K. Balaji

K. Balaji
Born	(1934-08-05)5 August 1934
Died	2 May 2009(2009-05-02) (aged 74)[1] Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Cause of death	Renal failure[2]
Residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Film actor, producer
Years active	1951–2009
Known for	Billa (1980) – Producer
Religion	Hindu[3]
Spouse(s)	Anandavally (died in 1995)
Children	Suresh Balaje Sujatha Suchitra Mohanlal
Relatives	Mohanlal (son-in-law) Pranav Sooraj Balaji (grandsons) Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy (sister)

K. Balaji (5 August 1934 – 2 May 2009) was a South Indian producer and actor whose work included Rajinikanth' s Billa and Kamal Haasan' s Vazhvey Maayam. Superstar Mohanlal is his son-in-law.

Early life

Balaji was born into a prominent family, His mother was a Malayalee & Father a Tamilian. He was the grandson of a very prominent colonial era advocate T. Rangachari. His Children and Sister are married into prominent Malayalee families. He wandered into films after developing a taste for acting by performing the odd school play and amateur theatre shows.^[4]

Career

His quest for a space in showbiz led Balaji to the office of S. S. Vasan, then owner of Gemini Studios in 1951. Vasan was not very keen to work with a newcomer but gave him a minor role in Avvaiyar, in which he played Hindu god Muruga.^[5]

Slowly he managed to land meatier roles and was featured as a male lead in a few films.

Balaji soon understood he was better off playing a villain or the hero's understudy with a negative angle in films that included Padithaal Mattum Podhumaa, Bale Pandiya and Thillana Mohanambal.

Even as the career was taking shape, he was hired as a manager in Narasu Studios in the southwest suburbs.

In that capacity, he discovered his true calling in the 1960s after coming into contact with top Hindi actors such as Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar and Tamil stars Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan and actress Savithri, who advised him to remake Hindi hits into Tamil with leading actors.

Since the 1960s, all the top Hindi blockbusters such as Dushman (1971) starring Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan's Deewar (1975) and Namak Haraam (1973) were remade in Tamil by Balaji, who always used top stars as his male leads like late Sivaji Ganeshan and thespians Rajnikanth and Kamal Hasan. He founded Sujatha Cine Arts in 1966. He was also the founder of Sujatha Recording Studio, where sound recordings for most of the big-budget movies of the 1980s and '90s were done.^[6]

Family

He had three children — Suresh Balaje, Sujatha and Suchitra Mohanlal. Malayalam superstar Mohanlal is his son-in-law. His wife Anandavally died in 1995. He was also the grandfather of Pranav Mohanlal and Sooraj Balaji. Famous comedian Y.G Mahendra is his nephew through his sister Mrs. Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy

Death

Balaji died on 2 May 2009 evening due to multiple organ and renal failure. He had been hospitalised for over a month.

Filmography

As Producer

As Actor

References

External links

• K.Balaji at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/movieslist.php?a=5463