Balachandra Menon (Malayalam: ബാലചന്ദ്ര മേനോൻ; born 11 January 1954) is an Indian actor, director and script writer. He made a number of films in the 1980s and 1990s. He has directed 40 films and has acted in over 100.[2] He won two National Film Awards including the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance as station master Ismail the 1998 film Samaantharangal, which was also directed by him. He has also worked as a distributor, editor, composer, singer and producer in the Malayalam film industry. He has found space in the Limca Book of Records for the maximum number of films directed, scripted and acted in.
Balachandra Menon was born in Kollam[4] in 1954 to Shivashankara Pillai and Lalitha Devi. By virtue of his father being a railway station master, he served at Edava railway station and Menon had his formative years of childhood and adolescence life in this village. He studied at Edava Muslim High School, and has narrated nostalgically about his fond memories of his life in Edava in his autobiography Ammayaane Sathyam. He is an alumnus of University College Trivandrum, Fatima Mata National College, Kollam and Kerala Law Academy Law College, Thiruvananthapuram.[5] Sisters: Sushma and Prema. Wife: Varada B. Menon. Children: Akhil Vinayak Menon, Bhavana B. Menon.[6] Menon enrolled as a lawyer on 29 July 2012, 22 years after completing his degree.[7] In 1997, he won the Karshakashree Award for farming from the Government of Kerala.[8]
During his early days in Madras, he worked for the film weekly Nana as a correspondent. He has completed a diploma in journalism from Press Club, Trivandrum.
^"Padma Awards"(PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
Ganesha Balachandra Jarkiholi P. Balachandra Menon Balachandra Menon Balachandra Akhil Nandalike Balachandra Rao Balachandra Shastri Balachandra Rajan Vinod Sekhar C. B. C. Warrier