RJ Balaji

Balaji Patturaj (born 20 June 1982), popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian radio jockey, presenter, comedian, director, cricket commentator and actor based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is best known as the host of the BIG FM 92.7 shows The Night Show with RJ Balaji, Take it Easy and its now defunct segment Cross Talk, where he made prank calls to unsuspecting victims.

Not to be confused with Balaji Venugopal, an RJ-turned actor.

In this Indian name, the name Patturaj is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Balaji.
RJ Balaji
RJ Balaji at Vadacurry's press meet, 2014
Born
Balaji Patturaj[1]

20th June
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
NationalityIndian
Other namesCross Talk Balaji, The Voice of Chennai[2]
Alma materKumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts and Science
OccupationRadio jockey, presenter, actor, comedian, cricket commentator, director
Years active2006–present
Websitewww.rjbalaji.com

Although mainly 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 (2014) Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015) , Pugazh (2016) and LKG (2019), Mookuthi Amman (2020). He has also been a presenter at many inter-school cultural events in Chennai, a cricket commentator, and as social worker, his ceaseless work during 2015 Chennai floods is notable which was appreciated by people and media.

Early life

Balaji was born on 20 June,[3] and was raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[4] He has four siblings. Balaji said in a 2013 interview with The Hindu that he changed 24 houses and 11 schools while growing up in Chennai, because his "mother just cannot stay in one place. She would move from Perambur to Thiruvanmiyur to Mylapore... no place close to each other."[4] After completing his B.Sc computer science from the Kumararani Meena Muthiah College of Arts in 2006,[5] Balaji joined the Amrita School of Communication in Coimbatore for a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism,[6] because he wanted to become like his cousin who worked at NDTV, 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.[4] At that time he saw a newspaper advertisement of a radio station (Radio Mirchi Coimbatore) that auditioned for radio jockeys and he applied for it,[7][8] though he "never knew what an RJ was back then".[4] He said that he almost did not get selected then[9] when he sang a gaana[4] but was finally selected in November 2006. He has not completed his journalism course since.[4]

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.[4][6] 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 BIG FM 92.7 because they gave him freedom to plan and design his four-hour slot; thus the show Take it Easy was conceived.[4] 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 calls to unsuspecting victims, nominated by a friend, cousin, co-worker or neighbour.[10] On how the segment developed, Balaji said, "I was assigned to do a serious socially-relevant show in the beginning but Big [FM] gave 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".[8] Balaji described Radio Mirchi's Senthil Kumar, who taught him radio and its basics at Coimbatore, as his favourite RJ, and said, "whatever I am right now is because of him."[11]

Cross Talk became very popular among youths;[4] Balaji uploaded several clips of the show on SoundCloud. 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, Singapore, Seychelles, Germany and Spain.[12] The show earned him the moniker "Cross Talk Balaji".[8]

In December 2012, Balaji discontinued Cross Talk, in response to the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha.[13][14][15] 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.

Cinema and television

In Puthagam (2013), Balaji introduces the lead characters played by Sathya, Sanjay, Vignesh and Rakul Preet Singh, in a voice-over.[16][17] In the same year, he made a cameo appearance in Ethir Neechal,[5][18] and made his full-fledged acting debut in Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru.[4][19] He appeared in a brief role as a show host in Vallinam (2014).[18][20] His second film appearance in 2014 was in Vaayai Moodi Pesavum,[21] followed by a major role as the title character in Vadacurry.[22] In 2015, he appeared in Idhu Enna Maayam,[23] Yatchan,[24][25] and Naanum Rowdydhaan.[26][27] For his performance in Naanum Rowdydhaan, Balaji won the SIIMA Award for Best Comedian.[28] In 2016, he appeared in Jil Jung Juk,[29][30] and Pugazh, where he also worked as a singer and lyricist on the song "Podu Podu".[31][32][33] In Muthina Kathirika (2016), Balaji introduces the main characters, including protagonist Muthupandi (Sundar C.) through a voiceover.[34] He then appeared in Devi,[35] Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru, directed by M. Rajesh,[36] Kavalai Vendam,[37] Parandhu Sella Vaa,[38][39] Kaatru Veliyidai,[40] Velaikkaran (2017), Annanukku Jai (2018),[41] Spyder,[42] Thaana Serndha Kootam,[43] and Kee.[44]

Balaji was a host in the second season of STAR Vijay's dance show Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Dheva.[45][46] 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,[47][48] and ended in May 2014.[49] In August 2014, Balaji hosted the show Aiyo Amma Awards, a spoof of the Vijay Awards, on Zee Tamizh.[50]

Other works

In December 2011, Balaji participated in "Namma Ooru Website Creation Competition", an initiative jointly organised by IIT Madras' Rural Technology and Business Incubator and the National Internet Exchange of India to disseminate village-specific information and create an identity for villages.[1] 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.[51] The same month, he gave an intro in "The Madras Song", a tribute to the 375th anniversary of Chennai, formerly known as Madras.[52][53]

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 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.[54] The third video, subtitled "RJ Balaji Abusing Sachin Tendulkar..!", has nothing to do with Sachin Tendulkar, 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.[55][56]

Artistry

Balaji describes "nonsense humour and nonstop talking" as his unique selling proposition.[7] He also describes conversation as his strength, and states that his humour comes out of talking to people.[4] 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.[4] 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.[57] 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 per cent of her comic ability".[9]

Personal life

Balaji was married at the age of 21 years,[58] and has two sons named Mahanth and Aryan.[59] 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."[60] He has always believed in only one thing: "To be good and do good work rather than be famous. So whatever I am doing, be it professionally or working for a cause, I intend to do my best."[61]

Filmography
Key
Denotes productions that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
2013PuthagamVoice only
2013Ethir NeechalHimselfCameo appearance
2013Theeya Velai Seiyyanum KumaruKarna
2014VallinamShow hostCameo appearance
2014Vaayai Moodi PesavumHimselfCameo appearance as RJ
2014VadacurryKarikalan
2015Idhu Enna MaayamArun's friend
2015YatchanChandru
2015Naanum Rowdy DhaanDoshi BabaSIIMA Award for Best Comedian
IIFA Utsavam Award for Best Comedian
2016Jil Jung JukWealthy youthCameo appearance
2016PugazhPugazh's friendAlso singer and lyricist
2016Muthina KathirikaVoice only
2016DeviGanesh
2016Kadavul Irukaan KumaruBalaji
2016Kavalai VendamNatraj
2016Parandhu Sella VaaMark
2017Kaatru VeliyidaiIllyaas Hussain
Ivan ThanthiranSakthi's friend
Spyder Vinay
Madhu Telugu film
VelaikkaranSriram
2018Thaanaa Serndha KoottamPallavaram Paranjothi Pandiyan
2018DiyaRaghavan
2019LKGLalgudi Karuppiah Gandhi
2019BoomerangShanmugam
2019KeeMark
2019Devi 2Ganesan
2020Mookuthi AmmanEngels RamasamyAlso co-director
2020Yung Mung Sung MungDelayed
2020Indian 2 TBAFilming

Discography
Year Title Song Notes
2019Puppy"Soththumoottai"

References
  1. "Students' website on villages gives solutions to local issues". The Hindu. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  2. S, Srivatsan (19 February 2019). "'LKG' is my view of politics, says RJ Balaji". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. "A Vadacurry birthday for Rj Balaji". Behindwoods. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  4. Sudhish Kamath (1 November 2013). "An 'awesomatic' run". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  5. "Balaji Took it Easy in College". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. "Amrita Alumnus Honored by Rotary Club". Amrita School of Communication. 10 October 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  7. Arjun Narayanan (11 October 2014). "Nonstop Express". The Times Group. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  8. Anusha Parthasarathy (24 May 2012). "Making waves". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  9. Shenoy, Sonali (1 September 2013). "App-reciation aplenty for RJ Balaji". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  10. Srinivasan, Madhumitha (10 August 2011). "Take it easy!". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  11. "RJ Balaji: "I speak exactly what the city wants to hear"". Radioandmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  12. Subha J. Rao (24 July 2011). "Sound waves". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  13. Frederick, Prince (12 December 2012). "Hang up on prank calls". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  14. Deepika Ramesh (7 November 2013). "Fielding the brickbats". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  15. Priyanka Sharma (19 January 2013). "Is everyone laughing?". Business Standard. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  16. Siddharth Varma (19 January 2013). "Puthagam Movie Review". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  17. Rangarajan, Malathi (19 January 2013). "Puththagam: Exciting read? Not exactly". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  18. Gupta, Rinku (4 May 2013). "Theeya Velai Seiyanum Kumaru was tempting: Balaji". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  19. S. Subhakeerthana (24 June 2014). "RJ-actor Balaji to Wait and Watch". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  20. "Review: Vallinam is a decent sports based drama film". Rediff.com. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  21. Baradwaj Rangan (3 May 2014). ""Vaayai Moodi Pesavum"... Speak season". Baradwajrangan.wordpress.com. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  22. "'Vadacurry' Movie Review Roundup: Clean Entertainer". International Business Times. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  23. "'Idhu Enna Maayam' Movie Review: Live Audience Response". International Business Times. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  24. Subha J. Rao (7 July 2014). "Speaking his way to success". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  25. "Yatchan (aka) Yatchan review". Behindwoods. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  26. Mrinali Sundar. "Balaji plays Vijay's friend in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  27. "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan: A thoroughly entertaining black comedy". The Hindu. 22 October 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  28. "Good morning and thank you". The Straits Times. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  29. "Jil Jung Juk & Gethu postponed to next year". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  30. "Movie Review: JIL JUNG JUK". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  31. "From Petta Rap to Pakka Melody". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  32. "Jai's Pugazh track list". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  33. "Pugazh Review: A Sensitive Film on Landgrab". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  34. "Muthina Kathirika Movie Review, Trailer, & Show timings at Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  35. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (7 October 2016). "The Devi(l) wears pavadai". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  36. "Runaway groom". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  37. "Kavalai Vendam movie review: Jiiva's film has the laughs, but where's the story?". India Today. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  38. "Nasser's Son Plays Lead in Paranthu Sella Va". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  39. "Luthfudeen Basha turns hero". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  40. Ramachandran, Mythily (11 April 2017). "'Kaatru Veliyidai' film review: Not classic Mani Ratnam". GulfNews. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  41. "RJ Balaji feels 'responsible'". 19 August 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  42. "AR Murugadoss- Mahesh Babu's 'Spyder' final schedule begins tomorrow". Sify. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  43. "Thaana Serntha Kootam: Singam 3 done, Suriya gets rid of his handlebar moustache". India Today. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  44. "Jiiva and Nikki Galrani team up – Times of India". Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  45. "Verbal diarrhoea we can't get enough of". The New Indian Express. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  46. "Ungalil Yaar Prabhu Dheva". YouTube. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  47. Mrinalini Sundar (27 December 2013). "Being Balaji". Indulge. The New Indian Express. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  48. "Why this Kolaveri — a TVshow [sic]". The Times of India. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  49. "Y this Kolaveri". Zee Tamizh. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  50. "RJ Balaji mocks Vijay Awards on Zee Tamizh". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  51. Naig, Udhav (24 March 2014). "Happy notes". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  52. "The Madras Song". Murugappa Group. YouTube. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  53. "Resonating with the spirit of the metropolis". The Hindu. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  54. Naig, Udhav (23 November 2014). "Tube watch: RJ's videos present snapshots of issues". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  55. "How RJ Balaji's video 'abusing Tendulkar' helped a 13-year-old". The News Minute. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  56. Sundar, Priyanka (14 September 2015). "Social media plays the hero". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  57. Mani, Bhargavii (12 September 2015). "Photofinish: Coffee and conversation with RJ Balaji". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  58. Subha J. Rao (17 March 2015). "Balaji's new plan for the big screen". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  59. Subha J Rao (14 November 2015). "Naanum actor dhaan". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  60. "RJ Balaji's initiative 'Chennai Micro' to help small-time entrepreneurs". Radioandmusic.com. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  61. "Jai and I have fun together, says his 'Pugazh' co-star RJ Balaji". Daily News and Analysis. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
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