Tribute to Pratap Pothen – Veteran Film Maker an unpredictable actor, director No More

Actor and filmmaker Prathap Pothen died in Chennai of cardiac arrest in his Chennai apartment, on Friday. He was 70.

Prathap Pothen was born on August 13, 1952, and completed his education from Lawrence School, Lovedale in Ooty and Madras Christian College. After that, he entered in the field of acting and acted in more than 100 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and even Hindi. The legendary actor was known for his unique dialogue delivery.

As an actor, Pothen’s first debut movie, ‘Aaravam’, in 1978 was directed by Bharathan. He later acted in ‘Thakara’ in 1979, ‘Lorry’ and ‘Chamaram’ in 1980 Pothen’s performance was praised by many critics, and these movies are considered milestones in the Malayalam industry.

Pothen directed a total of 12 movies, including three films in Malayalam – ‘Rithubhedam‘ (1987), ‘Daisy‘ (1988) and ‘Oru Yathramozhi‘ (1997).

Many political leaders, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, and film fraternity members expressed condolences on the death of the actor-director.

Pothen won the first National award for debut director for the film ‘Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai‘ in 1984.