WHEN TOP PRODUCER BALAJE REFUSED TO SIT AND DRINK WITH HIS HERO RAJESH KHANNA EVERY EVENING AFTER THE PACK UP OF HIS FILM AMAR DEEP

People of today may have forgotten the name of the veteran Tamil producer K.Balaje who had produced several films in Tamil besides the Hindi film Amardeep directed by R. Krishnamurthy and K. Vijayan way back in the 70’s and 80’s - Jyothi Venkatesh

This film was Rajesh Khanna's first successful film, after about 5 years after many flops. After this film came, Fifty Fifty, Thodisi Bewafai, Dard, Dhanwan, Kudrat, Avtaar, Souten, Agar Tum Na Hote, etc.

K. Balaje was also a good character actor of his times and was very friendly with actor Sivaji Ganesan. Not many are aware of the fact that today’s matinee idol of Malayalam films Mohanlal is actually the son in law of Balaje.

Ys. Balaje had a son named Suresh Balaje (film producer), and two daughters named Sujatha & Suchitra. His daughter Suchitra is married to well-known Malayalam film actor Mohanlal. He was the grandfather of actor Pranav Mohanlal.

I am now referring to an interesting incident which happened when the film Amar Deep was being shot in Madras way back in 1978 and I had the opportunity to meet K. Balaje in person.

Rajesh Khanna was known for hosting all his friends at his suite wherever he was shooting and the shooting of Balaje’s Amar Deep was no exception to the rule.

When initially, Rajesh Khanna requested Balaje to join him and drink in the evenings after the pack up, Balaje decided to humor him and join him after the pack up at the studio every day but realized that it was costing him his valuable time in the sense not only he had to being along with two or three bottles of the scotch Black Label every time he joined Rajesh Khanna but also stay back in his suite till 2 am and thus giving his leading man the excuse to reach his sets late the next day.

One day he decided enough is enough and stopped going to his hero’s suite every evening. Instead he just sent his manager with a bottle of scotch every evening to Rajesh Khanna’s suite with a handwritten note asking him to enjoy the scotch and make it a point to report the next day exactly at 11 a.m.

Yes. Chinnappa Devar asked Rajesh Khanna to report on the sets at 9 am instead of 7 am but Balaje thought it prudent to keep the shooting from 11 am onwards to make it convenient for Rajesh Khanna to honor his commitment.

Remember Rajesh Khanna was the super star in the late 70’s and Balaje could not at all afford to be in his bad books.

Balaje told me. “My decision helped me to get Rajesh Khanna on the sets by 11.30 am every day because he used to drink with his cronies in his suite and go to bed by 12 midnight and report on my sets by 11.30 am the next day.

Also if I sit with him and start drinking, Rajesh would start suggesting what I should do as far as the script was concerned the next day and whose role I should extend and whose role I should cut when the shooting was on.

By avoiding sitting with him and drinking, I saw to it that my star did not at all dictate to me unduly when the shooting was on.

Ironically, Balaje did not steer into Hindi film production after Amar Deep was released and was content making films in Tamil where he could be the boss and not cater to the whims of his leading man. The noted actor-producer K Balaji passed away at Apollo hospital in Chennai at the age of 74.