Siva Balaji

Siva balaji Manoharan (born 14 October 1980) is an Indian actor, who appeared in Telugu and Tamil films. He was introduced as a hero by director Suresh Krissna through the film Idi Maa Ashokgadi Love Story (2003). His other films include, Ela Cheppanu (2003), Dost (2004), Arya (2004), Sankranti (2005), Kumkuma (2005), Englishkaran (2005), Pothe poni (2006), Kokila (2006), Sarada Saradaga (2006), Aganthakudu (2006), Annavaram (2006), Pagale Vennela (2007), Podarillu (2007), Chandamama (2007), Target (2008), Masth (2009), Shambo Shiva Shambo (2010), Jagame Maya (2013), and Janda Pai Kapiraju (2013). In 2006, he won the Copper Nandi Award for his performance in the film Pothe poni.

Early life and family

Siva Balaji was born and bought up in Chennai. He is the eldest son of Manoharan Ramaswamy, an industrialist and Sivakumarai Manoharan. He attended Karthikeyan Metriculation Higher Secondary School. He has a younger sister Gayathri Lingam who is married to Yathendra Lingam, and younger brothers Prashanth Balaji and Krishna Sai. He started looking after his father's businesses when he was 17. In 2009, he married actress Madhumitha, whom he paired in his film Englishkaran. They have a son, Dhanvin Kaangula, born on 11 February 2010.

Career

1997–2004: Early career

Siva Balaji started working in his father's Balaji Group of companies (Sri Balaji Cylinders pvr ltd, Sri Balaji Valves Pvt ltd (DPR), and Sri Srinivasa cylinders pvr ltd (hot repair unit)) when he was 17 and established his own MSB Industries (valves, regulators and components manufacturing industry) at the age of 20. He got his first film offer in 2002 at the age of 22 which made him leave his entrepreneurship and choose films, as his father strictly advised him to choose, either films or business. He started shooting for his first film Idi Maa Ashokgadi Love Story on 23 September 2002, followed by a guest role in Ela Cheppanu and the lead role in Dost. His major break came through the film Arya directed by Sukumar. Playing the role of Ajay, local MPs spoiled brat son, who is adamant and very possessive lover, gained him critical acclaim which made him a star in the Telugu film industry. Reviewer from Idlebrain.com quoted "Siva is good as adamant, at times confused, lover. He generated comedy in few scenes where he shows his frustration."^[1] Reviewer from Sify.com wrote " Siva as Ajay is very promising."^[2] It was followed by Sankranti, in which he shared screen space with actors Daggubati Venkatesh and Srikanth.

2005–present

He took up Kumkuma an emotional heart touching script in 2005. He got his debut Tamil film Englishkaran in the same year, it was a huge hit. He got 5 releases in 2006, Pothe poni, Kokila, Sarada Saradaga, Aganthakudu and Annavaram. His film Pothe Poni directed by Tammareddy Bharadwaja, won Golden Nandi Award , which got him Copper Nandi Award for the same. He was appreciated for his performance in Annavaram, directed by Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao where he shared screen space with Pawan Kalyan. In 2007 two of his films- Pagale vennela and Chandamama were released. Chandamama directed by Krishna Vamsi, Navdeep was another lead and movie succeeded well at the box office and gained huge applause for him in the role of good-hearted Village boy. Kajal Aggarwal, and Sindhu Menon were the heroines of the film. Target released in 2008 and that's a wrong choice made. He did Masth in 2009 produced by actor Suresh. Shivaji was another lead of the film. Shambo Shiva Shambo directed by Samuthirakani was another milestone in his career released in 2010 and was a huge success. He worked with Ravi Teja and Allari Naresh in the film, while Priyamani, and Abhinaya were the heroines. He is currently working in Samuthirakani's Janda Pai Kapiraju and director Upputuri Mahesh's Jagame Maya.

Other work

In 2012 Siva Balaji started emu farming, owning a farm "Villa Grand'E'" near Nellore. He started Seana Products Pvt Ltd in 2013 which deals with emu meat exports and supplies to domestic market, frozen food products of emu meat production-distribution, emu pain relief oil production-distribution, emu oil based cosmetics and medicines production-distribution, and to create awareness and market for emu meat and emu products, as there is no substantial demand for the same in India to support emu farmers in India. He also started Ice land foods pvt ltd in 2013, with many value added products to meet the increasing demand for frozen food products in India.

Filmography

References