Pratap Pothen

In this Indian name, the name Pothen is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Pratap.

Pratap Pothen (13 August 1952 – 15 July 2022) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who acted in about 100 films^[1] and directed 12 films. He appeared in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu as well as Hindi films. He also worked as a scriptwriter and producer for films.

Pratap Pothen
Born	(1952-08-13)13 August 1952 Trivandrum, Travancore Cochin, India
Died	15 July 2022(2022-07-15) (aged 69) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	Madras Christian College
Occupations	Actor film producer scriptwriter director filmmaker
Years active	1978–1995, 2005–2022
Spouses	Radhika Sarathkumar ​ ​ (m. 1985; div. 1986)​ Amala Satyanath ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	1

Early life and career

Pratap was born in Trivandrum, Kerala on 13 August 1952.^[2] His father is Pothan of the Kolathinkal house, Pothan was a businessman who died when Pratap was 15 years old.^[2] Pratap had five siblings,^[3] including an elder brother, Hari Pothan, who also worked as a film producer.^[4]

Pratap was educated at the Lawrence School, Lovedale in Ooty.^[3] Initially, he was interested in painting; however, once he joined college, he started acting in plays with the help of his friends, and gradually got more interested in acting than painting.^[5] After his graduation from the Madras Christian College, Pratap worked as a copywriter in an ad agency in Mumbai. Later he also worked at Sistas ad agency and Hindustan Thomson.^[5]

Personal life

Pratap married actress Radhika in 1985, but their marriage did not last long and they separated in 1986. In 1990, he married Amala Sathyanath, with whom he had a daughter, Keya.^[2][6]

Film career

Pratap worked with The Madras Players.^[5] After seeing Pratap's performance in Shaw's play Androcles and the Lion, Bharathan invited Pratap to appear in his Malayalam film Aaravam.^[5]

Pratap later starred in three more films: Thakara, Lorry and Chamaram.^[5]

He also acted in Tamil films such as Moodupani, Varumayin Niram Sivappu, Nenjathai Killathe, Panneer Pushpangal. His debut as a director was in Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai, which he received a national award for.^[5] Prathap worked with Kamal Haasan in Vettri Vizhaa (1989).^[5] The film is noteworthy for being the first Tamil movie to use a steadicam.^[5]

Pratap created three more films in Malayalam Rithubhedam, Daisy, Oru Yathramozhi.^[5] His only Telugu film is Chaitanya and his only role in Bollywood is in Guru.^[5][7] His notable roles in Malayalam cinema include Once Upon A Time There Was A Kallan, Ayalum Njanum Thammil, 22 Female Kottayam, Idukki Gold, Ezra, Uyare, and Bangalore Days.^[8][9]

He directed Tamil films including Jeeva, Vettri Vizhaa, Seevalaperi Pandi and Lucky Man.^[5]

In 2006, Pratap Pothan announced that he would direct Madhavan in a script written by K. Rajeswar. Pre-production works proved to be difficult and the film went through several changes of title and lead actress, before it was announced that the film would be called Oru Naal Podhuma and would feature Rukmini Vijayakumar in the leading female role. The team had made plans to complete shooting for the film in Canada, though creative differences meant that the film was subsequently shelved.^[10][11]

In the last few years, he was busy with his ad agency named "Green Apple" and focused on commercials for MRF Tyres and Nippo. He used to host Naalaya Iyakkunar on Kalaignar TV.^[12]

The turn of the century saw him playing many gratifying roles in films like Priyasakhi, Aayirathil Oruvan and Ponmagal Vandhal. As a filmmaker, in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, he directed veterans like Sivaji Ganesan, Mohanlal, Kamal Haasan, Thilakan and Nagarjuna.^[13]

Death

Pratap was found dead in his apartment in Kilpauk, Chennai on 15 July 2022.^[2][14] He is believed to have died of natural causes.^[14]

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Film	Result	Ref.
National Film Awards	1984	Best Debut Film of a Director	Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai	Won	[15]
Kerala State Film Awards	2014	Special Jury Award for acting	Once upon a Time There was a Kallan	Won	[16]
Filmfare Awards South	1979	Best Actor (Malayalam)	Thakara	Won	[17]
		Best Actor (Tamil)	Azhiyatha Kolangal	Nominated
	1980	Best Actor (Malayalam)	Chamaram	Won	[18]
		Best Actor (Tamil)	Nenjathai Killathe	Nominated
	1987	Best Director (Malayalam)	Rithubhedam	Won	[19]
	2012	Best Supporting Actor (Malayalam)	Ayalum Njanum Thammil	Nominated	[20]
South Indian International Movie Awards	2012	Best Actor in a Negative Role (Malayalam)	22 Female Kottayam	Won
		Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Malayalam)	Ayalum Njanum Thammil	Nominated
Asianet Film Awards	2013	Special Jury Mention for acting	Idukki Gold 3 Dots	Won
Vanitha Film Awards	2012	Best Supporting Actor	Ayalum Njanum Thammil	Won

Filmography

As actor

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1978	Aaravam	Kokkarakko	Malayalam
1979	Thakara	Thakara	Malayalam	Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam
	Azhiyatha Kolangal	Indumathi's husband	Tamil
1980	Aarohanam	Raju	Malayalam
	Pavizha Mutthu	Santhosh	Malayalam
	Chandra Bimbam	Gopi	Malayalam
	Thaliritta Kinakkal		Malayalam
	Ilamai Kolam	Ilangovan	Tamil
	Lorry	Dasappan	Malayalam
	Chamaram	Vinod	Malayalam	Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam
	Oormakale Vida Tharu		Malayalam
	Pappu	Pappu	Malayalam
	Moodu Pani	Chandru	Tamil
	Varumayin Niram Sivappu	Prathap	Tamil
	Nenjathai Killathe	Prathap	Tamil
1981	Aakali Rajyam	Pratap	Telugu
	Karaiyellam Shenbagapoo	C. Kalyana Raman	Tamil
	Madhu Malar		Tamil
	Kudumbam Oru Kadambam	Kannan	Tamil
	Panneer Pushpangal	Prem	Tamil
	Sollathe Yarum Kettaal		Tamil
	Nenjil Oru Mull	Prathap	Tamil
	Vaa Intha Pakkam		Tamil
	Thillu Mullu	Himself	Tamil	Cameo appearance
	Rani		Tamil
	Panimalar		Tamil
	Aparna		Malayalam
1982	Vaazhvey Maayam	Prathap	Tamil
	Amma		Tamil
	Echchil Iravugal		Tamil
	Oru Varisu Uruvagiradhu		Tamil
	Sattam Sirikkiradhu	Raj	Tamil
	Sindoora Sandhyakku Mounam	Anil-Raju	Malayalam
	Idavela		Malayalam
	Eera Vizhi Kaaviyangal		Tamil
	Nandri, Meendum Varuga	Prathap	Tamil
	Preeyasakhi Radha		Malayalam
	Novemberinte Nashtam	Das	Malayalam
1983	America America	Baby	Malayalam
	Yudhakaandam		Tamil
	Kaikeyi		Malayalam
1984	Kanchana Ganga	Mohan	Telugu
	Pudhumai Penn	Advocate David	Tamil
	Justice Chakravarthy	Pratap	Telugu
	Aksharangal		Malayalam
	Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai	Ganapathi "Guppi"	Tamil	Also director
1985	Sindhu Bhairavi	Sanjeevi	Tamil
1986	Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare	Josekutty	Malayalam
1987	Manaivi Ready	Doctor	Tamil
	Jallikattu		Tamil	Guest appearance
	Nirabhedangal	Jayadevan	Malayalam
	Pesum Padam		Tamil
1988	En Jeevan Paduthu	Dr. Vijay	Tamil
	Pushpaka Vimana		Silent	Silent film
	Penmani Aval Kanmani	Parandhaman	Tamil
	Raththa Dhanam		Tamil
	Jeeva	Magician in song "Abracadabra"	Tamil	Cameo appearance
	Ithuthan Arambam		Tamil
1990	Sirayil Sila Raagangal	Pratap	Tamil
1992	Amaran	Raja Varma	Tamil
1997	Thedinen Vanthathu	Vicky	Tamil
2005	Priyasakhi	Priya's father	Tamil
	Raam	Psychiatrist	Tamil
	Thanmathra	Doctor	Malayalam
2006	Chukkallo Chandrudu	Prakash	Telugu
2007	Guru	K. R. Menon I.A.S.	Hindi
2008	Velli Thirai	Himself	Tamil	Cameo appearance
2009	Calendar	Cleetus	Malayalam
	Padikathavan	Ramakrishnan	Tamil
	Sarvam	Psychiatrist	Tamil	Cameo appearance
2010	Aayirathil Oruvan	Chandramouli	Tamil
	Veerasekaran		Tamil
	Maro Charitra	Balu's father	Telugu
	Pulliman		Malayalam
2011	Muran		Tamil	Cameo appearance
2012	22 Female Kottayam	Hegde	Malayalam	SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role
	Ayalum Njanum Thammil	Dr.Samuel	Malayalam
	Suzhal	Matthews	Tamil
2013	Alex Pandian	Radhakrishnan	Tamil
	3 Dots	Padmakumar/Pappettan	Malayalam
	Aaru Sundarimaarude Katha	Alex Paul	Malayalam
	Up & Down - Mukalil Oralundu	Edathil Govindan Nair	Malayalam
	Arikil Oraal	Sudhir Bose	Malayalam
	Idukki Gold	Micheal	Malayalam
2014	London Bridge	C S Nambiar	Malayalam
	Bangalore Days	Francis	Malayalam
	Alice: A True Story	Dr. Sivapanchanathan	Malayalam
	Munnariyippu	KK	Malayalam
	Poojai	Divya's Father	Tamil
	Vegam	Benny	Malayalam
	Once Upon A Time There Was A Kallan		Malayalam
2015	Mariyam Mukku	Father Gabriel	Malayalam
	Yevade Subramanyam	Butterfly Park Worker	Telugu
	Appavum Veenjum	Fernandez	Malayalam
	Kanal	Raghu	Malayalam
2016	Remo	Dr. Ravichandran	Tamil
2017	Ezra	Col.Nambiar	Malayalam
	Sathura Adi 3500	Fahad	Tamil
	Veedevadu	Dr. Xavier D'Souza	Telugu
	Yaar Ivan		Tamil
2019	Uyare	Senior Air Traffic Controller	Malayalam
	Kolaiyuthir Kaalam		Tamil
2020	Pachamanga		Malayalam
	Forensic	Dr. Jayakumar Menon	Malayalam
	Ponmagal Vandhal	Judge	Tamil
2021	Kamali From Nadukkaveri	Arivudainambi	Tamil
	Tughlaq Durbar	Doctor	Tamil	Cameo appearance
2022	CBI 5: The Brain	Dr. George Abraham	Malayalam
	Coffee with Kadhal	Ravi, Saravanan, Varshini and Kathir's father	Tamil	Posthumous release
	Yugi	Purushothaman	Tamil	Posthumous release
	Adrishyam	Purushothaman	Malayalam	Posthumous release
2023	Grey: The Spy Who Loved Me	Sudarshan Reddy	Telugu	Posthumous release[21]
2024	Ippadiku Kadhal		Tamil	Posthumous release
TBA	Barroz: Guardian of D'Gama's Treasure †	TBA	Malayalam	Posthumous release
TBA	Her †	TBA	Malayalam	[22]

As director

Year	Film	Language	Notes
1985	Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai	Tamil	Also actor and writer Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director
1987	Rithubhedam	Malayalam	Filmfare Award for Best Director – Malayalam
1988	Daisy	Malayalam	Also writer
1988	Jeeva	Tamil	Also writer
1989	Vetri Vizha	Tamil	Also writer
1990	My Dear Marthandan	Tamil	Also writer
1991	Chaitanya	Telugu	Also writer
1992	Magudam	Tamil	Also writer
1993	Athma	Tamil	Also writer
1994	Seevalaperi Pandi	Tamil
1995	Lucky Man	Tamil	Also writer
1997	Oru Yathramozhi	Malayalam

As writer

• Solla Thudikuthu Manasu (1988) (Tamil)

Television

• Naalaya Iyakkunar (2019) (Kalaignar TV) (Tamil)

References

1. "Actor-director Pratap Pothen passes away". The Times of India. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
2. "Malayalam actor Pratap Pothen passes away". Onmanorama. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
3. "The affable eccentric Prathap Pothan". The New Indian Express. 1 May 2010. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
4. "Vincent Master was a great man: Pratap Pothen". Times of India. 26 February 2015. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022. Hari Pothen, my brother, started his career as a producer with him
5. "Pratap Pothen". FilmiBeat. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
6. "My marriages were experiments which failed: Pratap Pothen on his divorces". onmanorama.com. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
7. Gurjar, Gagan (15 July 2022). "'गुरु' में अभिषेक बच्चन के साथ दिखे प्रताप पोथेन का निधन, घर में मृत मिले 69 साल के दिग्गज एक्टर". Asianet News Hindi (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
8. "Actor and filmmaker Pratap Pothen found dead at flat in Chennai". Mathrubhumi. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
9. Kumar, P.K Ajith (15 July 2022). "Prathap Pothen | An actor who made his characters believable". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
10. "Meaty role for Maddy". The Hindu. 16 March 2007. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
11. "Tamil Cinema News | Tamil Movie Reviews | Tamil Movie Trailers – IndiaGlitz Tamil". IndiaGlitz.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
12. "Prathap Pothen in Green Apple malayalam movie by Haridas". nowboxoffice.com. 27 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
13. "RIP Pratap Pothen: Colleagues remember the 'man so full of life'". 16 July 2022. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
14. "Actor Prathap Pothen no more". The Hindu. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
15. "32nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
16. "Much deserved award for Pothen's 100th film – Once Upon A Time There Was A Kallan". English Mathrubhumi News. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
17. "The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who". 1982. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
18. "The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who". 1982. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
19. "35th Filmfare Awards South Winners[ 1]". 4 February 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
20. "60th Idea Filmfare Awards 2013 South Nominations". Filmfare South. 4 July 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
21. "Grey: The Spy Who Loved Me Review: Raj Madiraju's Spy Thriller Works But Only In Parts". News18. 27 May 2023. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
22. "Her first-look poster out: Parvathy, Aishwarya Rajesh, Oorvasi, Remya Nambessan headline Lijin Jose's film". The Indian Express. 26 November 2022. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.

External links

• Pratap Pothen at IMDb
• Prathap Pothen at MSI