Prem Rakshith is an Indian choreographer who has worked in many known South Indian films. On 11 December 2023, his choreographed song Naatu Naatu from the pan-India film RRR received the Golden Globe Award under the Best Original Song category.
Wiki/Biography
Prem Rakshith was born as Sathish on Wednesday, 14 December 1977 (age 45 years; as of 2022) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. Prem completed his schooling at St. Gabriel’s Higher Secondary School in Chennai. He later earned several degrees in graphics and VFX design.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Hair Colour: Salt and Pepper
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father is a diamond merchant who worked as a dance assistant with Sundaram Master. His mother is a homemaker. He has a brother who is hearing and speech impaired.
A photo of Prem Rakshith with his parents during his son’s birthday
Wife & Children
His wife’s name is Rajyalakshmi. His son’s name is Parikshith.
Prem Rakshith’s son Pariskshith
Prem Rakshith with his wife and son
Religion
Prem Rakshith follows Sai and often shares photos and posts of Sai on social media.
Career
Prem Rakshith made his choreographical debut with the 2004 Telugu film Vidhyardhi.
Vidyardhi’s poster
Prem rose to fame in 2005 with the Telugu film Chatrapathi. In an interview, Prem said that when Chatrapathi’s director S. S. Rajamouli inquired about the choreographer of Vidhyardhi, he did not tell him as he presumed that he did not perform well in the film and was scared that he might lose his job as a dance master to Rajamouli’s children. He said,
Initially I was reluctant to tell him it was me, fearing that I might lose my job as dance master.”
Prem Rakshith with S. S. Rajamouli
A poster of the Telugu film Chatrapathi
Prem choreographed several 2007 Telugu films like Yamadonga, Mantra, and Pourudu. He received an award for best choreography for the film Yamadonga.
Yamadonga’s poster
In the same year, he worked as a choreographer in the Tamil film Azhagiya Tamil Magan and was awarded for best choreography.
Azhagiya Tamil Magan’s poster
For working as a choreographer in the 2008 Telugu film Kantri, Prem received three awards for best choreography. In the same year, he choreographed songs for the Telugu films Aatadista, Bhale Dongalu, and Kalidasu. In 2009, he choreographed songs for the critically acclaimed Telugu film Magadheera, which received several awards. Prem Rakshith worked in the 2009 Telugu film Arya 2 as a choreographer for which he received an award in the best choreographer’s category.
A poster of the Telugu film Arya 2
In 2010, he worked as a choreographer in several films like Kedi (Telugu), Sura (Tamil), Darling (Telugu), Adhurs (Telugu), and Simha (Telugu). For Adhurs, he was given an award for best choreography. Prem received the best choreographer’s award for the 2011 Telugu film Badrinath (also spelt as Badrenath). He choreographed several songs in the 2011 Tamil film Velayudham. Prem worked in several 2012 Telugu films including Kandireega, Dhada, and Bezawada. He received an award for choreographing the songs for the 2014 action comedy film Aagadu. For the 2015 epic action pan-India film Baahubali: The Beginning, Prem won an award for choreographing its songs.
Prem, in 2017, worked as a choreographer in the second part of the pan-India film Baahubali.
A poster of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
He choreographed songs for the 2017 Tamil film Mersal. For composing dance steps in Rangasthalam, a 2018 Telugu film, Prem received an award for best choreography.
Prem working as a choreographer on the sets of Rangasthalam
In 2022, Prem choreographed dance steps for Naatu Naatu for the pan-India film RRR. The song received the Golden Globe Award under the Best Original Song category on 11 January 2023. The song was nominated for Oscars 2023 under the category of Best Original Song. Prem composed 97 dance steps in two months for Ram Charan and Jr NTR.
Prem on the sets of RRR, teaching Ram Charan and Jr NTR Naatu Naatu dance steps
Prem further said that he was afraid of taking up the task as different actors have different dancing styles, and he had to create steps in such a way that both the actors looked equally impressive in the song. In an interview, while talking about it, Prem Rakshith said,
It is a challenge to choreograph two stars. Each superstar has his own style. For Naatu Naatu, It was difficult to take two styles and put them in one. I took it up as a challenge. It took me two months to choreograph it. We shot for 20 days and did 43 retakes. When Rajamouli told me about Naatu I was scared as I feared that one of the stars might look less impressive than the other because of me. I needed to show them in the same energy. We improvised a lot on the song till the end.”
Ram Charan and Jr NTR dancing together in the RRR film’s award-winning song Naatu Naatu
Awards
- In 2007, Prem Rakshith received the CineMAA Award for the Telugu film Yamadonga.
- In the same year, Prem received Filmfare Award South for the Tamil film Azhagiya Tamil Magan.
- Prem Rakshith won the Filmfare Award South in 2008 for the Telugu film Kantri.
- For the Telugu films Kantri and Takkari, Prem Rakshith received Santosham Film Award in 2008.
- In the same year, he received Nandi Award for the Telugu film Kantri.
- In 2009, for the Telugu film Magadheera, Prem Rakshith received the CineMAA Award.
A photo of Prem Rakshith taken when he was giving an interview after winning the CineMAA award
- Prem Rakshith received Nandi Award for the Telugu film Adhurs in 2010.
- For the Telugu film Badrinath (Badrenath), Prem won the Filmfare Awards South in 2011.
- In 2012, he won the Filmfare Award for the Telugu film Badrinath (Badrenath).
Prem holding the Filmfare Award that he won for Badrinath
- Prem Rakshith won the Nandi Award for the Telugu film Aagadu in 2015.
- For the pan-India film Baahubali: The Beginning, he won the Nandi Award and the 14th Santosham Film Awards in 2015.
- For Baahubali: The Beginning, Prem won the IIFA Utsavam Award in 2016.
Prem Rakshith’s IIFA Utsavam Award
- For the Telugu film Rangasthalam, Prem Rakshith won the 17th Santosham Film Awards in 2018.
- Prem Rakshith won the Indiana Film Journalists Association Award for the pan-India film RRR.
A photo of all the awards won by Prem Rakshith
Note: The above-listed awards of Prem Rakshith were presented to him under the Best Choreographer category.
Facts/Trivia
- To help his family during the financial strain, Prem Rakshith took up a job at a tailor shop.
- Prem Rakshith revealed that since he could not earn well to help his family through the financial crisis, he decided to commit suicide. He thought that the dancing federation, with which he was affiliated, would pay Rs 50,000 in compensation to his parents after his death. Prem later changed his mind after his father told him about his selection as a dance extra in a film. Talking about it, in an interview, he said,
Ours was a joint family, but due to some difficulties we moved out in 1993. The going became tough for the family. I knew that if I died, my dance union federation would give my family Rs 50,000 as compensation. So I decided to commit suicide. I cycled to the Marina beach in Chennai. But I realised that the guy who loaned me the cycle would ask my parents to return it, so I went back to give the cycle to my father.”
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
