Prashant Narayanan Biography

Prashant Narayanan is an Indian actor, known for his roles in films like Chhal, Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, Shadows of Time, Bombil and Beatrice and Via Darjeeling.

Early Life

Born in Kerala, Narayanan grew up in Delhi. He was the state badminton champion and studied at the Kirori Mal College of Delhi University. There, he joined a theatre group called Act 1, which included talented actors like Ashish Vidyarthi, Manoj Bajpai, Gajraj Rao and Girish Mishra.

Career

In 1991, Narayanan shifted to Mumbai with plans to start an ad agency. He started assisting in art direction 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 in the TV series Chanakya. He started acting for theatres again, and soon landed up with several television shows like Parivartan, Farz, Gatha, Kabhi Kabhie, Jaane Kaha Jigar Gaya Ji and Shagun.

Narayanan got his first role in 2002 in Hansal Mehta's Chhal as a hitman 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 in the film was similar to that in Chhal, the actor was once again appreciated by the critics widely for his acting as a hitman who is in a dilemma whether to be loyal towards his boss or his copywriter friend who saved his life.

In 2003, Narayanan was offered the lead role in Academy Award winning German director Florian Gallenberger's film Shadows of Time. The film was a love story of a couple, Ravi and Masha, and their life, spread over 60 years. Narayanan portrayed Ravi in his youth and adulthood, ranging from the age of 18 to 45. Shadows of Time was challenging for him, as the film set in Calcutta, was to be in Bengali language. Narayanan, being a South Indian, had to take lessons in Bengali to convincingly portray the role.

In 2009, he played the most notable and important role of an estranged husband Kanji Waghela Bandini (TV series) aired on NDTV Imagine.