Prem (film director)

Kiran Kumar (born 22 October 1976),[1] known by his screen name Prem, is an Indian film director in Kannada cinema. He is considered one of the star directors in the Kannada film industry.[2]

This article is about the director Prem. For the Kannada actor, see Prem Kumar (Kannada actor). For the Tamil actor, see Prem (actor).

Prem
Born	Kiran Kumar (1976-10-22) 22 October 1976 Maddur, Mandya, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Jogi Prem, Byre Gowda, Prem's
Occupation	Film director, actor, playback singer, lyricist, producer
Years active	2003–present
Spouse(s)	Rakshita ( m. 2007)
Children	Surya
Parent(s)	Rajappa Gowda, Bhagyamma Gowda
Website	http://www.prempicttures.com

Personal life

Prem was born as Kiran Kumar on 22 October 1976 in Maddur, in the Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka, to Rajappa and Bhagyamma.[1] He is married to actress-turned-producer Rakshita and they have a son named Surya.

Career

Prem started his career as assistant director[3] in a few Vishnuvardhan movies for Sunil Kumar Desai.

He became a director in 2003 with Kariya, a gangster romance film starring Darshan in the lead. The film was critically acclaimed and appreciated by the audience. Prem was lauded for his casting of real life big dons to act in his movie. The soundtrack and cinematography were also widely appreciated. Darshan played a gangster struggling to express his love. The same year, Prem directed the light-hearted romantic film Excuse Me with Ajay Rao, Sunil Raoh and Ramya in the lead roles. The film turned out to be a musical hit with many of its songs composed by R. P. Patnaik becoming chart busters.

In 2005, Prem came out with his biggest blockbuster film, Jogi, starring Shivarajkumar,[4] Jennifer Kotwal and Arundhati Nag in the lead roles. The film made record collections at the box-office. The mother-son sentiment theme was widely applauded and was considered as Shivarajkumar's[5] biggest comeback film.[6]

Following three back-to-back super hit films, Prem tried his hand at acting besides directing the film Ee Preethi Yeke Bhoomi Melide in 2008. The film's pre-release promotions received much media attention and expectations of the film were high. Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat made her debut in South Indian films with a special appearance. The film was widely popular for its melodious sound tracks.

Prem next directed the film Raaj the Showman in 2010. It starred Puneeth Rajkumar and Priyanka Kothari. It is remembered mostly for its soundtrack by V. Harikrishna and cinematography. The movie was an average grosser at the box office despite the presence of the heavyweights Puneeth Rajkumar and V. Harikrishna.

Prem, for the first time without himself directing, accepted the lead role in the controversial film titled Prem Adda,[7] a remake of the Tamil blockbuster hit Subramaniapuram with music by V.Harikrishna directed by Mahesh Babu. The film made an average collection in box office. Under his production house Premdreams he produced and acted in the movie DK in 2014.[8]

Prem's next project, Ek Love Ya,[9][10] is currently being filmed. The movie stars debutante Raanna and is produced by Rakshita Prem.

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Actor	Singer	Lyricist
2003	Kariya	Yes
2003	Excuse Me	Yes		Yes	Yes
2005	Jogi	Yes		Yes	Yes
2007	Ee Preethi Yeke Bhoomi Melide	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2009	Raaj the Showman	Yes		Yes	Yes
2011	Jogayya	Yes		Yes	Yes
2012	Prem Adda		Yes	Yes
2013	Dasavala		Yes
2015	DK		Yes	Yes	Yes
2018	The Villain	Yes		Yes	Yes
2018	Ambi Ning Vayassaytho				Yes
2019	Ek Love Ya	Filming

Discography

Year	Song(s)	Film	Composer	Notes
2003	"Brahma Vishnu Shiva"	Excuse Me	R. P. Patnaik	Sang with chorus
	"Thottilu Thugolige"			Co-sang with Madhukar
2005	"Beduvenu Varavannu"	Jogi	Gurukiran	Solo
	"Hodi Maga"			Co-sang with Gurukiran and Gururaj Hoskote
2007	"Magalu Doddavaladalu"	Ee Preethi Yeke Bhoomi Melide	R. P. Patnaik	Co-sang with C. Ashwath and Kalpana
	"Ee Preethi Yeke"			Solo
2009	"Raajaa Heluvagella"	Raaj the Showman	V. Harikrishna	Co-sang with Shreya Ghoshal
2011	"Odole"	Jogayya	V. Harikrishna	Co-sang with Shreya Ghoshal
2012	"Baadigege"	Prem Adda	V. Harikrishna	Co-sang with Shreya Ghoshal
2013	"Davva Davva"	Jataayu	Vinay Chandra	Solo
2015	"Sesamma"	DK	Arjun Janya	Co-sang with Mamta Sharma
	"Banda Banda"			Solo
2018	"Marali Baradorige"	Parasanga	Harsha Vardhan Raj	Solo
	"Tick Tick Tick"	The Villain[11]	Arjun Janya	Co-sang with Kailash Kher, Vijay Prakash, and Siddharth Basrur
	"Love Aagoythe"			Solo
	"Rana Rana Raavana"			Co-sang with Shreya Ghoshal
2019	"Panchatantra"	Panchatantra	V. Harikrishna	Solo
	"Amma Amma Ammaa"	Sinnga[12]	Dharma Vish	Solo
2020	"Belakondu"	Naanu Matthu Gunda	Karthik Sharma	Solo

References

1. Weekend with Ramesh Season 2 – Episode 1 – December 26, 2015 – Full Episode (in Kannada). Zee Kannada. 26 December 2015. Event occurs at 8:30. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
2. "Happy Birthday Prem". supergoodmovies.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
3. "Is prem the highest paid director of sandalwood? he makes sure producers' investment are safe". Filmibeat. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
4. "Prem says Salmankhan was all praise for this a list kannada actor and its not sudeep". Filmibeat. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
5. "Whenever prem and I collaborate, he experiments on me: Shivrajkumar". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
6. "I follow shivanna and ignore the attacks". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
7. "Director prem returns to acting". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
8. "I appreciate salman khans love for south indian films: prem". Cinema Express. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
9. "Prem's Ek Love Ya shooting begins today". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
10. "Director Prem grabs attention with catchy title for next". The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
11. "Sudeep laud prem, the villain is special". Indiaglitz. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
12. "Prem sings sentimental song for Singha". Cinema Express. Retrieved 16 February 2019.