(1938-2002)
Balakrishnan, known by all as “BALAN”
was born on 14th April 1938 to Lt. Ramavarma Aniyan Thampuran and Lt
Gowrikutty Amma.
Balan was more inclined towards drawings
since early childhood, talented, loving and a humorous person loved by all.
Hailing from a conservative/Orthodox family Balan had to hide his drawings and
practiced on his own. His parents wanted him to become an engineer but the
passion towards Arts, his drawing skills made him discontinue engineering, he
enrolled in J. J. Institute of Commerce/Arts, earned Degree in Commerce (BCom).
He started his career with Shankar’s Weekly in Delhi.
His first cartoon got published in “Deepika
Daily” (1953) when he was doing his schooling. He worked for 5yrs with them and
worked as Freelance Cartoonist for Blitz, Illustrated Weekly of India etc. For
better exposure he then relocated to Kuwait and joined “Kuwait Times” as cartoonist.
He produced an animated film “Keep Kuwait Clean” which earned a lot of recognition
by the Kuwaiti Government.
He worked for 25yrs and had to return during
Iraq/Kuwait war. He settled in Thrissur, Kerala and was fondly called as “Kuwait
Balan”. Within few months his health took a toll and since then health deteriorated.
He deceased in 2002 at the age of 64yrs.
Balan is survived by wife Mrs. Premila Balakrishnan
in Thrissur, Kerala, his only son Deepak Balakrishnan and daughter-in-law, settled
in Canada.
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