Prashant Narayanan


Prashant Narayanan is an Indian actor, known for his roles in films like Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, Shadows of Time, Bombil and Beatrice, Via Darjeeling and Murder 2. He also worked in the telefilm Ek Tamanna. His break came in the Bhatt banner film Murder 2. Narayanan is best known for acting as a psychopathic and a misogynistic serial killer in the 2011 film Murder 2, has acted in many Hindi films along with a few Malayalam films. He was last seen in the Netflix series Mai. He was recently criticized for calling Ranveer Singh’s performance poor in Padmavat. Prashant also criticized Ranveer for poor method acting, where bollywood celebrities like Nawazuddin Siddiqui came in support of Ranveer Singh.

Early and personal life

Born into a Malayali family in Kannur, Kerala, Narayanan grew up in Delhi. He was the state badminton champion and studied at the Kirori Mal College of Delhi University.

Career

In 1991, Narayanan moved to Mumbai with plans to start an ad agency. He started as assistant art director for films like Govind Nihalani's Rukmavati Ki Haveli, Subhash Ghai's Saudagar and Shyam Benegal's Sardari Begum. He also worked as a costume director for the TV series Chanakya. He started acting in plays again, and soon got several television shows like Saturday Suspense, Parivartan, Farz, Phulwa, Gatha, Kabhi Kabhie, Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Ji and Shagun.
Narayanan got his first film role in 2002 in Hansal Mehta's Chhal as a hit man working in the Mumbai underworld. Though the film got mixed reviews from the critics, he was highly appraised for his portrayal of a hot-tempered, fun-loving goon. His next film was debutante director Shashanka Ghosh's Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II. Although Narayanan's role was similar to that in Chhal, the actor was once again appreciated by the critics widely.
In 2003, Narayanan was offered the lead role in the Academy Award winning German director Florian Gallenberger's film Shadows of Time. Narayanan played Ravi in the film. Shadows of Time was challenging for him, as the film set in Calcutta, was to be in Bengali language. Narayanan, being a Malayalee, had to take lessons in Bengali to convincingly portray the role.
In 2009, he played a notable role in the show Bandini, aired on NDTV Imagine. He played the antagonist in Peter Gaya Kaam Se, which also starred Rajeev Khandelwal and Lekha Washington. In 2010, Narayanan appeared in Pravesh Bhardwaj's Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta, alongside Aruna Shields, where he portrayed the role of Ashwin Mehta, an artist and a painter who has an extra-marital affair with someone's wife, sometimes he even paints her nude picture.
In 2011, he appeared in the role of Dheeraj Pandey in the film Murder 2, which was a sequel to the 2004 film Murder. In the film, he played a psychopath serial killer, who pretends as a customer to call girls and kills them mercilessly. The movie was a box office hit. It is one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2011, where Narayanan's role was highly acclaimed by the critics and public alike.
In 2013, he acted in a Malayalam film Edavappathy , directed by Lenin Rajendran. Rajendran had a special role in his new film Edavappathy that he had bookmarked for actor Jagathy Sreekumar, since he thought Jagathy was the only actor who could do justice to this very special role. Jagathy was hospitalized because of an accident and Lenin awaited Jagathy, for his return to the screen. Thus, Lenin came across Narayanan, who was reported to have done an awesome job in Edavappathy that stunned the entire unit.

Awards and nominations

Narayanan has received the following recognitions:
YearAwardsFilmCategoryResult
2012Screen AwardsMurder 2Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative RoleWon
2012Stardust AwardsMurder 2Stardust Award for Breakthrough Supporting Performance - MaleNomitated
2012Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild AwardsMurder 2Best Performance in Negative RoleNomitated
2013Golden Achiever AwardsExcellence In ArtsWon

Filmography

Films

YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
1995Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India!SumerHindi
2002ChhalGirishHindi
2003Mudda - The IssuePratap SinghHindi
2003Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part IIVishnuHindi
2004Shadows of TimeRavi GuptaBengali
2005Instant KarmaMoEnglish
2007GameMario John BrigenzaEnglish
2007Bombil and BeatriceBombilEnglish
2007Summer 2007Ramoj WaghHindi
2007Via DarjeelingKaushik ChatterjeeHindi
2008Rang RasiyaShabriHindi / English
2010Mr. Singh Mrs. MehtaAshwin MehtaHindi
2011Yeh Saali ZindagiChhoteHindi
2011Bhindi BazaarFatehHindi
2011Murder 2Dheeraj PandeyHindi
2012Bhatakti Tamanna / Coincidence Ki TalashAarav / Tarun VargheseHindi
2012UnnamTomy EapenMalayalam
2012Cigarette Ki TarahRajesh FogatHindi
2013Mumbai MirrorManishHindi
2013IssaqNaxal LeaderHindi
2014DishkiyaoonMota TonyHindi
2014Dee Saturday NightHindi
2014NedunchaalaiMaasanamuthuTamil
20147th DayMalayalam
2014Amar Must DieMafia DonHindi
2014Peter Gaya Kaam SeCarlosHindi
2015Mumbai Can Dance SaalaSaalaHindi
2015Manjhi - The Mountain ManJhumruHindi
2016Edavappathy Malayalam
201610 KalpanakalVictorMalayalam
2016FredrickMaanav/FredrickHindi
2017Oru CinemakkaranPolice OfficerMalayalam
2019PM Narendra ModiHindi
2023GhostKannada-
2024Political WarShivamHindi-
2025Badass Ravi KumarMahabir AhujaHindi-

Television

YearTitleRoleChannel
1991-1992ChanakyaRaghu RudrDoordarshan
1993-1998ParivartanLalit AjmeraZee TV
1995AahatMohanSony Entertainment Television
1994RajaniPrashantDoordarshan
1996-1997FarzRajan
1997-19989 Malabar HillZee TV
2001-2004ShagunSumerStar Plus
2009-2011BandiniKanji WaghelaNDTV Imagine
2011-2012PhulwaBhavaniColors TV
2014EncounterShamsher BhappaliSony TV
2014-2015PukaarDhanraj RastogiLife OK