Prem Kumar, known mononymously as Prem, is an Indian actor who works in Kannada films. He made his acting debut in 2004 through the film Praana. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Nenapirali in the year 2005 and for Charminar in 2013. He is popularly known as Lovely Star in Kannada films. Career Prem debuted in film with the 2004 Kannada film Praana. It was by a team of newcomers: director Prakash, composer Allwyn and the actress Preeti were all new besides Prem. The next year, Prem acted in Rathnaja's debut film, Nenapirali. Prem picked up a Best Actor Filmfare Award for his performance in the film. In 2006, Prem released Jothe Jotheyali with the actress Ramya. His next release Pallakki did well for 100 days. In 2008, Prem teamed up with Rathnaja once more for the film Honganasu. Prem acted in Ghauttham, a remake of the Tamil film Aahaa..! in 2009. In 2010, he teamed up with heroine Ramya for the film Jothegara. Other films which he signed are Sihi Muttu, alongside Dhyan and Pooja Chopra, Januma Janumadallu with Andrita Ray, a cameo in Shivarajkumar's travel extravaganza Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu and also in Eradane Maduve. Prem began his 2011 career with a cameo appearance in the multi-starrer film Eradane Maduve, which had Ananth Nag and Suhasini in the main lead. Later he starred in I Am Sorry Mathe Banni Preethsona, a film which made news for its controversial kiss scene between the lead pair. The other film of the year was Dhan Dhana Dhan opposite Sharmila Mandre, which also failed to get the box office collections. In 2013, he acted in director Roopa Iyer's Chandra. While the Kannada version got a good opening, the Tamil version failed to open even at the box office. This was followed by R. Chandru's Charminar which found success and his performance was talked about with IBNLive.com praising him that "this" could well be considered his best film. He got his second Filmfare Best Actor award for this film. His next release was the two-year-old long pending project Shatru, which featured him in the role of a police officer for the first time. Though he got favorable reviews for his performance, the film failed at the box office. His other long pending projects like Shatru and Athi Aparoopa released to a cold response at the box office in 2014. However, his