Prem Kumar (Kannada actor)

Prem Kumar, known mononymously as Prem, is an Indian film actor who works in Kannada films. He made his acting debut in 2004 through the film Praana. However, he earned much recognition and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Nenapirali in the year 2005 and for Charminar in 2013. He is popularly known as Lovely Star in Kannada films.

Early life
Prem Kumar was born as the eldest son to a power loom weaver. He completed his schooling in Kalyani School, and got himself employed with Indian Telephone Industries Limited, following which he worked as a weaver like his father, for 13 years after schooling. Speaking of his interest in films as a child, he said, "I would spend more than half of my earnings on watching films, buying film-related magazines, books and newspapers. I do not have a film background per se, but I used to watch 150-200 films per year in theatres. Though I started working after school, I would watch 3-4 films a week. Sometimes, I would watch three films a day."

He began working in TV soaps on the insistence of a friend, who worked as a car driver to T. N. Seetharam, a popular soap director at the time. Kumar appeared in his soap Manvantara for eight episodes as a junior artist, receiving a remuneration of ₹300 per episode. He also appeared in one episode of Ardha Satya. This was when he took to acting seriously and auditioned for a role in Praana, which would become his debut film.

Career
Prem debuted in film with the 2004 Kannada film Praana. It was by a team of newcomers: director Prakash, composer Allwyn and the actress Preeti were all new besides Prem. The film did not do well at the box office. But the next year, Prem bounced back with a memorable performance in Rathnaja's debut film, Nenapirali. The film had him play the role of a young man faking love for a girl, and ultimately falling in love. It hit the pulse of the audience, and catapulted Prem to instant stardom. Prem picked up a Best Actor Filmfare Award for his performance in the film. In 2006, Prem further consolidated his position as a bankable star with his single release Jothe Jotheyali with the actress Ramya. The film was also a love story, directed by the debutant director Dinakar Toogudeep. It was one of the major successes of 2006; 25 weeks, then he got the name "Lovely Star". After the release of the film, Prem promised the public that he would not be seen in a remake film. This move backfired as Prem's original choices sank at the box office one after the other. His next releases Pallakki did well for 100 days. Gunavanthawas average and Savi Savi Nenapu did well by the critics and he had done double acting for the first time.

In 2008, Prem teamed up with Rathnaja once more for the film Honganasu. Prem had high hopes on the film and had involved himself heavily in the film, but this too sank without a trace. It was a critical failure as well. After these losses, Prem announced that he was open to act in remake films and promptly signed up to act in Ghauttham, a remake of the Tamil film Aahaa..! in 2009. In 2010, he teamed up with lucky heroine Ramya for the film Jothegara. Other films which he signed are Sihi Muttu, alongside Dhyan and Pooja Chopra, Januma Janumadallu with Andrita Ray, a cameo in Shivarajkumar's travel extravaganza Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu and also in Eradane Maduve.

Prem began his 2011 career with a cameo appearance in the multi-starrer film Eradane Maduve, which had Ananth Nag and Suhasini in the main lead. Later he starred in I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona, a film which made news for its controversial kiss scene between the lead pair. The initial release of the film was for very short duration due to the controversies. However, it saw a re-release in the same year and was appreciated for its content. Even after its second release, the film did not do well at the box office. The other film of the year was Dhan Dhana Dhan opposite Sharmila Mandre, which also failed to get the box office collections.

After a string of flops and no release in the year 2012, Prem had a big release in 2013 beginning with acclaimed director Roopa Iyer for her directorial Chandra, a Tamil - Kannada bilingual project opposite Shriya Saran. The film was marred with controversies, involving a major scuffle between him and the director. While the Kannada version got a good opening, the Tamil version failed to open even at the box office. This was followed by R. Chandru's Charminar which found success and his performance was talked about with IBNLive.com praising him that "this" could well be considered his best film. He got his second Filmfare Best Actor award for this film. His next release was the two year old long pending project Shatru, which featured him in the role of a police officer for the first time. Though he got favorable reviews for his performance, the film failed at the box office.

His other long pending projects like Shatru and Athi Aparoopa released to a cold response at the box office in 2014. However, his other 2014 release Fair & Lovely with director Raghuram performed extremely well at the box office and earned him many accolades and awards. In 2015, Prem re-associated with R. Chandru through the film Male opposite Amulya. The film met with average response both critically and commercially. His next release was a cameo appearance in the all-women crew film Ring Road followed by a lead role in a romantic film Mast Mohabbat in 2016. In 2017, Prem starred as one of the jail inmates in the Dwarakish's 50th production multistarrer film Chowka, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

The project announced in 2014, Prashant Raj's Dalapathi, is under production as of August 2017 and features Prem opposite Kriti Kharbanda. Also in the making is director Dinakar Thoogudeepa's Life Jothe Ondu Selfie co-starring Prajwal Devaraj and Hariprriya.