Prithviraj Sukumaran

Early life

Prithviraj Sukumaran was born in Thiruvananthapuram to actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran. His initial schooling was at Shrine Vailankanni Senior Secondary School, T. Nagar, Chennai and St.Joseph's Boys' Hr.Sec.School, Coonoor, since the family was settled at Tamil Nadu that time. Later when the family shifted to Kerala he had his education from The NSS Public School Perunthanni, St.Mary's Residential Central School, Poojappura (which was near his home at Chengallur) where he acted in various plays and skits for the school's Annual Day Celebrations. He completed the rest of his school education at Sainik School Kazhakoottam and Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram. He also participated and won several debates and elocution competitions while in school. Prithviraj won the title of "Mr LA Fest" in the Annual Inter-School arts festival hosted by Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram in successive years and is the only person to date to win that title twice.

While pursuing his bachelor's degree in Information Technology at the University of Tasmania, Australia,he was called for a shot in the movies by film director Ranjith Balakrishnan to play the lead role in his film Nandanam. It was Fazil, a well known Malayalam film director, who introduced him to Ranjith. After his performance in Nandanam, he decided to take a break from studies to concentrate on his film career. Prithviraj's elder brother Indrajith Sukumaran and sister-in-law Poornima Indrajith are also film actors.

Malayalam cinema

In 2001, 19-year-old Prithviraj underwent a screen-test by director Fazil for one of his projects at that time. Even though that project never materialised, Fazil recommended him to director Ranjith who was planning his second directorial venture, Nandanam. Ranjith instructed Prithviraj to grow a beard to look mature. Nandanam released in 2002. Though Nandanam is his debut film, it released after Nakshathrakkannulla Rajakumaran Avanundoru Rajakumari. After Nandanam, Prithviraj appeared in films directed by Lohithadas, Vinayan, Kamal and Bhadran. Shyamaprasad, who cast him in lead role in his film Akale, said that Prithviraj's advantages are his talent and intelligence irrespective of his box office successes.

In 2006, he played the role of Sub Inspector Solomon Joseph in Vargam. After Vargam, Prithviraj acted in Vaasthavam with the same director, M. Padmakumar, for which he received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor and became the youngest actor to win the award. The same year he starred in Lal Jose's Classmates. In 2007, he starred in Chocolate, directed by Shafi. In 2008, he starred in Thalappavu (directed by Madhupal) and Thirakkatha (directed by Ranjith), in which he took up roles which serve as pivotal characters. One of the reviews of Thalappavu describes it as a film which is truly the coming-of-age film for Prithviraj the actor and that there is a spartan dignity that he brings to his commanding portrayal of Naxalite Joseph. The Sify review of Thirakkatha describes it as a "genuine attempt that keeps the viewer engaged until the end". Both Thalappavu and Thirakkatha shared the award for the Best Film in the Film Critics Award for 2008. He also made a special appearance in Anjali Menon's Manjadikuru.

In 2009, the success of Prithviraj's Puthiya Mukham (directed by Diphan) lead the print and visual media to call him "Young Superstar" His other releases in 2009 were Robinhood (directed by Joshy) and the anthology film, Kerala Cafe. In 2010, Prithviraj's notable films were Pokkiri Raja and Anwar directed by Amal Neerad. In 2011, Prithviraj turned producer through the multilingual film Urumi. Other releases in Malayalam include City of God, Manikyakallu, Veettilekkulla Vazhi and Indian Rupee. Reviewers praised Prithviraj for his performance in Indian Rupee like the one at Nowrunning.com who described it as his "career best performance". In 2012, his major releases were Hero, Molly Aunty Rocks!, and Ayalum Njanum Thammil along with cameo roles in Aakashathinte Niram and Manjadikuru. In 2013, Prithviraj had three releases, Celluloid, Mumbai Police and Memories, all of which were critical and commercial successes. He portrayed J.C. Daniel in Celluloid for which he won his second Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor.

In 2014, Prithviraj's first major release was London Bridge which failed at box office; followed by 7th Day which turned out to become a commercial success. He also did a cameo role in the Mammootty led Munnariyippu. His third release of the year,SapthamashreeThaskaraha was praised by critics and audiences alike. His first release of 2015 was Picket 43. His second movie of 2015 was Shyamaprasad's Ivide. Even though the movie did not match up to its expectations, Prithviraj was hugely praised for his outstanding acting in the movie. Varun Blake (Prithviraj's character in Ivide) is considered to be one of his best performances till date. He next appeared in Lijo Jose Pellissery's Double Barrel which was appreciated for its novelty. His most successful film of the year was Ennu Ninte Moideen which narrated the tragic love tale of Kanchanamala and Moideen that happened in the 1960s in Mukkam, a riverside village in Kerala. The film opened to critical acclaim, with several critics regarding it as one of the greatest romance films made in Malayalam. His role as Moideen in the film is regarded as one of the best in his career. His next releases Amar Akbar Anthony and Anarkali became back to back big hits, thus completing a hat-trick of hits ending the year.

2016 was a mixed year for Prithviraj. While his Pavada and Oozham turned out to be super hits, his Darvinte Parinamam and James and Alice ended up as average grosser. Paavada, released on January 15, opened to positive response from the movie-goers. The movie is estimated to have earned a gross collection of approximately Rs. 16.34 crore with a share amount of Rs. 7.17 crore at the Kerala box office, where it had completed 100 days of theatrical run. Paavada also marked Prithviraj's fourth consecutive hit starting from highly acclaimed Ennu Ninte Moideen in 2015.His next release Darvinte Parinamam ended up as average grosser at the box office grossing approximately 8 Crores.His next release was James and Alice. In 14 days, the movie could only manage a gross collection of 6.5 Crores at the box office. According to the reports, the film made a total collection of approximately 7 Crores, ending up as an average grosser. However his next film, Oozham turned out to be a commercial success.Film made a collection of over Rs 1.25 crore on its opening day from Kerala and earned approximately Rs 15.25 crore within 25 days of theatrical run in the state.Oozham also grossed 30cr from the worldwide box office thereby enabling Prithviraj to end the year on a high note.His first release of 2017 is Ezra. Ezra became one of the biggest hits in Prithviraj's career by grossing 40 crore in just 28 days of its theatrical run in worldwide gross, thereby becoming a blockbuster Ezra collected 35.20 Crores from the Kerala box office alone, within its lifetime run. It went on to collect 5.35 Crores from the rest of the India box office, and 8.16 Crores from the GCC box office.Ezra has fetched about 2.13 Crores from the releasing centres of rest of the world. His latest release was Tiyaan. The Mohanlal starrer, Lucifer marks his debut as a director.

Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema

In 2005, Prithviraj Sukumaran debuted in Tamil through Kana Kandaen In 2006, Prithviraj co-starred with actor Bhagyaraj's daughter Saranya Bhagyaraj in Parijatham. It has acclaimed as a hit and gave the actor a turning point in his Tamil film career. In 2007, Prithviraj co-starred Mozhi. He also starred in Satham Podathey and Kannamoochi Yenada in the same year. In 2008, Prithviraj starred in Vellithirai, the Tamil remake of Udayananu Tharam. Rediff described his performance: "Prithviraj makes the best of his assets – his nose, which glint in sad, harden with angry, or brim over with frustrated life". The Tamil remake of Classmates, titled Ninaithale Inikkum, was released in 2009. He played a cop in Mani Ratnam's Raavanan in 2010 with Vikram playing the main protagonist and his performance was critically acclaimed. Prithviraj played one of the main characters in director Vasanthabalan's big budget period film Kaaviya Thalaivan in which he co-stars with Siddharth.

Prithviraj Sukumaran debuted in Telugu through Police Police which was released in 2010. Besides, Prithviraj has had many of his Malayalam films dubbed into Telugu like Sivapuram in 2006 which was the dubbing of Ananthabhadram and ATM in 2010 which was the dubbing of Robinhood. The dubbed version of Urumi released in August 2011.

Prithviraj debuted in Bollywood through Aiyyaa directed by Sachin Kundalkar. Aiyyaa which was jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 released on 12 October 2012. His second film Aurangzeb directed by Athul Sabharwal . released on 17 May 2013.His performance was highly praised.His next film was Naam Shabana in 2017 in which he played the antagonist.

Personal life

On 25 April 2011, Prithviraj married Supriya Menon, a BBC India reporter, in a private ceremony at Palakkad. They have a daughter, who was born in 2014. The family is residing at Kochi, India.

As producer

Prithviraj Sukumaran started a production company named August Cinema with cinematographer turned director Santosh Sivan & Shaji Natesan. In 2015, actor Arya joined the production company. However in 2017, he announced on his Facebook page that he is quitting the company.

As playback singer

Prithviraj debuted as a singer in Puthiya Mukham (2009) by singing the title song of the film, "Kaane Kaane".

As a Narrator (Voice only)

Selected accolades

National Film Awards

Kerala State Film Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

Filmfare Awards