Balakram Jadhav

Balaram Jadhav was born on 24 Feb 1931 in Nagpur, where his father, Gangaram Bapu Jadhav, was an active member of a musical drama group. Gangaram had four children - Vijaymala, Manjula (Manju Diwan), Trayamba, k, and Balakram, where Balakram was the youngest. The family went to Pune when the father obtained a job with Prabhat Films Balaram started his filmy career as a kid artist in 'Majha Mulga' (in Marathi) and its Hindi counterpart, 'Mera Ladka (1941)'. In the same year, he acted in Prabhat's multilingual 'Aadmi' (1941). In both these films, he sang songs for himself. During this period, Balakram also learned the subtleties of Hindustani classical music from Pandit Gunidas and Pandit Jagannath Prohit of Agra Gharana. A taste of his ability in Hindustani classical music may be noticed when he sings a quick Sargam amid a song in Prabhat's 'Nayi Kahaani' (1943) mentioned above.

In Prabhat's 'Chaand' (1944), Balakram acted in the film in which he had two songs picturized on him. But he did not sing the song on himself. Instead, his elder sister Manju gave playback to him. Probably, Balakram was on the threshold of his adolescence, and his vocal pitch may have shifted, which may not have suited his child's role. After a gap of around 3 years, Balakram returned to Hindi films with a role in 'Krishna Sudama (1947), perhaps wearing the character of Sudama. Whether it is coincidence or otherwise, the films acted after that were largely belonging the genre of mythology/Devotional like 'Seeta Swayambar' (1948), 'Satyanarayan' (1948), 'Sati Ahilya' (1949), 'Sant Janabai' (1949), 'Subhadra Haran' (1964), 'Shri Ram Bharat Milan' (1965), etc. Balaram took a long gap in their Hindi film career between 1949 and 1964.

During this period, he appeared and sang in many Marathi films and was associated with some Marathi plays where he got famous. He also performed in classical singing recitals and gave training in classical music. At Dadar, he created Pandit Gunidas Sangeet Vidyalaya and started teaching music to children. Balaram died of liver problems on 02 March 1974. Krishna Sudama (1947) was Balakram's debut mythological film, after which he got identified with this type of Hindi film. The film was produced under National Artists' umbrella and directed by C R Bajaj.

The star cast featured Karan Diwan, Balakram, Vijay, Dulari, Gulab, Kusum, etc. By the way, Balakram was the brother-in-law of Karan Diwan as his sister Manju married Karan Diwan in 1944. The film included 11 songs, all written by Kamalnayan and given music by Shyambabu Pathak. This was the film in which Shyambabu Pathak gave initial breaks as playback singers to Sulochana Kadam Sulochana Chavan was a renowned Indian singer know >> Read More... and Krishna Goyal. Balaram Jadhav was the younger brother of actress-singer Manju-wife of Karan Dewan Karan Dewan originally known as Dewan Karan Chopra >> Read More... . He has acted in various films and performed many songs since the film Aadmi-1938. Balaram Jadhav is known for Saubhagya Kankshini(1974),Balram Shrikrishna(1968), and Kela Ishara Jata Jata(1965).