Prem Kumar (malayalam)

Prem Kumar (malayalam) Biography

Prem Kumar is a popular comedian of Malayalam cinema since 1990’s who came to limelight through Doordarshan tele-film Lambo, where he played the role of a policeman Lambo, with a poetic heart. This humorous tele-film of 1 hour is regarded as classic and the earliest noted tele-films of Doordarshan, at a time when Doordarshan was the sole media of entertainment. Lambo gave him numerous television awards as well. Later he entered film field and became a successful comedian of 1990’s. He has also played lead role in 18 Malayalam movies of low budget, opposite Malayalam leading actresses like Kanaka, Sreeja, Mohini and Devayani. Comic role in ‘Aniyan bava chettan bava’ was the big break to the industry and he is always remembered for the comic dialogue, ‘Ammava….’ which is regarded as the masterpiece of this actor.   

He is born to Premsadan Samuel and Jayakumari in Kazhakoottam, outskirt area of Thiruvananthapuram city. His grandfather was a famous physician James who stayed at Kazhakoottam in the hill areas. As he was famous, the hill area came to be known as ‘Vaidyan Kunnu’ (Hill where physician resides). Later government annexed the places and gave it to build Trivandrum Technopark – the first Technopark of India. Prem Kumar’s primary education was done at Kazhakoottam and completed at Kaniyapuram Muslim High School. He acted in a stage play for the first time when he was 13. He completed graduation in Psychology. Yet he realized that acting is the right career. In between, he appeared in Doordarshan and Akashvani.

His first movie was directed by P. A. Bakker. He was casted as one of the Kerala leaders – Krishnapillai in his upcoming movie. Shooting was almost completed. But for some reasons, the movie got shelved. If the movie was released, he would have made another path in acting field. Lambo happened to him and thus he won audience’ heart as a comedian. His debut movie was Arangu, directed by Chandrasekhar. Sainyam, Sundarikaakka, Butterflies, Parvathi parinayam and Varthakya puranam are a few among his memorable roles.

In the late 1990’s, he was active in the industry as a lead hero of low budget movies. The movies were hit at box office too. However, with the rise of new millennium, big budget movies completely dominated the show and thus Prem Kumar lost grip in the industry. Now also he appears in supporting roles in movies. He has acted in a couple of movies as hero, in which actor Vikram was the villain. Later Vikram moved to Tamil film industry and became a superstar.

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Updated: February 27, 2014