Would you have imagined a man from Motihari, Bihar, as the hero of a Costa Rican film? Prabhakar Sharan has made the unlikely happen by becoming the first Indian to play the leading man in a Latin American film. Prabhakar has become a rising star in Latin American cinema, thanks to his debut Costa Rican film, Enredados: La Confusion (Entangled: The Confusion) becoming one of the most popular films of the country in 2017, reports Outlook.
Incidentally, Enredados: La Confusion is made in quintessential Bollywood style, complete with song-and-dance routines. The film, which released in February last year, was a box office success. The distributors, Cinepolis, are now planning to release the film in over a dozen Latin American countries, as well as in the US, in March or April this year.
Prabhakhar, who is paired opposite popular Costa Rican television hostess, Nancy Dobles, in the film, plans to release Enredados: La Confusion in English, Hindi and Bhojpuri as Ek Chor, Do Mastikhor in March or April this year.
Jose Castro, film commissioner of Costa Rica, was all praise for the film and said that it was the first time that a Costa Rican film had such kind of production and entertainment.
Incidentally, Prabhakar's journey so far is quite filmi in itself. The Wire reports that after failing to catch a break in Bollywood, he decided to go to the US, but landed in Costa Rica, where he fell in love with a local and married her. Prabhakar tried to venture into several businesses, but did not find any success.
In 2010, things were at rock-bottom for the actor. Prabhakar was back in India, having experience failure professionally, when his marriage crumbled and his wife took their daughter with her to Costa Rica. However, in 2014, he decided to pick himself up from his depression and move back to Costa Rica and fulfil his dream of making the first Bollywood film in the country.
According to Outlook, this is when Prabhakar met Teresa Rodriguez Cerdas, a university owner, educationist and philanthropist, who came into his life as a guardian angel of sorts. "She took my dream as her own and helped me generate a sum of USD 1.5 million for the movie," he said.
The efforts paid off, and Enredados: La Confusion became a hit. Top Indian diplomats in Latin America have been all praise for Prabhakar and his efforts to promote Indian films. Mariela Cruz, Ambassador of Costa Rica to India, also had nice things to say about the film. "I am very proud of this great effort that will serve as a platform to enhance the beauty of our country and to make known in other latitudes the first Bollywood-style film produced in Costa Rica for all of Latin America," he said.