Pratap Pothen, who passed away in Chennai on Friday, made his presence felt as a talented actor in several historical films in Malayalam and Tamil.
Pratap Pothen, who passed away in Chennai on Friday, made his presence felt as a talented actor in several historical films in Malayalam and Tamil.
Pratap Pothen, who passed away in Chennai On Friday at the age of 69, made his appearance as a talented actor many historical movies in Malayalam and Tamil in a career spanning over four decades. He was also a good director.
Pratap made his debut as an actor with the 1978 film aaravmi, directed by Bharathan. He established himself as an actor of substance with the director’s post Movies Thakur And Chamaram.
He excelled as a mentally challenged young man Thakur and in love with his teacher as a college student chamaram, Around this time, he made an impression tamil cinema also, with his best performances in films like Ajitha Kolangal, Varumayin Niram Sivappus And Nenjathai Fort, Those films were directed by some of the best Tamil filmmakers – Balu Mahendra, K. Balachander and Mahendran.
After working with such directors it was not surprising that Pratap wanted to become a director. The first film he directed was in Tamil, Meendum Oru Kathal Kathai, in which he also starred as the protagonist. The 1985 film won him the National Award for Best Debut Director.
Two years later, he directed a film in Malayalam, Ritubedam. Its screenplay was written by MT Vasudevan Nair.
Vineet, who played one of the main characters in the film, reminds MT to speak excessively about Pratap.
“I remember MT saying that he had given the script to Pratap because he had seen very few educated youths,” the actor said. Hindu. “He was a good director and I had a lot of respect for him as an actor as well.”
Vineet reprized the role of Pratap Thakur in tamil adaptation (Avarampu), which was also directed by Bharathan. “After I was cast in the role, Bharatan asked me to watch Thakara a thousand times and see how Pratap acted in that role; He said that he has given the role all the nuances and subtleties that the character demanded.”
Pratap was indeed a capable actor who made his characters believable, be it the body language or the way he spoke. He explained the characters in his own way. Remember the way he played the villainous Hegde 22 Women Kottayamin the latter part of his career.
But one of his best performances as an actor came in a little known film called Once upon a time there was a Kallan, This won him a Special Jury Award at the 2014 Kerala State Film Awards.