Balaji Patturaj popularly known as RJ Balaji, is an Indian radio jockey,
presenter, comedian and actor based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is best known as
the host of the BIG FM 92.7 show Take it Easy and its now defunct segment Cross
Talk, where he made prank calls to unsuspecting victims. 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 and Vadacurry. He has also been a presenter at many inter-school cultural
events in Chennai, and has contributed to many social causes.
Personal life Balaji was born on 20 June 1985, and was
raised in Chennai. He said that his father abandoned his family at an
unspecified point. 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." Years later, on his verified
Facebook page, he said that he lived in 19 areas, 27 houses and studied in 10
schools in his entire life in Chennai. He failed in the twelfth grade once.
Balaji was married at the age of 21 years.
After completing his B.Sc computer science from the Kumararani Meena
Muthiah College of Arts in 2006, he joined the Amrita School of
Communication in Coimbatore for a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism,
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. At that time he saw a newspaper
advertisement of a radio station 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.
Balaji does not have a computer at his home, and explained that he accesses
Facebook and Twitter through his phone instead.
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 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. 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. 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". 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."
Cross Talk became very popular among youths; he uploaded several clips of the
show on SoundCloud. The links went viral, crossing over a million hits in a
mere one week. Besides India, most of the downloads were in the United States,
United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Seychelles, Germany and Spain. The show
earned him the moniker "Cross Talk Balaji". In November 2011, Balaji and
BIG FM RJ's Muthu and Ophelia conducted "Little RJ Hunt", a three-phased event
organised as part of the radio station's Children's Day celebrations. Balaji won
the RJ of the Year and Best Programme Broadcast after 11am awards for Take it
Easy at the 2012 Indian Excellence in Radio Awards. Later he was named amongst
the Top 10 Promising Personalities of Tamil Nadu in 2012 by Ananda Vikatan
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 app titled "RJ Balaji Official", and
a Windows Phone app as well. In December 2012, Balaji discontinued
Cross Talk, in response to the death 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. A few months before, he had also been threatened by an employee from
UTV Motion Pictures for his review of Settai. Via Twitter, he announced, "I am
a normal guy who wants to do good work everyday and go home happy. I can't
really handle 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". As of July 2014, the show
still runs, where he only reviews Hindi 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."
After India's Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar told
in the Rajya Sabha that legal action would be taken against radio jockeys who
ridicule members of parliament, Balaji in August 2014 cryptically told Deccan
Chronicle, "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 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
stationary, toys and books. In February, he was a host of the BIG Tamil Melody
Awards at Chennai Trade Centre. 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. = Other works=
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 August 30, 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. In Puthagam, Balaji introduces the lead
characters played by Sathya, Sanjay, Vignesh and Rakul Preet Singh, 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. His second film appearance
in 2014 was in Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, followed by a major role as the title
character in Vadacurry. In 2015, he appeared in Idhu Enna Maayam, Yatchan,
and Naanum Rowdydhaan, where he played the character Paandi's friend. His next
film appearance will be in Pugazh, where he also worked as a singer and lyricist
on the song "Podu Podu". Balaji was a host in the second season
of STAR Vijay's dance show Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Dheva. He also made a
special appearance on an episode of STAR Vijay's talk show Neeya Naana. He was
the host of Zee Tamizh's Why This Kolaveri, a loose adaptation of the
American reality show Killer Karaoke, which aired in December 2013, and ended
in May 2014. In August 2014, Balaji hosted the show Aiyo Amma Awards, a
spoof of the Vijay Awards, on Zee Tamizh.
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. 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 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, 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. In May
2015, he was a speaker at the first edition of TEDx Mylapore. In August, he
joined Ananda Vikatan and Raghava Lawrence's campaign "Aram Seiya
Virumbu". Artistry
Balaji describes "nonsense humour and nonstop talking" as his USP. He also
describes conversation as his strength, and 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 per cent of her comic
ability". Filmography
References Further reading
ஸ்கிரீனன். "காவ்யாவிற்கு கிடைத்தது இதயம்: ஆர்.ஜே.பாலாஜி நெகிழ்ச்சி". தி
இந்து. Retrieved 24 March 2015. ""This is about you and me": RJ Balaji
on Men". Orinam. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
"Social media plays the hero". The Asian Age. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 22
September 2015. External links
RJ Balaji at the Internet Movie Database RJ Balaji on SoundCloud
Panjumittai Productions on YouTube RJ Balaji on Twitter
RJ Balaji on Facebook