets him released from prison by proving his innocence.Though it was not an extraordinary father character,PrakashRaj made the character live up to the expectation of the director, as well as the audience,by his invincible portrayal.
     Following this came 'Abhiyum Naanum' a film of Radha Mohan,the pet director of Prakash Raj.It was a breezy narration of a father /daughter relationship dipped in the surging anxiety of a father,about losing his daughter's love,after her marriage.It could be one of the most unforgettable father roles of Prakash Raj.Trisha as his daughter was a right mix of reasoning and filial devotion. The role of the father in Abhiyum Naanum {the very title is an emphatic pronouncement of the subjective element,controlling the bond of paternal love}plainly brought out the plight of obsessive fathers,of lovable daughters.
   Vasool Raja MBBS {based on Hindi Munna Bhai MBBS}directed by Saran was a roaring comedy of Kamal and his aggressively humorous tribe and the fact that Prakash Raj was the doctor father of a doctor daughter {Sneha} who would laugh out vigorously, to create comic relief in moments of tension, made the  character add spice to a leading laughter parade. Prakash Raj simply laughed away the role,with robust energy.As the theme of the film relied more on the intricacies of the medical profession,with varying interpretations of its ethical count,the father role of Prakash Raj got dissipated in the mainstream narration.However, beyond the roots of humour, the film definitely showed the concern of a father in not getting his daughter married to a 420.
    Then came the best father role for Prakash Raj in the most beautiful romantic tale and family drama, Santhosh Subramanyam starring Jeyam Ravi and Genelia D'Souza.This special film made by M.Raja was the quintessence of paternal love,concern and dedication.It showed how much a father could foresee the well being of his children and take care of their routine in all respects, including selection of dress materials and academic advancement of one's children.The psychological implications involved in evolving the father son relationship was so deep that the father could not approve of his son's choice of his life partner. This is a many time watchable film because the narration is profoundly natural and that the father son relationship is so pure that there is an irrefutable element of goodness in the intentions of both the father and son.The  emotional outburst of the son in the climax scene,finally shook the father in Praksh Raj,pulling him down to the changed scenario,looking for a change in perceptions of paternal responsibilities and expectations.
    In the recently released Manirathnam's film Chekka Chivandha Vaanam,Prakash Raj has donned the role of a gangster father of three sons,one of whom plans to dispense with him through his hired hooligans.Though Prakash Raj and his wife recover from the attack after rigorous hospitalization,the emotionally disturbed father unfolds the secret to his wife that they were attacked not by outsiders,but by the manipulation of one of their sons.The next morning he dies of cardiac arrest.The role of the father that goes on till the intermission of the film,is full of grace warmth and sentiments of a gangster head,who loves his wife and sons without any pretension.It is a character born of poise and perfect maturity and Prakash Raj has adorned that role,with his innate flair for fantasy and fascinating ease,in portraying negative characters with positive vibration.It will remain as another milestone in the vast galaxy of roles that this energetic actor has performed.
    To me Prakash Raj as a multi dimensional actor,who is basically capable of displaying dynamic and diabolic villainy.On the contrary, he is also an incomparable character actor with the fatherly punch dominating in his histrionics.Of the father roles of Prakash Raj mentioned here,I would personally rate with very high appreciation,his being the passionate father of a devoted daughter in Kaadhal Sadukudu and his elegantly performed father figure in Santhosh Subramanyam.I would also categorically state that the paternal stamp of Prakash Raj,offers a perennial treat.
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