Jack of all trades

Multi-talented youth icon Prithviraj plays three challenging title roles in the forthcoming Malayalam film Raghupathy Raghava Raajaram (R3) which is directed by Shaji Kailas, writes KK Moidu
Ace director Shaji Kailas, who has a number of superhits under his belt — like The King and Valyettan with Mammootty, Aaram Thampuran and Narasimham with Mohanlal, Commissioner and Mafia with Suresh Gopi — features a young hero Prithviraj in three different title roles in R3. This is the first time Prithviraj plays three title roles, one as a Psychiatrist Dr Raghupathy, second as a police officer Raghavan IPS and the third one as a rogue Raajaram. R3, scripted by AK Sajan, tells the love story of three protagonists. Samvrutha Sunil and Mamta Mohandas will play the female leads in the film.
However, Prithviraj, the heartthrob of youngsters sports a new look in Puthiya Mugham directed by Deepan, an earlier assistant of Shaji Kailas. Prithviraj appears in an all-new look in the film without his trademark moustache. He plays the role of a Brahmin youth as Krishna Kumar in the campus based love story Puthiya Mugham. He is a shy and soft-spoken youth and a resident of Kalpathi Village, near Palakkad. Krishna Kumar, a favourite of villager’s is deeply stick to his traditions and family values. He loves music, gives music lessons to kids and an expert in Mridangam.Prithviraj and Meera Nandhan in Puthiya Mugham
Krishna Kumar has a secret crush on Sridevi. She is the daughter of their family friend and lives in the neighbouring village. The innocent life of Krishna Kumar has changed forever after his admission in an engineering college in Kochi. His friendship with Anjana and Sudhi, whose marriage is already fixed and certain incidents in their life deeply affects Krishnakumar. He is forced to accept new incarnation after a few unexpected happenings in their life. Priyamani and Meera Nandhan play the female lead of the film. M Sindhuraj of Mulla fame scripts the film and Bharani K Dharan is the cinematographer.

Priyamani

Prithviraj, who is blessed with a face that can convey various expressions also tests his vocal ability in the film by singing the title song 'Suryamugham Ini Oru Puthiyamugham'. The song penned by Kaithapram and composed by Deepak Dev.

Although Prithviraj’s earlier horror film Vellinakshathram didn’t succeed at the box office, the actor once again dons the lead in a horror thriller directed by Kukku Surendran, a cousin of Santhosh Sivan.

Prithviraj plays a hi-tech thief in another forthcoming film Robinhood directed by Joshy. Bhavana is his love interest in the film.

Prithviraj, who won the Best Actor State Award at an early age for his performance in Vaasthavam, has delivered mega hits like Classmates, Swapnakoodu and Chocolate within a short span of his career. His hands are full with offers for playing the leads in forthcoming Malayalam films like Louis VI, The Reel, Cousins, Doctor Love, Kerala Café, Veettilekkulla Vazhi, Paathira Manal, Punyam Aham, Maadan Kolli (Malayalam and Tamil) and a couple of untitled films directed by Joemon, Jayaraj and Akku Akbar.Unlike other Malayalam superstars, Prithviraj has carved a niche for himself in the neighbouring Tamil industry. His excellence in romantic and action roles made him a favourite among the audience. He has played lead roles in seasonal filmmaker like Bhagyaraj in Parijatham. He also had the luck to be a part of Mani Ratnam’s high profile movie Ashokavanam in Tamil and Raavan in Hindi. Prithviraj co-stars with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Vikram in the film and Abhishek Bachchan will play the lead in Hindi.

Prithviraj will also play the lead in the Tamil remake of Malayalam superhit Classmate, which catapulted him to superstardom. The film, titled as Ninaithale Inikkum, is directed by Kumaravel, who assisted Kamal Hassan in many films. P Vasu’s son Shakthi will play an important role in the film and Priya Mani is the heroine.

Priyamani

Prithviraj will team up with director V Priya for an untitled film after the family entertainer Kannamoochi Yenada. Bhavana is his leading lady in the film. Prithviraj’s Telugu debut film has not seen the light of the day, but he is popular in Telugu after Sivapuram. The film is the dubbed version of Malayalam film Ananthabadram. His Telugu film Police Police, where he plays one of the lead as a cop Ravikanth is ready to release. Police Police is directed by debutante Manmohan and the film will simultaneously made in Tamil as Idam Valam.

Although Prithviraj is flooded with offers from Tamil and Malayalam, his recently released Malayalam films like One Way Ticket, Lollypop, Nammal Thammil and Calendar had failed to ring the cash registers at the box office. The actor definitely need a box office hit and pins hope on forthcoming films R3 directed by Shaji Kailas or his earlier assistant Deepan’s Puthiya Mugham or veteran director Joshy’s Robinhood.

Now the fans of the shining star are excitedly waiting to see if any of these three films or all will be able to repeat his crowd-pulling status at the box office.