Prabhu Deva is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. In a career spanning 30 years, he has performed and designed a wide range of dancing styles and has predominantly acted in Tamil films. He made his debut as a boy playing a flute in the song "Panivizhum Iravu", from the Tamil film Mouna Ragam (1986). After several appearances as a dancer, he made his debut as a lead actor in Pavithran's Indhu. He made his career breakthrough in his second film Kaadhalan (1994) directed by S. Shankar. Prabhu Deva acted as a college student who loves the daughter of state governor, who has ties with a terrorist. The film was a commercial success and critics lauded Prabhu Deva's choreography and his dance sequences in the songs "Mukkabla" and "Urvasi Urvasi", became very popular.
Prabhu Deva featured in several commercially successful films like Minsara Kanavu (1997) and VIP (1997), where for the former he went on to win the National Film Award for Best Choreography for his work in the songs "Strawberry Kannae" and "Vennilave". He was critically acclaimed for his performance in the comedy Kaathala Kaathala (1998), co-starring with Kamal Haasan. Despite the successful ventures like Eazhaiyin Sirippil (2000) and Sundar C's Ullam Kollai Poguthae (2001), Deva was unable to recreate the success he had in his earlier years and many of his films didn't perform well financially. Starting in the 2000s, Prabhu Deva played the second hero in several Telugu films, several of which were remakes of Hollywood and Malayalam films.
In the year 2005, Prabhu Deva made his debut as a director in the Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. The film received critical acclaim and went on to become a blockbuster. The film was remade in seven languages and it is considered as the first Indian movie to do so. The movie won 9 Filmfare awards including a Best Choreographer award for Prabhudeva. Following the success of his directorial ventures, Deva started to prioritize directing to acting. Occasionally he starred as a lead in dance films like Style (2006), ABCD (2013) and its sequel ABCD 2 (2015).
Prabhu Deva established the production company Prabhu Deva Studios and produced the film Devi, which was directed by A. L. Vijay in the year 2016. The film marked the return of Deva to Tamil cinema as an actor after a 12-year hiatus. The film was acclaimed critically and was a financial success at the box office. After the success of the film, Deva appeared in Gulaebaghavali, silent film Mercury and Lakshmi in the year 2018. In the year 2019, Deva had a line up of sequel films including Charlie Chaplin 2, a sequel to Deva's Charlie Chaplin, and Devi 2. Both the films were met with negative reviews and failed commercially.
As a film director
+ List of Prabhu Deva film credits as director Year Film Language 2005Nuvvostanante NenoddantanaTelugu2006Pournami2007PokkiriTamilShankar Dada ZindabadTelugu2009VilluTamilWantedHindi2011Engeyum KaadhalTamilVedi 2012Rowdy RathoreHindi2013Ramaiya VastavaiyaR... Rajkumar2014Action Jackson2015Singh Is Bliing2019Dabangg 32021Radhe
As an actor
+ List of Prabhu Deva film credits as actor Year Film Role Language Notes 1986 Mouna Raagam Flute player Tamil Uncredited appearance in the song "Panivizhum Iravu" 1993RakshanaTelugu Uncredited appearance in the song "Gallu Mandhi Basu"1994IndhuChinnasamy (Pattasu)TamilKaadhalanPrabhu1995RaasaiyyaRaasaiyya 1996Love BirdsArun / DavidMr. RomeoRomeo, MadrasDual role1997Minsara KanavuDevaVIPGuru 1998Naam Iruvar Nammaku IruvarPrabhu / DevaLove Story 1999VamsiTeluguKaathala KaathalaSundaralingam Tamil1999Ninaivirukkum VaraiJanakiraman (Johnny) SuyamvaramKanna TimeSrininvasa Murthy 2000VaanathaippolaSelvakumarEazhaiyin SirippilGanesanJames PanduJames Pennin Manathai ThottuSunil DoublesPrabhu 2001Nila KaalamAshok Television film; Guest appearanceUllam Kollai PoguthaeAnbu Alli Thandha VaanamSathyam Manadhai ThirudivittaiDeva 2002Charlie ChaplinThiru HOVairamuthuKannadaSantoshamPawanTelugu One Two Three Tirupathi Tamil 25th Film Manasella NeeneHimselfKannadaGuest appearanceAgni VarshaRakshashaHindiThotti GangSuri BabuTelugu2003Kalyana RamuduRajeshAlaudinAlaudinTamilOka Radha Iddaru Krishnula PelliMuruganTelugu2004Engal AnnaKannanTamilTapanaVenuTeluguIntlo Srimathi Veedhilo KumariGopal Andalu Dongale DorikitheBujji2005Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana Bullock cart driverSpecial appearance in the song "Paripoke Pitta"2006StyleGaneshChukkallo ChandruduSharatGuest appearanceNaayudammaPrabhu 2007 Prarambha Puttaswamy Gowda Kannada Short film2008Michael Madana KamarajuMichael / Ravi Telugu2011UrumiVavvali, ThanseerMalayalamDual role Engeyum Kadhal Narrator Tamil Special appearance2013ABCD Vishnu Hindi 2014Happy New YearDance instructorGuest appearance2015ABCD 2 Vishnu Singh Is Bliing Man in the washroom Guest appearance 2016DeviKrishna KumarTamilTrilingual film; Also producerAbhinetriTeluguTutak Tutak TutiyaHindi2017Kalavaadiya PozhuthugalPorchezhiyanTamil2018GulaebaghavaliBadriMercuryBlind manSoundLakshmiVijay Krishna aka Krishna / VKTamil Partially reshot in Telugu2019Charlie Chaplin 2ThiruDevi 2Krishna Kumar / Alex Britto / Ranga ReddyBilingual filmAbhinetri 2TeluguKhamoshiDevHindi2020Street Dancer 3DAnna / Ram Prasad2021Pon Manickavel Pon ManickavelTamil 50th Film2022Theal DuraiMy Dear BoothamKarkimuki the GeniePoikkal KuthiraiKathiravan2023BagheeraBagheera Muralidharan2024Karataka DamanakaBasavaraju / Damanaka KannadaThe Greatest of All TimeKalyan SundaramTamil Petta RapBalasubramaniam, Himself Dual roleJolly O GymkhanaLawyer Poongundran2025Badass Ravi KumarCarlos Pedro Panther, Carlis Pedro PanterHindiDual roleTBABaboottyTamilPost- production TBAPost- production TBA Filming TBAMalayalam TBATamil TBA Hindi
As a producer + List of Prabhu Deva film credits as producer Year Film Language Notes2016DeviTamil Distributor of Telugu version Abhinetri2017Bogan2018SometimesAlternatively titled Sila SamayangalilNetflix film
As a dancer + List of Prabhu Deva film credits as dancer Year Film Song Language Notes1988 Agni Natchathiram "Raaja Raajathi" Tamil Jeeva"Abracadabra"1990Michael Madana Kama Rajan"Rum Bum Bum Arambum"Debut Tamil film as choreographer. Credited as S. Prabhu.1991Adhikari"Naiyaandi Melam"Idhayam"April Mayile"1992Unnai Vaazhthi Paadugiren"Ippodhum Nippen"Suriyan"Laalaku Dol Dappima"1992Johnnie Walker"Shanthamee Rathriyil"MalayalamDebut Malayalam film as choreographer1993Prathap"Maanga Maanga"TamilEzhai Jaathi"Koduthalum Koduthanda"TamilGentleman"Chikku Bukku Rayile"Walter Vetrivel"Chinna Raasave"2000Pukar"Kay Sera Sera"Hindi2002Baba"Kichchu Tha"TamilShakti"Dumroo Baje Re"Hindi2004Aabra Ka Daabra"Shiv Om"2006Pournami"Koyo Koyo" Telugu 2007Pokkiri"Aadungada"TamilShankardada Zindabad"Jagadeka Veeruniki"Telugu2008Vaana"Unnattaa Lenattaa"2009Villu"Rama Rama"TamilWanted"Jalwa"Hindi2010Pa. Ra. Palanisamy"Netru Adhu"Tamil2011Engeyum Kaadhal"Engeyum Kaadhal"2012Dhoni"Vaangum Panathukkum"Dhoni"Mattiloni Chettu"TeluguRowdy Rathore"Chinta Ta Chita"HindiOh My God"Govinda"2013Ramaiya Vastavaiya"Jadoo Ki Jhappi"Boss"Hum Na Tode"R... Rajkumar"Gandi Baat"2014Action Jackson"AJ" 2015 Singh Is Bliing "Singh And Kaur" 2019Dabangg 3 "Munna Badnaam Hua" 2022Lucky Man "Baaro Raja" KannadaGodfather "Thar Mar" Telugu
As a playback singer + List of Prabhu Deva film credits as singer Year Film Song Language Notes 1997Ullaasam"Valibam Vaazha Sollum"Tamil 1999Suyamvaram"Siva Siva Sankara"2001Ullam Kollai Poguthae"Kinguda Kinguda"Sang the chorus portions
As a choreographer + List of Prabhu Deva film credits as choreographer Year Film Song Language Notes 2013 Boss "Hum Na Tode"Hindi 2022Godfather"Thaar Maar Thakkar Maar" Telugu
As a lyricist + List of Prabhu Deva film credits as lyricist Year Film Song Composer Language 2019Charlie Chaplin 2"Ivala Ivala"Amresh GaneshTamil2019Devi 2"Sokkura Penne"Sam C. S.
References