Who is Prakash Varma? ‘George’ in Thudarum is also creative mind behind Vodafone’s ZooZoo ads

After watching Tharun Moorthy directed Thudarum, a Malayalam film, released on April 25, many are keen to know who played the character of senior cop 'George'. The actor is Prakash Varma, who is also behind ZooZoo commercial, a Vodafone's popular advertising campaign.

Who is Prakash Varma?

Varma, 52, belongs to a Malayali family. He has helmed and produced numerous advertisement campaigns, comprising the iconic Vodafone commercials showcasing ZooZoos. Varma is a founder and principle Director of Nirvana films, a Bangalore-based company.

He has a creative mind and is not known for his on-screen presence. Varma captivated audiences with his incredible performance in the drama thriller Thudarum alongside Mohanlal. “He loves to hear a script narrated to him as opposed to him reading it by himself. Simple storytelling and working with actors to extract performances and bring nuances alive keeps him restless and sleepless,” according to Nirvana films.

It added, “He is a keen observer of people and their quirks. Varma is excited by a good challenge and becomes childlike when something excites him. For someone who believes in talk less and do more, he speaks eloquently through his films. His work takes him across the world.”

Varma has received global fame over the last years by directing campaigns for top brands like Bisleri, KitKat, iPhone, Camerry, Amazon Prime and Netflix besides Vodafone. For Kerala tourism, he also directed the “Your Moment Is Waiting” campaign, including his ad-film starring Shah Rukh Khan for Dubai tourism that received immense attention.

Hollywood director Michael Bay’s production company ‘The Institute’ signed him in 2009. Varma is an alumnus of Alappuzha's SD college. He started his career assisting veteran Malayalam filmmakers like Lohithadas and Viji Thampi.