R. Balki

R. Balki Biography

R. Balki is a Bollywood filmmaker known for directing critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies like Cheeni Kum (2007) and Paa (2009). He is a filmmaker from Tamil Nadu, who got fame through Bollywood movies. He is also an ad-film maker and Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the advertising agency Lowe Lintas. His full name is R. Balakrishnan. He is known for the association with Big B and music composer Ilaiyaraaja and he has been associated with both in both his released movies. His upcoming project stars Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush and Akshara Haasan in lead roles and music given by Ilaiyaraaja.

Cheeni Kum and Paa starred legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan in the lead roles and Paa gave him the third National award for best actor too. This movie was a big break to Vidya Balan’s struggling career in Bollywood and now, she is one of the talented and leading actresses of Bollywood at present. Cheeni Kum was a big break to Tabu’s career as well, where she played the love interest of Big B, who is older than her father, charcter played by Paresh Rawal. He has also produced one bilingual movie – English Winglish, which marked the successful comeback of actress Sridevi. He also shares a unique record of casting real life father as the son of an actor in a movie. It happened with the movie ‘Paa’ when he casted Amitabh Bachchan as Abhishek Bachchan’s son.

He applied for an acting course at the Madras Film Institute, but was rejected. So he joined MCA, but didn’t complete his studies. Balki started his career at the age of 23. He is known for famous tag lines of Indian ads like ‘Doondte rah jaoge’, ‘Jaageraho’ etc. Cheeni Kum in 2007 marked his successful film debut, thus fulfilling his dreams to become a filmmaker. He is married to director, Gauri Shinde.

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Updated: March 24, 2014