A good actor does not need a dozen scenes in a film to prove his mettle. If the actor is honest to his craft and has spent years honing it, it shows even when he appears in just a handful of scenes in a film. That is exactly what Prabhat Raghunandan has achieved with his portrayal of the young politician Ajay Yadav in ‘Durgamati – The Myth’, the recently released feature film that started streaming on Amazon Prime Video recently. The film, which is a remake of the blockbuster Telugu-Tamil film ‘Bhaagamathie’, has been receiving glowing reviews from all quarters and Prabhat’s act as a young political leader has been noticed.
In the film, Ajay Yadav, the character played by Prabhat, is asked to lead a political party by his mentor Ishwar Prasad (Arshad Warsi). Though the actor does not have as many scenes as some of the other key players in his film, he leaves an indelible mark with his assured performance. While a lot of people, within the industry and outside of it, have woken up to Ajay’s talent after watching him in this film, his journey has been quite an eventful one filled with struggle, perseverance and finally, recognition.
Armed with his experience in theatre, education in FTII, impeccable command over Hindi and the strong desire to be a part of exciting stories, Prabhat arrived in the city of dreams, Mumbai. As is the case with any actor who dreams of making it in the movies, Prabhat has had to go through a long struggle before he started getting work in the industry. One of the earliest films he was a part of was the Prawaan Ramaan directed ‘404: Not Found’. In the film, Prabhat played the role of Mustafa, one of the seniors in the college the film was set in. The film received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. With time and repeated viewings on the television and on OTT platforms, the film has managed to achieve a cult status for itself.
A couple of films and shows like ‘Gora’ followed. Though he was not getting as much opportunities as he would have liked to in films, Prabhat kept himself busy with theatre and kept working on his craft.
While theatres remained shut for a good part of 2020, the year has brought a lot of cheer for Prabhat who saw a couple of his prominent films releasing on OTT platforms. The Alankrita Shrivastava directed ‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare’, which is streaming on Netflix, opened to positive reviews and was received well by the audience. He was also seen playing the titular role in an independent film titled ‘Maali’.
The success of ‘Durgamati The Myth’ has definitely brought the attention of a large number of people to this wonderfully talented actor. Despite the presence of heavyweights like Bhumi Padnekar, Arshad Warsi, Jisshu Sengupta and Mahie Gill, Prabhat managed to hold his own and stand out despite limited screen-time.
Alumni of two of the most prestigious institutes in the country, years of experience in doing theatre, in-depth understanding of cinema and acting – Ajay’s talent and achievements speak for themselves. The need of the hour is to give underrated and vastly talented individuals like Prabhat Raghunandan the right platform to showcase their talent. The audience definitely deserves to see more of his talent.