R. Balki (Director) Height, Weight, Age, Wife, Biography & More

Bio
Real Name	R. Balakrishnan
Nickname	Not Known
Profession	Filmmaker, Screenwriter
Physical Stats & More
Height (Approx.)	in centimeters- 178 cm in meters- 1.78 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 10”
Weight (Approx.)	in Kilograms- 80 kg in Pounds- 176 lbs
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Salt & Pepper
Personal Life
Date of Birth	16 April 1964 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2024)	60 Years
Birth Place	Bengaluru, India
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Aries
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Bengaluru, India
School	Not Known
College	Not Known
Educational Qualification	Graduate (was expelled from a Masters in Computer Application (MCA) course owing to poor attendance)
Debut	Direction: Cheeni Kum (2007)
Family	Father- Name Not Known (Worked in the housing department of LIC; now practises Law) Mother- Name Not Known Brother- Not Known Sister- Not Known
Religion	Hinduism
Ethnicity	Tamil
Hobbies	Watching Cricket and Movies
Controversies	Not Known
Favourite Things
Favourite Director	Ramesh Sippy, Manmohan Desai, SS Rajamouli, Balu Mahendra, Mani Ratnam
Favourite Music Composer	Ilaiyaraaja
Favourite Films	Bollywood: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Neerja
Favourite Actors	Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan
Favourite Sport	Cricket
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Gauri Shinde
Wife/Spouse	Gauri Shinde (Filmmaker)
Marriage Date	Year- 2007
Children	Son- None Daughter- None

Some Lesser Known Facts About R Balki

Balki’s father was a film fanatic and often took his son along to cinema halls during their younger years. However, it was not until he saw the Tamil film ‘Moondram Pirai’ (1982) that he decided to become a filmmaker in the future.

At the time, Balki was putting up in Bangalore and was keen on joining a reputed film institute. Since the Madras Film Institute was the closest to his location, he decided to give it a try. The aspiring director, however, could not clear the interview and ended up opting for a course in MCA in a college that was directly opposite to the Film Institute.

Owing to his profound interests in Cricket and Movies, Balki always fell short of the required attendance in class. Since he was a regular attendance defaulter, he was expelled from the college in the final year.

One fine day, he saw an advertisement in the newspaper asking the applicant to describe himself/herself in 100 words. The advertisement was posted by none other than Ramesh Sippy headed ad agency- Mudra. Without any second thought, Balki applied for the job and was eventually selected.

Balki is the mind behind popular TV ad tag lines like ‘Daag Ache Hai’ (Surf Excel), Jaago Re (Tata Tea), and Walk & Talk (Idea).

In no time, Balki climbed the ladder of success. He is the former Group Chairman of the advertising agency-Lowe Lintas.

He soon made a transition into the feature film industry as a director with the Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu starrer Cheeni Kum (2007). The movie proved to be a huge success at the box-office.

As of June 2017, Balki has directed 4 commercial movies. Interestingly, all 4 films star his favourite actor Amitabh Bachchan in either the lead role or a guest appearance.

His wife, Gauri Shinde, has also made a transition from the ad-film industry just like him. Although she has directed only two movies viz. English Vinglish (2012) and Dear Zindagi (2016), both of them have emerged as decent successes at the box-office.