Singham’s villain to teach acting

South baddie Prakash Raj will be seen as acting course co-ordinator at Nagarjuna's new film school in Hyderabad.

South baddie Prakash Raj, who takes on Ajay Devgn in the recently released Singham, is all set to head the acting department at Nagarjuna’s new film school, International School of Film and Media. Set up by Annapurna Studios, the film school is based in Hyderabad.

HT Image

Prakash says, “I am designing the acting course and its curriculum. I will also be scouting for faculty with Nagarjuna and mentoring them keeping in mind the institute’s vision.” They have already approached Mani Ratnam, Revathy, Suhasini and Shobana to come for guest lectures.

The short-term courses at the institute will last for eight weeks and will commence in September. Praskash says, “Next year onwards, the institute will function like a regular degree college. I am very excited about this course. It will be a learning process for me also. Our focus will be on training youngsters to learn acting in the Indian context and not on memorising acting theories.” Prakash will also be teaching one module to the students but what it is hasn’t been finalised yet. He also aims to be closely associated with them throughout their tenure.

The baddie, who was first seen in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay (1995), has worked with Amitabh Bachchan twice in Khakee (2004) and more recently in Buddah Hoga Tera Baap, before flexing his muscles against Devgn in Singham. The actor also has two decades of work behind him in Southern cinema. Ask him if there’s a tendency to typecast a South actor like him in Bollywood and he says, “With Madras-cut style of filmmaking becoming popular in Hindi cinema, I am sure actors like me will get diverse roles. I am not afraid of being typecast. As of now, being accepted in popular Hindi cinema is celebration in itself.”

Talking about his co- actors, Prakash says, “I have worked with Salman in Wanted (2009), and with Amitabh and Ajay. For me Salman is a darling. He isn’t afraid of anyone. Also, both Amitabh and Ajay were quite confident about themselves and it reflected in the open-hearted manner in which they dealt with everyone on the sets.”