Balaji K. Kumar is an Indian film director. His first film as a director in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

was '' Vidiyum Munn'' (2013), a

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

. Upon release, it received critical acclaim from both the critics and audience, alike. Then he started his career as story board artist for advertising firms like Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi.

Career

Balaji K. Kumar studied cinematography at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. He directed various advertisements for European and American companies. He directed the English-language film ''Twelve Twisted Tricks'' (2003) and the film's trailer premiered at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. The trailer won Best Trailer – No Movie award since the film was not released. His next film was ''9 Lives of Mara'' (2007), which received many awards. He then debuted in Tamil with '' Vidiyum Munn'' (2013). The film released to critical acclaim despite being a box office failure. A critic wrote that "Director Balaji undoubtedly is at the top of his game". According to Balaji Kumar, "We have made ''Vidiyum Munn'' like a new generation film for a matured audience. The film deals with an universal issue". After working on scripts, he returned after ten years with ''

Kolai Kohistan District, also known as Indus Kohistan ( Kohistani: ) and Hazara Kohistan, was a district within the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Consisting of eastern portion of the larger Kohistan region, it was bifurcated into ...

'' (2023), which is a based on a real incident that took place in New York in 1923.

Filmography

As director

Other films

* ''Twelve Twisted Tricks'' - Golden Trailer Award (2003)

References

Living people Tamil-language film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{India-film-director-stub