THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the current generation of film buffs, N L Balakrishnan alias ‘Balannan’ might just be an actor famous for the characters portrayed by him, which were suitable for his body size. However, he was also a prominent figure in the group of cultural activists in the city who later made their mark in the fields of cinema and literature.
Balakrishnan was born to Narayanan and Lakshmi in a village named Powdikonam near Pothencode in the capital district. It was as part of higher studies that he came to the city. He was passionate about painting from his younger days and managed to secure admission in the College of Fine Arts for the Diploma in Painting course.
Later, he shifted his focus from the field of painting to photography. It was his visits to the studios near University College during that period which influenced him to do so.
He was a regular visitor at Metro Studio, Sivan’s Studio and Rupalekha Studio in that locality. It was through K Neelakanta Pillai of Rupalekha that he gained entry to the film industry as a still photographer through the movie ‘Kallichellama.’ Alongside, he was also active as news photographer in ‘Kerala Kaumudi’ and in the theatre field.
Balakrishnan was an important figure in the discussion groups who used to camp at Hotel Nikunjam in the capital. Noted film personalities including Bharathan, Padmarajan and Aravindan were part of the groups.
‘’It was during the rehearsals of the play ‘Avanavan Kadamba’ that I came to know about him as he was a regular visitor to our camp. The rehearsals were held in front of ‘Ammaveedu’ at Fort here. He used to click photos of rehearsals and also take our personal snaps,” remembers noted theatre director and writer Kavalam Narayana Panicker.
“After the public performance of ‘Avanavan Kadamba’ directed by Aravindan, we all became busy with the work of the movie ‘Thampu’. That was another memorable time as I became more attached to Balan and later he became an integral part of our theatre groups,” he says.
“Each and every minute, during the rehearsals, he was busy taking snaps. But the fact is that he had not given us a copy of any of those photos. Recently, I saw my picture published in a Malayalam daily which was actually clicked by Balan on the sets of ‘Thampu,’’ recalls Kavalam.
Kavalam remembers an incident that occurred after Balakrishnan resigned from his job as news photographer.
“After resigning, he directly came to my house. He was very angry and while resigning the job, he had left his own camera at the newspaper office. Asked about the camera, he said that he didn’t need a camera to take a snap. In fact, he was right. He was a genius as he keenly observed very minute things in front of him,” says Kavalam.
“It was later that he chose acting as a career. He was a good actor as he could portray every character wonderfully. The main reason for this was his knack of observation before acting. But a major share of roles that came to him were based on his body shape,” says Kavalam.
