Prathap first sang in a movie called Paadamudra, when he was in class IV. However, his breakthrough role was in 1999 in a movie Devadasi. He performed Shukriya Shukriya in Niram (1999). He also performed for the movie Sayahnam, directed by R. Sarath, which won 'Vidhu' the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer in 2000 for the song 'Kaalame Kaikolluka Nee'. His rendition of Mohan Sithara's Sukhamani Nilaavu from the movie Nammal won him the Asianet Best Male playback singer award in 2002. He trained with the music director G. Devarajan for four years. He has also trained under composer Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath.