Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 1970s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many films featuring

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

Early life

Balaji was born in a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

family to Krishnamachari and Janaki Devi in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

. He was the grandson of colonial era advocate T. Rangachari. He started acting at an early age, when he performed in school plays and amateur theatre shows.

Career

Balaji contacted S. S. Vasan, then owner of

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Su ...

, in 1951, looking for work. He was offered a minor role in ''

Auvaiyar Avvaiyar, Avviyar, or Auvaiyar is a Tamil title. It may refer to: * Avvaiyar (Sangam poet), a 1st-century BCE poet * Avvaiyar (8th-century poet), an 8th-century poet * Avvaiyar (12th-century poet) Avvaiyar was a Tamil literature, Tamil poet ...

'', in which he played the Hindu god

Muruga Kartikeya (/ kɑɾt̪ɪkejə/; ), also known as Skanda ( /skən̪d̪ə/), Subrahmanya (/ sʊbɾəɦməɲjə/, /ɕʊ-/), Shanmukha ( /ɕɑnmʊkʰə/) and Murugan (/ mʊɾʊgən/), is the Hindu god of war. He is generally described as the ...

. Balaji soon understood that 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'', En Kadamai and ''

Thillana Mohanambal ''Thillana Mohanambal'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical dance film written, directed and produced by A. P. Nagarajan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and T. S. Balaiah, with A. V. M. Rajan, Nagesh and Manorama ...

''. While working as an actor, he was hired as a manager in Narasu Studios in the southwest suburbs. In the 1960s, after coming into contact with top Hindi actors such as

Ashok Kumar Ashok Kumar (born Kumudlal Ganguly; 13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is considered to be the first Super-st ...

Dilip Kumar Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan; 11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021) was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in cinema, he dominated Hindi cinema from the 1950s throughout t ...

and Tamil stars

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred as Kaadhal Mannan (King of Romance) for his romantic roles in films. G ...

and actress Savithri, he began to remake Hindi hits in Tamil. His first production was '' Annavin Aasai'', a remake of ''Chand Aur Sooraj'' directed by Dulal Guha. The debut production film starred Gemini Ganesan and Savithri in the lead. He then went on to remake popular Hindi films such as '' Dushman'' (1971) and '' Namak Haraam'' (1973) both starring

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. Considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, h ...

, ''

Deewaar ''Deewaar'' ( ''The Wall'') is a 1975 Indian action crime film written by Salim–Javed and directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, alongside an ensemble cast of Neetu Singh, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, ...

'' (1975), and ''Qurbani''. 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. In 1979, began to produce films in Hindi, including the successful '' Amardeep''.

Family

His wife Anandavalli died in 1996. The couple had three children,

Suresh Balaje Suresh Balaji is an Indian film producer, primarily working in Malayalam and Tamil films. He is the son of producer and actor K. Balaji. He has produced films such as '' Billa'', ''Vazhvey Maayam'', ''Gandharvam'', '' Ulladakkam'', '' 13 B'', ...

, Sujatha and Suchitra Mohanlal. Malayalam superstar

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

is his son-in-law. He was also the grandfather of

Pranav Mohanlal Pranav Mohanlal (born 13 July 1990) is an Indian actor and playback singer who works in Malayalam cinema. The son of actor Mohanlal, he made his debut as a child actor with a minor role in '' Onnaman'' (2002), followed by a leading role in '' ...

and Suraj Suresh. The comedian Y. G. Mahendran is his nephew through his cousin sister Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy.

Death

Balaji died on 2 May 2009 evening due to multiple organ and

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

. He had been hospitalised for over a month.

Partial filmography

As producer

As actor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaji, K. 2009 deaths Film producers from Chennai Tamil film producers 1934 births Male actors in Malayalam cinema Male actors in Tamil cinema Male actors from Chennai Indian male film actors Male actors in Hindi cinema Mohanlal