Luck can take any shape — in the form of a leading star or as a coveted letter in the English alphabet — in the world of Hindi cinema. But it’s seldom that a jelly-limbed dancer from the south is seen as the wielder of a magic wand.

But Prabhudheva is just that. Bollywood, along with its top stars, has reposed its faith in the man from the south for a hit.

Five years ago, if a local Nostradamus had predicted that a wiry dancer-choreographer-director would boost Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar’s careers, the prophecy would have caused derisive laughter. But Prabhudheva, whom few outside Bollywood know as a successful Hindi film director, has given them hits they’ll remember. Khan’s Wanted grossed Rs 91.31 crore, and Kumar’s Rowdy Rathore made over Rs 130 crore at the domestic box office.

“God has been very kind,” Prabhudheva says.

There’s a clamour in the industry for the Prabhudheva magic. Next month, his Ramaiya Vastavaiya will hit the screens. The film, produced by Kumar Taurani of Tips Industries, is a remake of the 2005 Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, which was Prabhudheva’s first ever directorial venture.

Shahid Kapoor is shooting his first action film with him in Rambo Rajkumar. Ajay Devgn, whose Himmatwala, released earlier this year, was a big disappointment, has signed the southern star-director for his next film. Prabhudheva has signed up another film with Taurani — this time with Salman Khan. And Saif Ali Khan too is all set to work with him. “I’m really looking forward to this film,” Khan says. “It will have lots of action and dance.”

The man who has Rajinikanthised Bollywood is 40 years old. He has spent most of his life in Chennai, though his parents, who came to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, are Kannada-speaking Lingayats. These days, he is living on rent in producer Boney Kapoor’s house in Green Acres in Mumbai’s Andheri. “I packed my bags and came here for Wanted,” Prabhudheva explains.

His living room in the first floor flat is huge, but sparse. All that it boasts of is a large television set, a seating arrangement — and a toy horse from Ramaiya Vastavaiya. His two sons are playing with his iPad. Though he keeps glancing at a mirror, seemingly to check out his hair, the man who has been quietly changing the fortunes of people in the industry looks relaxed in his casual jeans and T-shirt. How did it all start?

Prabhudheva and Salman Khan came together when they were both down and out. Before Wanted in 2009, Khan’s only hit over a long period of time was a comedy called Partner. Prabhudheva was going through a series of personal crises. The choreographer had separated from his wife Ramlath, and his 11-year-old son had died of cancer. He was also being relentlessly dogged by the media over his alleged affair with the south Indian actress Nayanthara.

So Khan was itching for a hit; and Prabhudheva for something to look forward to. Wanted was the way out. The film had been released as Pokkiri — Prabhudheva’s Tamil directorial debut of 2007 — after it made waves in a Telugu version directed by Puri Jagannadh in 2006. “Sridevi Madam kept shuttling between Chennai and Mumbai and Boney Sir used to come to Chennai often,” Prabhudheva recalls about the film whose producers included Sridevi’s husband, Boney Kapoor. “We have known each other since our Pukar days,” says Prabhudheva, who featured in a dance in the 2000 film.

The producer had asked Prabhudheva to work on a romantic comedy because romcoms were doing well. “I was almost halfway into that film when he came to Chennai, told me to abandon my plans and make Pokkiri in Hindi,” he says.

Boney Kapoor says he saw the spark in Prabhudheva. “Both Prabhu and I believe in full-blown commercial cinema packed with action, music and dance and that’s why we were on the same page,” he says.

And Wanted, indeed, was full blown. It celebrated the formula that was once immensely popular in Bollywood and continues to charm the south. The hero is a one-man army who vanquishes 50 goons with a few deftly handled punches in slow motion. The hero is on a mission, and he is infallible. He doesn’t have to woo the heroine either — it is she who courts him. And the outcome is a blockbuster.

“When we were kids we used to hear about successful Hindi filmmaker Nasir Hussein’s famous ‘formula’ films. Now there is the ‘Prabhudheva’ film formula,” says K. Shanmugam, joint managing director, AVM Productions Pvt. Ltd, Chennai. “It is not surprising that Prabhudheva has taken Bollywood by storm. He has a natural flair for comedy and entertainment. His scripts have the right proportions of action, emotion and entertainment.”

DANCING UP A STORM: (From top) Prabhudheva with Sonakshi Sinha; stills from Rowdy Rathore and Wanted

The multiplex audiences may like their nuanced cinema about estranged couples and extra-marital relationships. But the old fantasies have a large and loyal viewership across the country, especially in the smaller towns. “Since 70-80 per cent of our audience is not necessarily an urban audience, this (formula) works,” says Ishaan Dutta, a creative producer for many of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films.

The success of Wanted prompted Bhansali, the maker of such spectacular films as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas, to call on Prabhudheva, who was then in Chennai.

“He said he’d visited Chennai only twice — once in transit and then to meet me. He wanted a hardcore commercial film,” Prabhudheva says, his fisted hands describing the violence that Bhansali had in turn demonstrated to him. And Bhansali also gave him the title for the film — Rowdy Rathore. The 2012 film gave Akshay Kumar his biggest hit ever.

Industry insiders say that Prabhudheva puts his last effort into a film. Veteran Tamil film director P. Vasu stresses that he is exceptionally hard-working. “He can work for 36 hours without a break and does not tire even after that,” Vasu says.

Prabhudheva points out that he is up at 6.30 every morning and by 9 he is at work. He winds up at 6 in the evening and then sits with the cast and crew of his next movie before calling it a day at midnight.

Producer Taurani says he zeroed in on the southern director for his son’s launch film (Ramaiya Vastavaiya) because he wanted someone who was not just a director, but also an actor and a choreographer.

Taurani is clearly impressed by the way the director handled his son, Girish Kumar. “It is not as if Prabhudheva lapped up the idea of giving my son a break in Bollywood. He gave him an audition and though Girish had trained in dancing, Prabhudheva made sure he was trained again. It was only after he was completely convinced that Girish could make the cut that he started shooting last September.”

Prabhudheva, on the other hand, doesn’t believe in blowing his own trumpet. He would rather talk about getting nervous before a film’s release. “I get the jitters after production and until the release,” he says.

And that’s surprising, for he has been in show business for over 30 years. His father was a choreographer and directed dances — and young Prabhudheva, born Shankupani Sundaram, was an avid student of dance. By the age of eight he was learning Bharatanatyam from Dharmaraj and Udipi Lakshminarayanan. In the film Agni Natchitram, you can spot Prabhudheva dancing in a white shirt, aged 13.

A student of the Santhome Higher Secondary School, he started assisting his father from an early age. “I did the night shift and it was very tiring. At school I was very sleepy and somewhere along the way I had stopped taking an interest in education. In Class XI, the school asked my father to take me away. I was not naughty or disobedient,” he recalls. “Come to think of it, I don’t know what had come over me.”

Miles away from home now, he keeps remembering all that he has left behind. His sons are with their mother in Chennai, where Prabhudheva’s parents live. He misses his mother — and her food. “She is God-fearing and has a beautiful heart,” he says, his eyes welling up. The boys visit him during their holidays and he took them on a vacation to Australia, combining it with work.

Director’s cut: Prabhudheva with Girish Kumar during the shoot of Ramaiya Vastavaiya

When Prabhudheva talks about his career graph, he is unusually reticent. Modest about his work, he urges this correspondent to touch wood every time she mentions his successes. But while he may hesitate to talk about his rise up the ladder, industry insiders remember it well.

“I used to watch him when he accompanied his famous choreographer father to the sets,” says Vasu. “This quiet boy was transformed completely when there was music around him. His body would start moving on its own accord.”

After assisting his father, he choreographed his own dances. His steps first figured in the 1987 Tamil film Vetri Vizha, starring Kamal Haasan.

In 1990, Vasu roped in the then 17-year-old to make Rajinikanth dance to the infamous, cross-dress song of Amitabh Bachchan in Laawaris — Mere anganey me. Vasu’s gamble paid off and the song was a major hit.

It was some years later that he became a household name in Mumbai with the Muqabla song from Kadhalan (1994) and his choreography in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay (1995). He also acted in Rajiv Menon’s Hindi film Sapnay in 1997. It won Prabhudheva his first National Award for choreography, followed by Lakshya in 2004.

“He was the pioneer for us,” exults Salman Yusuf Khan, actor, dancer and choreographer who was in the movie ABCD (Any Body Can Dance), which also featured Prabhudheva, after a considerable gap, as a dancer. “His body movements and beats were trend-setting. He taught an entire generation how to dance. But even at his age, in dance he can kick anybody’s ass hands down.”

It’s the dancer in him, many believe, that’s given birth to an innovative director.

“Choreographing and visualising songs helped him become a good director. I think if a story is told to him perfectly, he’s able to beautifully visualise the film,” says Vasu.

Director Rohan Sippy agrees. “Having been a dancer, an actor and a choreographer, he has experienced all facets of filmmaking,” he says. “Another ace up his sleeve is that over the last five or seven years, the Bollywood trade has woken up to the audience’s enjoyment of South Indian films. Prabhudheva knows the material well. He has an instinct for what will connect with the pan-India audience and how to adapt it with the right cast. He is comfortable with action, comedy, music and dance — the masala that contributes to a commercial hit.”

His films also have a fast-paced tempo because of a crisp narrative style and editing pattern, points out Boney Kapoor. “The songs are picturised in his inimitable style. All this, along with his capacity for hard work and a distinctive way of communicating with the audience, makes him a director to watch out for.”

Mumbai film distributor Vinay Chowksi — who stresses that Prabhudheva has his finger on the pulse of the audience — points out that he has to now deliver his third mega hit. “If he can do a hat trick with Ramaiya Vastavaiya, which, unlike his earlier two films doesn’t have big stars, he will rocket into the A-list bracket for sure,” he holds.

“Touch wood,” as Prabhudheva would say.

Lotsa lolly

Wanted: Rs 91.31 crore

Rowdy Rathore: Rs 131 crore

ABCD: Prabhudheva was the star attraction (the film was not directed by him). It was a surprise hit and made Rs 45.50 crore

Next in line

Ramaiya Vastavaiya: To be released on July 19, 2013
Rambo Rajkumar: Starring Shahid Kapoor
A film with Ajay Devgn
A film with Salman Khan

 

Additional reporting by Kavitha Shanmugam in Chennai and Roshmila Bhattacharya in Mumbai