An actor, producer and director,
Balachandra Menon is all roled into one. The man who has launched
some of the top heroines like Ambika, Parvathi (now Mrs Jayram)
Karthika, Shobana, Usha and Nandini (Kaushalya in Tamil), is
credited with changing the trend in Malayalam cinema by holding
out against the onslaught of the superstars. Indiainfo speaks to
Menon on completion of 25 successful years in the industry.All the heroines whom you have given a break, speak ill about you later. Don’t you feel bad?
It doesn’t bother me much. Though many heroines whom I have launched catapulted to great heights later, none of them give credit to me. But then, why should they. It was a mere chance that I launched them. If not me, somebody else would have done that. Whatever they are today is because of their talent and luck.
Kausalya was very upset because you did not free her from the one-year contract?
True, but then what’s wrong in a contract? You spend so much time and money in grooming a heroine and if some body else is reaping benefits then it’s not fair. No film of mine has become a hit because of my heroines and I have never gone behind any of the heroines after they became stars.
Your national award winning film Samantharam which gave you the best actor award was rejected by the masses.
Though, it was not a commercial film, it had done a good business. In fact, it has run for 25 days in Ernakulam.
Despite growing old, many actors do not like doing father roles. But then you do not seem to have any reservations?
Why should I have any reservations? There is no point in hiding your age. Today, I am playing the role of Kunchacko Boban’s father, and I don’t feel there is anything wrong in it. In fact, I think all the actors should start acting their age. In fact, I have rejected many films because the roles did not suit my age.
What is the crisis in the Kerala filmdom that everybody is talking about?
(Laughs) The sales price minus the cost price equals the profit and those forget this formula talk about crisis.