RJ Balaji
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Balaji Patturaj (born 20 June 1985), popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian
radio jockey A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personal ...
, actor, television presenter, comedian and film director in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
, Tamil Nadu. He is best known as the host of the 92.7 Big FM shows ''The Night Show with RJ Balaji'', ''Take it Easy'' and its now-defunct segment ''Cross Talk'', in which he made
prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call, a hoax call, or a goof call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call and can be illegal under certain circumsta ...
s to unsuspecting victims. Originally a radio jockey, Balaji is also active in other fields; he is known for his association with the television shows ''Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Dheva'' and '' Why This Kolaveri'', and for his performance in the films '' Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru'' (2013), ''
Vadacurry ''Vadacurry'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language comedy thriller film written and directed by debutant Saravana Rajan. The film stars Jai and Swathi Reddy and was produced by Dayanidhi Azhagiri's Meeka Entertainment. The film has cinematogra ...
'' (2014) '' Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' (2015), '' Pugazh'' (2016) and '' LKG'' (2019) (as an actor), '' Mookuthi Amman'' (2020) and '' Veetla Vishesham'' (2022) (as an actor and a co-director). He has also been a presenter at many inter-school cultural events in Chennai, a cricket commentator, and has contributed to many social causes, such as providing relief support to the victims of the 2015 South India floods along with other actors.


Early life

Balaji was born on 20 June, and was raised in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
, Tamil Nadu. He has four siblings, one younger brother and three younger sisters. He said that his father abandoned his family at an unspecified point. Balaji told Sudhish Kamath in 2013 that he changed 27 houses and 11 schools while growing up in Chennai because his "mother just cannot stay in one place. She would move from
Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil language, Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo, and ''oor (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British Raj, B ...
to Thiruvanmiyur to
Mylapore Mylapore (also spelt Mayilapur), or Thirumayilai, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the celebrated Tamil ...
... no place close to each other." When he was in college, Balaji realised that his strength was in interaction and that the attention and acclaim he received in his college cultural gave him confidence and he realised that he had to be in the media. After completing his BSc computer science from the Kumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts in 2006, Balaji joined the Amrita School of Communication in
Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...
for a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism, because he wanted to become like his cousin who worked at
NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
, but when he was asked to write a report on his hostel's canteen, the 56-word report contained 47 grammatical errors, and he soon realised that English journalism was not what he was interested in. At that time he saw a newspaper advertisement of a radio station (
Radio Mirchi Radio Mirchi ("''Mirchi"'' in Hindi meaning red chilli), also known as 98.3 Mirchi, is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the ENIL, EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiarie ...
Coimbatore) that auditioned for radio jockeys and he applied for it, though he "never knew what an RJ was back then". He said that he almost did not get selected then when he sang a gaana but was finally selected in November 2006. He has not completed his journalism course since.


Career


Radio

Balaji started his career as a radio jockey at Radio Mirchi Coimbatore, where he hosted a three-hour morning drive show called ''Hello Coimbatore'' which dealt with social issues. After four years he quit the job as he "didn't want to sound angry all the time" and returned to Chennai where his family and friends were living. He joined at 92.7 Big FM because they gave him the freedom to plan and design his four-hour slot; thus the show ''Take it Easy'' was conceived. The evening prime-time show was created to give people a "break from the serious stuff that they have to deal with during work hours and relax with the nonsense". Balaji created another segment in ''Take it Easy'', titled ''Cross Talk'', where he made
prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call, a hoax call, or a goof call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call and can be illegal under certain circumsta ...
s to unsuspecting victims, nominated by a friend, cousin, co-worker or neighbour. On how the segment developed, Balaji said, "I was assigned to do a serious socially-relevant show in the beginning but Big Mgave me the chance to talk about anything in ''Take It Easy''. Once when I was talking to a couple about something serious, people who listened found it funny. That's how ''Cross Talk'' happened". Balaji described Radio Mirchi's
Senthil Kumar Senthil Kumar (born 18 October 1978), popularly known as Mirchi Senthil, is an Indian actor, television presenter, radio jockey and voice actor. His career began as a radio jockey with the radio station ''Radio Mirchi''. He performed in the lea ...
, who taught him a radio and its basics at Coimbatore, as his favourite RJ, and said, "whatever I am right now is because of him." ''Cross Talk'' became very popular among youths; Balaji uploaded several clips of the show on
SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
. The links went viral, crossing over a million hits in a single week. Besides India, most of the downloads were in the United States (over 20%),
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
, Singapore,
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, Germany and Spain. The show earned him the moniker "Cross Talk Balaji". In November 2011, Balaji and BIG FM RJ's Muthu and
Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultima ...
conducted "Little RJ Hunt", a three-phased event organised as part of the radio station's
Children's Day Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honour of children, whose date of observance varies by country. In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Sin ...
celebrations. Balaji won the RJ of the Year (Tamil) and Best Programme Broadcast after 11 am (Tamil) awards for ''Take it Easy'' at the 2012 Indian Excellence in Radio Awards. Later he was named among the Top 10 Promising Personalities of Tamil Nadu in 2012 by
Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...
Group. Balaji was the host for the 2013 event "BIG Manasa Thotta Singer" that was conducted by BIG FM. He has also been running the "RJ Balaji Skool of Radio Studies" since August 2013. Three apps on Balaji have been developed: an Android app simply named "RJ Balaji", an
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
app titled "RJ Balaji Official", and a
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...
app as well. In December 2012, Balaji discontinued ''Cross Talk'', in response to the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha. In November 2013, he decided to stop the segment ''120 Rs.'' on his show where he reviewed Tamil films after he had been severely criticised by actors and producers from the Tamil film industry. Via Twitter, he announced, "I am a normal guy who wants to do good work every day and go home happy. I can't really handle the aftermath of every show on films. After a lot of thought, I have decided not to speak about films until there's tolerance and maturity among certain people from film fraternity, which is most unlikely to happen. So, '120 show' is no more". He further stated, "I don't want to keep taking my work home. I have a one-and-half-year-old child and my wife is concerned about the phone calls I keep getting". , the show still runs, where he only reviews
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
and English-language films. In July 2013, Balaji said that he would try remaining a radio jockey for at least 15 years, which he believes "no one has done in Chennai", and reiterated this in November 2015. After India's Minister of Information and Broadcasting
Prakash Javadekar Prakash Keshav Javadekar (born 30 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former parliamentarian. He served as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change two times, from May 2014 to July 2016 and from May 2019 to July 2021. Java ...
told in the
Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
that legal action would be taken against radio jockeys who ridicule members of parliament, Balaji in August 2014 cryptically told ''
Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1938, it was initially launched as a Weekly newspaper, weekly and later converted into a daily. The newspaper's name reflects its origins in the ...
'', "When I was a teenager I would fight with my sister for a room. Today parliamentarians are doing the same thing, fighting like teenagers. How can I not make fun of them?", while fearing that even television anchors like
Arnab Goswami Arnab, Arnav or Arnov is a first name popular in India, and means "ocean" in Sanskrit. It also means "rabbit" in Arabic and Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic ...
and Rajdeep Sardesai would be banned soon. In January 2015, Balaji, radio jockeys Girigiri, Ananthi, Mirdhula and actor R. Sarathkumar contributed to "Kodu Kondadu", an initiative by BIG FM and the non-governmental organisation BHUMI to supply impoverished children with stationery, toys and books. In February, he was a host of the BIG Tamil Melody Awards at
Chennai Trade Centre Chennai Trade Centre is a permanent exhibition complex in Nandambakkam, Chennai, hosting several trade fairs and conventions round the year. It is the first fair infrastructure that has been developed by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO ...
. In July 2015, Balaji launched a new show titled ''Loose Talk''. The following month, he left with many other Indian RJs for Siachen to conduct a program titled "BIG Paigham – Sarhad Ke Naam" saluting the
Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
. In January 2016, he won the ''Ananda Vikatan'' Awards for Promising Personality of Tamil Nadu and RJ of the Year. In April 2017, Balaji launched a new BIG FM show titled ''The Night Show with RJ Balaji''.


Presenter

Alongside his radio career, Balaji has been active in other fields as well. He stated, "It is nice to do a lot of things so that you are constantly on your feet". In September 2011, he judged ''Channel Surfing'', a segment of ''Smaraneeyam'', the inter-school cultural festival of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School. Balaji was a performer at Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering's annual cultural festival ''Instincts'' in March 2012. He hosted the teaser trailer release event for '' Maattrraan'' in June 2012. In August 2012, Balaji was a guest performer at the fourth anniversary celebrations of Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's magazine ''Inbox 1305''. He has conducted the event ''Mr. and Ms. Techofes'' at the College of Engineering, Guindy's annual cultural event Techofes twice, in 2012 and 2013. He was also the compère of the audio launch of '' Kalyana Samayal Saadham'', which took place in August 2013. In July 2013, Balaji was the judge of ''Reflector'', an event in Vidya Mandir's interschool cultural event Reflections. On 30 August, he was a judge at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan's cultural event Reverberations. At the 2015 edition of Techofes at the Guindy College of Engineering, he hosted a new show titled ''Boost with Balaji'' on 14 February.


Cinema

In '' Puthagam'' (2013), Balaji introduces the lead characters played by Sathya, Sanjay, Vignesh, Rakul Preet Singh and Aishwarya Rajesh in a voice-over. In the same year, he made a cameo appearance in '' Ethir Neechal'' and made his full-fledged acting debut in '' Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru''. He appeared in a brief role as a show host in '' Vallinam'' (2014). His second film appearance in 2014 was in '' Vaayai Moodi Pesavum''. In 2015, he appeared in '' Idhu Enna Maayam'','' Yatchan''and '' Naanum Rowdy Dhaan''. For his performance in ''Naanum Rowdydhaan'', Balaji won the SIIMA Award for Best Comedian. In 2016, he appeared in '' Jil Jung Juk'' and '' Pugazh'', where he also worked as a singer and lyricist on the song "Podu Podu". In '' Muthina Kathirika'' (2016), Balaji introduces the main characters, including protagonist Muthupandi (
Sundar C Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has directed over 30 films and received the Kalaimamani#2009, Kalaim ...
) through a voiceover. He then appeared in ''
Devi ''Devī'' (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva (Hinduism), ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept ...
'', '' Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru'' (2016), '' Parandhu Sella Vaa'' (2016), '' Kaatru Veliyidai'' (2017), '' Spyder'' (2017) and '' Kee'' (2017). RJ Balaji became a full-fledged hero with '' LKG'' (2019). The film has emerged as a blockbuster at the Tamil Nadu box office. His directorial debut is '' Mookuthi Amman'' (2020) with
Nayanthara Nayanthara (born Diana Mariam Kurian; 18 November 1984) is an Indian actress and producer known for her work in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she ...
in the lead. He later acted, directed a comedy-drama film, '' Veetla Vishesham'' (2022), a remake of 2018 Hindi blockbuster '' Badhaai Ho''. The action thriller '' Run Baby Run'' (2023) has received a positive response from audience and is doing well.


Television

Balaji was a host in the second season of STAR Vijay's dance show ''Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Dheva''. He was the host of Zee Tamizh's '' Why This Kolaveri'', a loose adaptation of the American reality show '' Killer Karaoke'', which premiered in December 2013, and ended in May 2014. In August 2014, Balaji hosted the show ''Aiyo Amma Awards'', a spoof of the
Vijay Awards The Vijay Awards are presented by the Tamil television channel STAR Vijay to honour excellence in Tamil cinema. It has been given annually since 2006, with the latest—the 10th edition—of the award-giving ceremony having been held i ...
, on Zee Tamizh.


Other works

In December 2011, Balaji participated in "Namma Ooru Website Creation Competition", an initiative jointly organised by
IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...
' Rural Technology and Business Incubator and the National Internet Exchange of India to disseminate village-specific information and create an identity for villages. In March 2014, he claimed to have been a presenter at Sangarsh, an annual charity concert that raises money for people suffering from various diseases. The same month, he gave an intro in " The Madras Song", a tribute to the 375th anniversary of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. In November 2014, Balaji created "Panjumittai Productions", a YouTube channel where he uploads short videos dealing with contemporary issues. The first video uploaded to the channel is "Kai Phone Video 01: RJ Balaji's Biriyani!!!", featuring Balaji distributing parcels of
biryani Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating in South Asia, made with rice, meat (chicken, goat, lamb, beef) or seafood (prawns or fish), and spices. To cater to vegetarians, the meat or seafood can be substituted with vegetables or pane ...
to impoverished people on the road. The second, "Kai Phone Video 02: RJ Balaji's 501 Views Success Party!!!", is a satire on the "success parties" that production companies host to celebrate the apparent box office success of their films. The third video, subtitled "RJ Balaji Abusing Sachin Tendulkar..!", has nothing to do with
Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...
, but instead features Balaji asking the viewers to spread word so that a heart transplant patient named Kavya could get a heart donor. The video was deliberately titled misleadingly so that the message would spread sooner. On 12 December, less than two weeks after Balaji uploaded the video, Kavya successfully got a donor. Balaji has also played in the 2015 edition of the Celebrity Cricket League, for the team Chennai Rhinos as an
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...
. In May 2015, he was a speaker at the first edition of TEDx Mylapore. In August, he joined ''
Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...
'' and
Raghava Lawrence Raghava Lawrence (born Lawrence Murugaiyan) is an Indian actor, choreographer, film director, composer, playback singer, lyricist, film producer and philanthropist known for his works primarily in Tamil cinema. After making his debut as a dance ...
's campaign "Aram Seiya Virumbu". During the 2015 South India floods, Balaji and actor Siddharth provided relief support to many of the floods' victims, through a movement known as "Chennai Micro". For his actions, Balaji received the CNN-News18 Indian of the Year award in the category of "Public Service". In January, Balaji was featured in "The Most Important Job", a four-minute video by the Murugappa Group that pays tribute to Indian farmers. Following the March 2016 suicide of Abhinath, a student of Sri Sai Ram Engineering College whose suicide was attributed by the college's authorities to him being unhappy about studying engineering, and protesting students claiming it to be the result of his treatment by the authorities, a video of a speech by Balaji was released in the internet; in that speech he urged corporate firms to "go beyond pass percentages and exam results when choosing colleges for campus recruitments". The video received over views. In January 2017, Balaji participated in the pro-Jalikattu protests. From the following year, he began working as a Tamil cricket commentator for the
Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...
.


Artistry

Balaji describes "nonsense humour and nonstop talking" as his
unique selling proposition In marketing, the unique selling proposition (USP), also called the unique selling point or the unique value proposition (UVP) in the business model canvas, is the marketing strategy of informing customers about how one's own brand or product is ...
. He also describes conversation as his strength and states that his humour comes out of talking to people. Although he frequently talks about films on the radio, he never entertains gossip on the personal life of actors, due to his lack of interest in the same. He is notorious for his attacks on the English language and his jocular criticism of Tamil films, but popular for his irreverent sense of unique humour. According to photographer Bhargavii Mani of ''The Hindu'', the frequent echoing of the words "Ada" and "Cha" on Balaji's radio shows make them "exciting". Although known to be vivacious, loud and funny in the media, Balaji has also maintained a "rather soft-spoken, shy" personality. In a 2013 interview, Balaji said that he inherited his sense of humour from his mother, who he called "the funniest person I know ... I have only 10 percent of her comic ability".


Personal life

Balaji was married at the age of 21 years, and has two sons. Although known to actively perform social services, Balaji does not consider himself a social worker or disaster manager: "I am just someone who wants to help people, and I will just do that."


Filmography


As director


Discography


References


External links

*
RJ Balaji
at
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Panjumittai Productions
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaji, RJ 1985 births Indian cricket commentators Indian male comedians Indian radio presenters Indian YouTubers Living people Male actors from Chennai Actors from Coimbatore Tamil comedians Tamil film directors Television personalities from Tamil Nadu IIFA Utsavam winners