n 1991, Narayanan moved to Mumbai with plans to start an ad agency.He started as assistant art director for films like Govind Nihalani’s Rukmavati Ki Haveli, Subhash Ghai’s Saudagar and Shyam Benegal’s Sardari Begum. He also worked as a costume director for the TV series Chanakya. He started acting in plays again, and soon got several television shows like “Saturday Suspense”, Parivartan, Farz, “Phulwa”, Gatha, Kabhi Kabhie, Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Ji and Shagun.
Narayanan got his first film role in 2002 in Hansal Mehta’s Chhal as a hitman working in the Mumbai underworld. Though the film got mixed reviews from the critics, he was highly appraised for his portrayal of a hot-tempered, fun-loving goon. His next film was debutante director Shashanka Ghosh’s Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II. Although Narayanan’s role was similar to that in Chhal, the actor was once again appreciated by the critics widely.
In 2003, Narayanan was offered the lead role in the Academy Award winning German director Florian Gallenberger’s film Shadows of Time. Narayanan played the role of Ravi in the film. Shadows of Time was challenging for him, as the film set in Calcutta, was to be in Bengali language. Narayanan, being a Malayalee, had to take lessons in Bengali to convincingly portray the role.
In 2009, he played a notable role in the show Bandini aired on NDTV Imagine. He played the antagonist in Peter Gaya Kaam Se which also starred Rajeev Khandelwal and Lekha Washington. In 2010, Narayanan appeared in Pravesh Bhardwaj’s Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta, alongside Aruna Shields, where he portrayed the role of Ashwin Mehta, an artist and a painter who has an extra-marital affair with someone’s wife, sometimes he even paints her nude picture.
In 2011, he appeared in the role of Dheeraj Pandey in the film Murder 2, which was a sequel to the 2004 film Murder. In the film, he played the role of a straight man turned eunuch and psychopath serial killer, who pretends as a customer to call-girls and kills them mercilessly. The film turned out to be the success and one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2011, where Narayanan’s role was highly acclaimed by the critics and public alike.
In 2013, he acted in a Malayalam film Edavappathy (The Monsoon), directed by Lenin Rajendran. Rajendran had a special role in his new film Edavappathy that he had bookmarked for actor Jagathy Sreekumar, since he thought Jagathy was the only actor who could do justice to this very special role. Jagathy was hospitalized because of accident and Lenin awaited Jagathy, for his return to the screen. Thus, Lenin came across Narayanan who was reported to have done an awesome job in Edavappathy that stunned the entire unit.
Awards and nominations Received By Prashant Narayanan
- 2012 Screen Awards Murder 2 Dheeraj Pandey Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role Won
- 2012 Stardust Awards Stardust Award for Breakthrough Supporting Performance – Male Nominated
- 2012 Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards Best Performance in Negative Role Nominated
- 2013 Golden Achiever Awards N/A N/A Excellence In Arts Won
Films Done By Prashant Narayanan
- 1995 Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India! Sumer Hindi
- 2003 Chhal Girish Hindi
- 2003 Mudda – The Issue Pratap Singh Hindi
- 2003 Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II Vishnu Hindi
- 2004 Shadows of Time Ravi Gupta Bengali
- 2005 Instant Karma Mo English
- 2007 Game Mario John Brigenza English
- 2007 Bombil and Beatrice Bombil English
- 2007 Summer 2007 Ramoj Wagh Hindi
- 2007 Via Darjeeling Kaushik Chatterjee Hindi
- 2009 The Good Friday Bunty Unreleased Hindi
- 2009 The White Elephant Shabri Unreleased Hindi
- 2009 Rang Rasiya Shabri Hindi/English
- 2010 Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta Ashwin Mehta Hindi
- 2010 Peter Gaya Kaam Se Carlos Unreleased Hindi
- 2010 Rasgulla Prem Chopra Unreleased Hindi
- 2010 Doors Vikram Rana Unreleased Hindi
- 2011 Yeh Saali Zindagi Chhote Hindi
- 2011 Bhindi Bazaar Fateh Hindi
- 2011 Murder 2 Dheeraj Pandey Hindi
- 2012 Bhatakti Tamanna / Coincidence Ki Talash Aarav / Tarun Varghese Hindi
- 2012 Unnam Tomy Eapen Malayalam
- 2012 Cigarette Ki Tarah Rajesh Fogat Hindi
- 2013 MumbaiMiror Manish Hindi
- 2014 Dishkiyaoon Mota Tony Hindi
- 2013 Issaq Naxal Leader Hindi
- 2014 Dee Saturday Night Hindi
- 2014 Nedunchaalai Maasanamuthu Tamil
- 2014 7th Day Malayalam
- 2014 Amar Must Die Mafia Don Hindi
- 2015 Mumbai Can Dance Saala Saala Hindi
- 2015 Manjhi – The Mountain Man Jhumru Hindi
- 2015 Kaun Ho Shelved Hindi
- 2016 Edavappathy (The Monsoon) Malayalam
- 2016 10 Kalpanakal Victor Malayalam
- 2016 Fredrick Maanav/Fredrick Hindi
- 2017 Oru Cinemakkaran Police Officer Malayalam
- 2019 PM Narendra Modi Hindi
- 2019 TBA X-The Killer’s Theory Shelved English
- 2019 Vartamaan Ashish Cholkar Delayed Hindi
- 2019 Thakkol TBA Delayed Malayalam
- 2019 Naan Thaan Siva TBA Delayed Tamil
- 2019 Amma CBI Officer Deven Bharti Delayed Kannada, Telugu , Tamil,Hindi,Malayalam
- 2019 Bhawani Mandi Papindar Singh Naruka Delayed Hindi
Television Done By Prashant Narayanan
- 1996-97 Rajani Prashant Doordarshan
- 1996-97 Farz Rajan
- 1997-98 9 Malabar Hill Zee TV
- 2001-4 Shagun Sumer Star Plus
- 2009-11 Bandini Kanji Waghela NDTV Imagine
- 2011-12 Phulwa Bhavani Colors TV
- 2014 Encounter Shamsher Bhappali Sony TV
- 2014-15 Pukaar Dhanraj Rastogi Life OK