Balaji Mohan

Balaji Mohan (born 25 May 1987 ) is an Indian filmmaker and actor in Tamil-language films. After discontinuing his engineering studies to pursue his passion for becoming a director, he enrolled at a film academy and attended courses and workshops, besides participating in short film contests. After shooting over half a dozen short films, he directed his first full-length film, a romantic comedy Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi based on one of his short films.

Early life Balaji was born on 25 May 1987 in Tiruchirappalli to a Telugu father and Tamil mother. He pursued his schooling at Campion Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappalli, and later joined the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering in Chennai for his higher studies, albeit he had decided in 10th grade already that he wanted to become a director. which was also sent to film festivals and won. Although he had initially planned to complete his education before following his passion and pursuing a career in filmmaking, he did not want to "wait for too long" after making Velicham. After convincing his parents, he discontinued his engineering course two years later and went on to join the L. V. Prasad Film and TV Academy in Vadapalani, Chennai, to learn editing and sound design. In January 2022, he married Dhanya Balakrishna, who co-starred with him in his directorial As I'm Suffering From Kadhal (2017).

Career Balaji began his career as an assistant director for the Tamil film called Kulir 100° (2009). While the film was in its pre-production stage, he got the opportunity to join the Gateway to Hollywood, a show that was aired in Sony TV. His short film Treasure was featured in the contest and Balaji became one of the 6 finalists of the show. Cinematographer Nirav Shah saw the short film and initiated the idea to make it into a full-length feature film. Siddharth, who too was keen on turning the short film into a feature film after he had seen it, entered the project, playing the lead role besides co-producing the venture. The film was partially reshot in Telugu. The project was completed in a record 36 days,

Balaji Mohan collaborated with Dulquer Salmaan for his second directorial venture, a bilingual titled Vaayai Moodi Pesavum in Tamil and Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram in Malayalam. The film marked Balaji Mohan's debut in Malayalam cinema and Dulquer Salmaan's debut in Tamil cinema. His third film was Maari, starring Dhanush and it released in July, 2015. Next, he teamed up with actor Dhanush again for Maari 2, a sequel to Maari.

He then produced, written and directed a web series titled As I'm Suffering From Kadhal, in which he also played an important role. The series was made in Tamil and dubbed in Telugu. It was released in Hotstar Originals on 15 June 2017. In late 2022, he began directing Kaadhal Konjam Thookala, an adaptation of the novel Make it 2 by Sharada Subramanian, with Kalidas Jayaram and stand-Up comedian Nirmal Pillai in the lead roles; the film, despite some filming progress, ended up languishing in production hell.

In 2023, Mohan produced the Tamil-language comedy drama television series Accidental Farmer & Co which streamed on SonyLiv.

Filmography As a film director

Year Title Language Notes 2012 Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi Tamil —SIIMA Award for Best Debut Director Partially reshot in Telugu as Love Failure 2014 Vaayai Moodi Pesavum Bilingual movie Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram Malayalam 2015 Maari Tamil 2018 Maari 2

As an actor

+ List of Balaji Mohan film acting credits Year Title Role Notes 2010 Thurumbilum Iruppan Balu Short film 2012 Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi Narrator 2014 Vaayai Moodi Pesavum News reporter 2015 Maari Man in auto rickshaw 2017 Pa. Pandi Raghavan Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 Balaji 2021 Vinodhaya Sitham Doctor 2023 Thrishanku Himself Malayalam film

As a producer

Web series + List of Balaji Mohan film producing credits Year Series Notes 2017 As I'm Suffering From Kadhal Hotstar 2022 Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa

Short films TitleNotes Velicham Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi Chronos credited as M. Balaji