Prithviraj- The rising star

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The first time I had heard of and seen Prithviraj was in 1999 during my +2 course. Our school was conducting a cultural fest for which he had come along with his classmates as a part of the team from his school. The previous year he had won the personality contest at the same fest.

My classmate and I were taking care of issues of event timing clashes, and, moments before the Personality contest, he along with his classmates came and told us that in case he qualified in an earlier event, it would clash with the Personality round. When we told them politely that it would be difficult to resolve the issue, they were quite understandably upset. The teachers of that school who had no inkling of the difficulties involved in hosting such a culture fest started cribbing that the standard of the organisation had come down. After some tense moments, we came to know that he had not qualified in that earlier event and so, was free to take part in the Personality round.

The Personality round, as expected, was won by him for the second time i a row. What I liked about Prithviraj's performance that day was his remarkable poise, confidence and clarity of thought while answering the questions. His father had passed away recently, and to still come out of the period of grief and take part in an event like this itself was much appreciable.


The next time I saw him, was during my days at CET (College of Engineering, Trivandrum). He had come to CET for the shooting of his film 'Campus'. Also in the cast were artistes like Geetu Mohandas, Siddique and my 1 year senior at school Mithun Ramesh. His appearance had changed a lot from the school days where he sported a spectacle and had a more intellectual kind of look.

Prithviraj was introduced to films by Fazil -The man who has contributed so much to Malayalam cinema not just through his films but also by introducing so many new talents. Prithviraj's first film was Renjith's 'Nandanam'. After a brief experience in the Malayalam film Industry, he tried his hands at Tamil films. Starting with a villain character in 'Kana Kanden' , Prithviraj has managed his portfolio in Tamil films quite well. I appreciated his humbleness in acting in Bhagyaraj's 'Parijatham' through which Bhagyaraj tried to prop up his daughter's acting career and thus give her more importance in the film.

The success tasted by Prithviraj till now, in films, is not just the result of his looks or earlier affiliation in the film industry through the fame of his father. It is mainly due to his hard work, discipline and arguably, through his lack of hesitation and humbleness in his earlier days to try any role which came his way.

Whatever the so-called super-star fans say, the days of the 2 M's playing young heroes are getting over. What is needed on their part is to get more selective and play roles befitting their age, thus providing their valuable support and experience to the industry. It is time for the next generation of actors to pave their way into the film industry through their talent and hard-work. Prithviraj has still a long way to go before establishing himself as a sure-shot bankable talent. But the path he has chosen to do the same is correct. I don't know whether it is right to call him proud or arrogant. These comments, maybe, are a result of the confidence he displays in public. Even I thought the same the first time I saw him.

It is a sad reality that the super-star fans are ready to hoot in theatres running the films of so called lesser actors.I feel that the destruction caused by the low quality films of superstars is like the damage done when an unqualified medical student performs an operation. But then fans ask ' But in our case we are not killing any patients, are we?' . Well, not any patients, but you are killing the art of cinema.

Lets hope young and upcoming stars like Prithviraj, like our current super-stars in their heydays, put the cinema industry back in a much better shape than what it was when they first saw it.