Experimenting with surnames and initials is something whichis common now. While majority do it to bring prosperity, luck and fortune hereis an actor who believes not much in luck or fortune but simply in correctpronunciation of his name, literally.
Prashaant Kumar, who hails from New York, the city ofskyscrapers, added a letter ‘A’ to his name so that people could pronounce hisname phonetically correct. “People back there in New York don’t pronounceIndian names correctly. I am very much particular about my name and how it ispronounced. I simply added a letter to my name not because I believe much inluck or prosperity or fortune but simply because I want people to pronounce myname correctly.
Prashaant, who is two films old in the Indian film Industry,has made another change. He has dropped his surname Gupta and is now using hismiddle name ‘Kumar’ as his surname. When asked what made him do this, the actorwho made a cameo in Rajshri’s ‘Ek Vivak Aisa Bhi’ and won loads of appreciationfrom all says, “I have always been a big time Bollywood freak. I grew up in NewYork watching Indian films more than any other foreign films. I decided tostick with ‘Kumar’ because the name says it all. The legacy of the word ‘Kumar’is itself self-explanatory. Be it Dilip Kumar, Raj Kumar, Kishore Kumar,Sanjeev Kumar or Akshay Kumar they all have been a milestone to the Indian FilmFraternity.”
Prashaant Kumar, who was last seen in Kaalo-the desertwitch, which was the first day light horror film in India will soon be seen ina negative avatar in Issaq along with Prateik Babbar, Ravi Kissen.
Prashaant also makes a special request for the media peoplein India and New York who have been publishing him as Prashant, “I have beencovered by a lot of newspapers and magazines as ‘Prashant Kumar’. It would beappreciating if people start writing and publicize my name as Prashaant Kumar.I changed my name during my struggling days back there in New York and Idecided to stick to it when I landed in Mumbai. There maybe a lot of Prashantseverywhere but I am Prashaant with an additional “A”, he laughs.
