Anu Prabhakar, also known by her married name Anu Prabhakar Mukherjee, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in
Kannada films and a few Tamil films.
Early life
Anu was born in
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
to M. V. Prabhakar, an employee with
Bharat Heavy Electricals, and dubbing artiste and actress Gayathri Prabhakar. Anu grew up in the
Malleswaram suburb of Bangalore, and studied in the Nirmala Rani High School. She appeared as a child artiste in Kannada films ''
Chapala Chennigaraya'' (1990) and ''
Shanti Kranti
''Shanti Kranti'' ( ) is a 1991 Indian action crime film written, directed and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film was simultaneously made in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as H ...
'' (1991), and English film Mysteries of the Dark Jungle (1990). While she dropped out of college when her career as a heroine took off
she later went on to pursue a master's degree in
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
from
Karnataka University through
correspondence.
Career
Anu made her debut as a heroine in 1999 with
Hrudaya Hrudaya opposite
Shiva Rajkumar
Dr.Shiva Rajkumar (born Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy; 12 July 1962) is an Indian actor, film producer and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he has worked in over 125 films in Ka ...
and became a top rung heroine in Kannada films. She formed a popular pair with
Ramesh Aravind
Ramesh Aravind (born 10 September 1964), known mononymously as Ramesh, is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and television presenter. Ramesh has predominantly worked in Kannada and Tamil films along with a few Telugu and Hindi films.
He ...
. She has co-starred with superstar
Vishnuvardhan in several films like
Soorappa,
Jamindarru,
Hrudayavantha,
Sahukara and
Varsha. Anu has acted in a few Tamil movies as well. In 2009, she gave her voice to an
HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
education animated software tutorial created by nonprofit organisation
TeachAids
TeachAids (pronounced ) is a nonprofit social enterprise that develops global health education technology products for HIV/AIDS, concussions, and COVID-19, based on an approach invented through research at Stanford University.
The TeachAids so ...
. In her 2020 film based on the life of 12th-century Kannada poet
Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi (c. 1130–1160) was an early poet of Kannada literature and a prominent member of the Lingayatism founded in the 2011
. Her 430 '' vachanas'' (a form of spontaneous mystical poems), and the two short writings called ''Mantrogopya ...
, she played a dual role; one of the poet and the other of Jyothi, a girl who pursues
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
on the poet.
Awards
Anu Prabhakar was honoured by Bangalore's Kolada Math, with the title 'Abhinaya Saraswathi' for her performance in various films. She has won other awards such as 'Karnataka State Government best actress award 2000–01'.
Personal life
In April 2016, Anu married
Raghu Mukherjee, a model-turned-actor. They have a daughter named Nandana.
Earlier she was married to Krishna Kumar, son of actress
Jayanthi and they had divorced in January 2014 citing differences.
Filmography
Kannada films
Other language films
Television
* ''Bale Bangara''
* ''Home Minister''
* ''Shrimati Karnataka''
* ''Manju Musukida Haadi''
* ''Nooru Dinagalu''
* ''
Triveni Sangama''
*''
Nannamma Super Star'' (Judge)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prabhakar, Anu
Year of birth missing (living people)
Actresses from Bengaluru
Indian film actresses
Actresses in Kannada cinema
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Living people
20th-century Indian actresses
21st-century Indian actresses
Child actresses in Kannada cinema
Indian television actresses
Actresses in Kannada television
Mount Carmel College, Bangalore alumni