Prakash Raj is an actor, director, producer and TV presenter who is known for his contribution in South Indian and Hindi film industry. On his birthday, see some of the lesser known facts about the actor! Born on March 26, 1965, Prakash Raj is a renowned Bollywood and South Indian actor who celebrates his 54th birthday today. On this occasion, let's have a look at some of the rarely known facts about the actor.

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Prakash changed his surname to Raj from Rai as it was advised by Tamil film director K. Balachander. Though he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka. In 1994, Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari. They have two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu. The couple got divorced in 2009. In 2010, Prakash married choreographer Pony Verma. They have a son, Vedhanth. The actor began his career with Doordarshan serials such as Bisilu Kudure and Guddada Bhootha. He later took up supporting roles in films such as Ramachari, Ranadheera, Nishkarsha and Lockup Death.

His big breakthrough role came with Harakeya Kuri. His performance in the film was noticed by the lead heroine of the film, Geetha who introduced Prakash to her mentor and Tamil director K. Balachander. Prakash's first lead role came with K. Balachander's directorial film Duet. In 2009, Prakash Raj was seen in Wanted and since then, has been a regular villain in Hindi films like Singham, Dabangg 2 and Mumbai Mirror. Prakash Raj has his own production house named Duet Movies which is named after his first Tamil film.

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