Amitash Pradhan

Amitash Pradhan (born 12 October 1990) is an actor in the Indian Film Industry prominently known for his antagonist role in blockbuster hit movie Velaiyilla Pattadhari starring South-Indian film actor Dhanush and for playing the lead in Heartbeats, a film Directed by Duane Adler (creator of the Step UP Franchise) becoming the first south Indian actor to play the lead in a Hollywood film.

Personal life

Amitash Pradhan is from Karnataka by origin, but was born and brought up in Chennai. Amitash is the only son of Girish and Weena Pradhan. He graduated in 2013 from Anna University as a Post-Graduate in Electronic Media. Amitash is eminently known for his theatre work for acting and directing plays while he was in college. Pradhan underwent most of his schooling in Bala Vidya Mandir.

He was intrigued by the magic of the movies since he was a child after watching a Shah Rukh Khan movie with his mother and concluding then that he will be an actor when he grows up. When he turned 8, Amitash Pradhan was performing with The Little Theatre in The Pantomimes which are popular theatre companies based in Chennai. Being an integral part of his school theatre group, he went on to perform in several plays at cultural and school events which led to development of his innate acting abilities.

After his graduation from Anna University, Pradhan was recognised by actor Dhanush in his childhood friend and notable music director Anirudh Ravichander's sister's wedding.

Acting career

Early in his life, Pradhan participated in the song "Mundhinam Parthene" with Surya in Vaaranam Aayiram as an extra.^[1][2]

His professional acting breakthrough came in 2014 with the Tamil drama Velaiyilla Pattadhari, in which he plays the role of the main antagonist. The film was the highest grossing Tamil film of 2014 with Pradhan’s performance being critically acclaimed. The role lead to Pradhan earning the epithet ‘Amul Baby'. He later said in an interview "It is a risk to begin in cinema as a villain but it is also an interesting challenge to rise." Which he perfectly succeeded being awarded for the 'Best Debut Actor' by V4Entertainment.

After gaining popularity with Velaiyilla Pattadhari, he was recognised by the Telugu Film Industry by director Srinu Vaitla. Pradhan made his debut in Tollywood with a minor role in the 2015 Telugu action comedy film Bruce Lee - The Fighter, starring mega power star Ram Charan.^[3][4] On 27 December 2015, Amitash tweeted confirming his Hollywood debut in an upcoming movie named Heartbeats directed by Step Up 4 writer Duane Adler. An official confirmation post by the director, Duane Adler, was also tweeted. Slated for release in the summer of 2017, Heartbeats has music by JayZ's band "Roc Nation" and Gingerr Shankar. Amitash plays Aseem Kapoor, a struggling choreographer in Mumbai and falls in love with Kelly, played by Krystal Ellsworth when she visits India. She falls for a new form of dance (Bollywood) and the man who introduced it to her. The film has been shot by Ace Cinematographer, Ravi Varman.^[5][6]

Theatre

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Awards

References

External links

• Amitash Pradhan on Facebook

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