It was at a particularly turbulent time in his career that Prithviraj Sukumaran made his debut in Tamil cinema in 2005 as the primary antagonist of KV Anand’s debut film, Kanaa Kanden. In the next ten years, the actor starred in nine more films, including Kaaviya Thalaivan (2014), before taking a really long sabbatical from the industry. 

Although he has done only 9 full-length roles in Tamil, each of them were in films that offered him something new. They were all different from the kind of movies he was doing in Malayalam. When Prithviraj made his first Tamil film, he had done just 10-12 Malayalam movies, and by the time he did his 10th in 2014, he had finished 60-odd films, and won two Kerala State Awards, and became the youngest actor then to be bestowed with that honour. So, let’s look at the nine films of Prithviraj through the lens of the Navarasas, the nine emotions, and how each movie gave him the opportunity to highlight one of them strongly. 

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Even before he made his way to Tamil cinema, he struck gold with the success of director Kamal’s Swapnakoodu. His French beard, uber cool costumes, and his playful behaviour in the film, and especially in the song, “Karuppin Azhaku,” made him a heartthrob thanks to the nascent-Internet era television shows that featured songs from other languages. When news of him being part of Kanaa Kanden came up, everyone was waiting for him to be the next ‘chocolate boy’ of Tamil cinema. He had the looks. He had the talent. He had the fan following. But to everyone’s surprise, as the suave Madhan, who was one of the earliest templates of the now-famous corporate villain, Prithviraj made an impressive debut. Here was an antagonist you’d love to hate, but wouldn’t hate loving either. Unlike his illustrious predecessors like Mammootty and Mohanlal, who made a rather positive start to their careers, here was Prithviraj, who didn’t mind challenging the norms, and kindling your wonder about what he’d do next. 

This time around, Prithviraj delivered what was expected of him, but of course, with a twist. He became just the third actor after Sudhakar and Vijayakanth to star in a K Bhagyaraj directorial that didn’t feature the filmmaker in the lead. It wasn’t the usual romcom either, and it laid credence to his statement that he’d never act in a ‘template’ Tamil film. It was a beautiful love story that mixed the worlds of lived reality and a world emerging from literature, and Prithviraj was romance personified as the man who searches for the woman his mother dreamt for him. As Surendhar and Sreedhar, which were quite the archaic names for a romantic hero in the new millennium, Prithviraj tuned in an old school performance that perfectly fit the milieu of the film. Oh, and the songs by Dharan gave him a 180 degree shift from being a hard-hearted villain to a romantic hero propelling a warm romance. 

Of course, there is no doubt that Mozhi gave Prithviraj his most seminal work in Tamil cinema. As Karthik, he was perfect. The perfect friend. The perfect neighbour. The perfect confidant. The perfect lover. The perfect companion. The perfect everything. But what really shone through in this perfect role was his ability to elicit laughter from the audience. The Tamil cinema audience accepted him as a lover boy with a funny bone in Parijatham too, but in Mozhi, Prithviraj catered to a wider audience. It was a genre that even the most promising of stars in Tamil cinema then weren’t exploring. It was a genre that Prithviraj wasn’t able to explore in Malayalam either. So, he found solace in the saccharine world of Radha Mohan, and Prithviraj, in the able company of Jyotika and Prakash Raj, proved that he was not just the sweetest of them all, but could make them laugh at the drop of a hat. Oh, and he had the opportunity to be in a film that featured some of the finest songs from Vidyasagar. 

It is ironic how director Vasanth, known for his maverick romances, collaborated with Prithviraj, one of the most promising romantic heroes of that time, to deliver a thrilling relationship drama. In fact, this film turned up the intensity that Prithviraj hadn’t yet showcased to the Tamil audience. Yes, he was angry before. Yes, he was brave before. But Satham Podathey ensured we saw a Prithviraj that Malayalam cinema has often seen. His Ravichandran was a beautiful character with a lovely arc. It might seem like a simple character, but it was deeply layered, and Prithviraj’s compelling performance simplified it for us. He was the perfect foil to Padmapriya’s terrific turn as Bhanumathy and Nithin Sathya’s effective Rathnavel. He sold the intensity perfectly, and was at home showcasing the vulnerability and fears of the character. And, he was blessed with the music of Yuvan Shankar Raja that took his name to a lot more households. 

Till this film, Prithviraj mostly starred alongside his contemporaries in genres that he was familiar with. However, in the V Priya directorial, Prithviraj had to dial up his outlandishness to stand toe-to-toe with stalwarts like Radikaa Sarathkumar and Sathyaraj. Once again, it was a pleasant no-frills love story that paired Sandhya alongside him. However, the real chemistry and the actual plot point was the battle-of-wits and ego clashes with his lover’s father (Sathyaraj). In fact, Prithviraj understood the assignment and was brave enough to play second, and even third fiddle at times to accommodate the story between Sathyaraj, Radikaa, and Sri Priya. Prithviraj serviced the film, and not the star in him, and proved that he was secure and brave enough to know stardom is just a consequence of honest acting. And once again, Yuvan Shankar Raja took care of the rest. 

It is beautiful to note how Prithviraj’s sensibilities shine through his choice of films. In 2005, Mohanlal made the brilliant Udhayananu Tharam in Malayalam, which was one of the biggest successes, especially for a film about the world of cinema. Considering how tough it is actually to step into the shoes of Mohanlal in Malayalam, Prithviraj was smart enough to reprise this role in Tamil. Vellithirai, the remake of Udhayananu Thaaram, was made by a team that Prithviraj was comfortable with, since he worked with them in Mozhi. He was in familiar territory as he was joined by his Mozhi co-star Prakash Raj and Kanaa Kanden co-star Gopika. It was a role of a failed director trying his best to dust off the cobwebs of failures to find a honest way to success. We see him traverse this arduous journey. We see him break down in the face of adversity only to pick himself up. We see him lose the love of his life. We see him lose a lot more in his journey to making a film he loved, and yet, find it in himself to fight like a hero… a hero of his own story. Now, if that doesn’t move us, then what will? Well, the songs of GV Prakash will. 

After stepping into the really big shoes of Mohanlal in Velli Thirai, Prithviraj decide to remake a success of his own to establish his market. If it was in today’s times, we can rest assured that Lal Jose’s Classmates would be released in multiple languages, especially after the super success of the song, “Ente Khalbile”. But this was a different time, and he brought the Malayalam success to Tamil. On the onset, both films looked starkly different with the Tamil version obviously more flashy. But the film’s core was about coming to terms with the past. It was all about attaining a sense of peace about the consequences of our mistakes. Yes, it was the quintessential college film, but Prithviraj’s Shiva had the perfect arc. He starts off as a brash college-goer. There is repentance for an event that changed the course of his life, and finally… the quest for answers and more questions, leads to him finding the peace he craved for. Oh, and as always, Prithviraj struck gold with the music for the film, courtesy the brilliant Vijay Antony. 

Six years into Tamil cinema, Prithviraj had a release every single year from 2005 to 2010, and his brief sojourn in Tamil cinema reached its crowning glory with his presence in Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan. It was a take on the epic mythology, Ramayana, and Prithviraj was playing the conscientious Rama. Raavanan gave Prithviraj his biggest role in Tamil cinema. Raavanan took him to Cannes. Raavanan had him star alongside Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Karthik, and Prabhu. Raavanan had him play a cop for the first time in Tamil. Raavanan showcased his fiery intensity and displayed his rage for the first time. We had seen Prithviraj angry before, but it displayed a wrath that is not often seen on screen. It allowed him to walk on the thin line between justice and legality. Prithviraj was terrific as the cop who is always angry, and let me go out on a limb and say, a shade better than Vikram’s approach to the same role in the Hindi version, Raavan. Oh, and it marked the first time AR Rahman composed for a Prithviraj film.

Prithviraj temporarily signed off from Tamil cinema with what yours truly considers his finest work in the language. Although he was playing the ‘kallapart’ in Vasantha Balan’s Kaaviya Thalaivan, his Gomathinayagam, in many ways, is the ‘Raajapart’ in the epic historical drama. Yes, Siddharth gets to play the straight arrow in the film, but it is Prithviraj who gets to play a role that allows him to go through a gamut of emotions. It is almost like Prithviraj played all these characters in his previous eight films to play Gomathi in Kaaviya Thalaivan. In one role, he manages to showcase surprise, love, humour, fear, courage, compassion, peace, and anger, and ticks the final box of disgust as he walks into the Ganges. It is not easy to play a character that is disgusted with itself, and yet move the audience watching the narrative unfold. This is a beautiful melange of emotions, and Vasantha Balan brought out the best of Prithviraj, and was aided in this endeavour by one of the greatest soundtracks of AR Rahman. 

Just because he has showcased all the nine emotions in the nine roles he has played in Tamil, it doesn’t mean Prithviraj continues this sabbatical. With pan-Indian films becoming the norm, his films do get dubbed into Tamil, but it isn’t the same, right? 

Basically, Happy Birthday Prithviraj… and it is high time you emerge from the Ganges, and make a solid comeback to Tamil cinema.