Balaji Vittal is a 2nd generation Calcuttan (Kolkata was known as Calcutta back then) with his roots to the city dating back to the mid-1950s which was when Balaji’s father migrated to the city, just like many other south Indian boys did. In his early years Calcutta organically exposed him to music, sports, theatre, debates, and literature. But save for a fleeting spark with the Hawaiian guitar, Balaji was unable to pick up any of these skills.
Mainstream masala Hindi films dazzled him with their honest incredulity while parallel Bengali cinema fascinated him for their oceanic talent and probity. Television did a big favour to kids of his age in the 1970s by being absent from their lives. And even when it arrived Doordarshan Calcutta programs ran only between 6.30 pm and 9.30 pm on weekdays. This meant that after-school outdoor sports and the post-dinner story book reading habits were not encroached upon. Films, film music, cricket and current affairs continued to be topics of discussions during breaks (and during classes as well) in school all through 1970s and 1980s.
Balaji did not pay heed to his English teacher when she once commended me on his essay writing skills. Instead, he listened to the surround sound of noises that screamed, “Without Engineering or Medicine there is no hope”. After managing to make it in the second attempt to Jadavpur University (JU) in Civil Engineering, he plunged into the University’s Film & Music quiz community and developed a thirst for background information and trivia related to Bollywood. Balaji was inseparable from the impromptu canteen quizzes and the hard-fought inter-college quiz contests at the College Fests. By the time he turned 20, the Bollywood DNA had begun to take roots.
In the 1990s, career journeys took his JU batchmates to different geographies and soon, the medium of communication that bound them changed from letters to email to Whatsapp – all within twenty years. As his career in the Banking and Financial services domain chugged along, the voices of Balaji’s JU friends persuading him to start writing was getting too strident. So, sometime in 2007, in deference to them, he mustered up courage and called up the switchboard of The Hindu at Chennai. In a few weeks’ time, their supplement Metroplus gave him an assignment to cover, and the by line ‘Balaji Vittal’ appeared in print for the first time. He could call himself a journalist now. He went on to contribute close to 100 stories for Metroplus in the years to come.
A chance conversation in July 2008 with his JU senior, friend, and quiz mate Anirudha Bhattacharjee led to them collaborating for a book. They had to confront a few slammed doors on the faces by publishers before HarperCollins offered them the contract for the book whose working title was
The Pancham Caravan’. It was released in April 2011 as ‘RD Burman: The Man, The Music.
-I was a published author now.
Writing continued and so did his careers with Standard Chartered Bank, Genpact, Royal Bank of Scotland and currently, Concentrix. In 2015 came the next book ‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil – 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs’ followed by ‘S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician’ (2018). Balaji and Anirudha designed musical shows around their books i.e. short snippets about the book interspersed with live singing. This innovative format proved to be major successes in shows in India, Singapore, Dubai and London. Balaji’s public speaking skill got noticed and he started getting invitations to prestigious Literary festivals to speak about his books and to moderate sessions of other authors. And Dec 2021 saw the release of Balaji’s first solo authored book ‘Pure Evil – The Bad Men of Bollywood’ published by HarperCollins.
On the personal front, Balaji is married to Vandana for the past 28 years. They have a daughter Ashapoorna (25) and son Akhilesh (20) and they, along with his mother Mrs. Shanthi Vittal (81) live in Hyderabad. But Balaji’s heart still lives in Kolkata.
Reflects Balaji, “I consider myself extremely blessed and fortunate that my first book ‘RD Burman: The Man, The Music’ won the President’s Gold Medal at the 59th National Film Awards (2011) for the Best Book on Cinema and that my next book ‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil – 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs’ won the MAMI Award for the Best Book on Cinema at the 17th Mumbai International Film festival. And that my latest one ‘Pure Evil – The Bad Men of Bollywood’ has received effusive praise for the depth of research and the narrative. Milestones, no doubt, motivate. But, looking back at them frequently comes at the cost of taking the eye off the road ahead.
And the road ahead is so beautiful.”
TESTIMONIALS
Read Reviews by My Readers
" Auteur is a monthly book review publication distributed to 400,000 avid readers through subscribing bookstores & public libraries."
Vladimir Nabokov
" It was a dark night, with only occasional scattered lights, glittering like stars on the plain. It flashed upon me suddenly: they were going to shoot me!"
Savanna Walker
" Auteur is a monthly book review publication distributed to 400,000 avid readers through subscribing bookstores & public libraries."
Vladimir Nabokov
What they say
Pure Evil is among the most discussed books on Hindi cinema this year
Avijit Ghosh
It is impossible to replicate the talent, energy and dedication
to craft that was RD Burman, but this book comes close
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
I totally enjoyed Pure Evil. Be warned, though, it is a ticket to a den of vice!
Sriram Raghavan
…. (RD’s) trove of songs that refuse to age. And now, this book