Comedy is the forte of Manobala (Manobala Mahadevan), who is also a director. He was born on 4th June 1953 and acts in supporting roles too. His primary region of interest is Tamil. He has over 40 movies and 16 television serials to his credit. Having worked in 3 telefilms too, he has over 200 movies to his credit. He has worked under director Bharathiraja.
Hailing from Sulur, Manobala forayed into the Tamil industry with the 1994 flick Thaaimaaman. Doing trivial roles initially, he switched to comedy later. He was appreciated for his comedy, and his skinny appearance added to the laughter of the audience. His rapport with
Kamal Haasan
, though commendable in the initial stages, was not good after some problems with the Directors Union. But later Manobala confessed that, he doesn’t hold any grudges with Kamal Haasan. The Sun TV program Asathapovathu Yaaru has Manobala’s presence frequently. He had a brief stint with production through the film Sathuranga Vettai.
Oor Kavalan, Aagaya Gangai, Sirai Paravai, Moodu Manthiram,
Pillai Nila
, Moondrezhuthil En Moochirukkum, Karuppu Vellai and Nandini are a few flicks of his direction. As an actor his works are Natpukkaga, Taj Mahal, Annai, Minsara Kanna, Perazhagan, Priyasakhi, Samudhiram, Ghajini, Varalaaru, Thambi, Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, Santhosh Subramaniam, Polladhavan, Dindigul Sarathy,
Abhiyum Naanum
etc. Manobala is active in the industry from 1982 to till date. Manobala is credited to have done projects with three generations. He is a simple person and doesn’t like publicity.
On his personal front Manobala is wedded to Usha.
Manobala stated that people asked him to direct films like Pillai Nila. KS Ravikumar tapped his comical streak and his life changed a lot due to him. Manobala is grateful to K S Ravikumar for that. He feels that directing 40 films is indeed a commendable one.
On 3rd May 2023, Manobala died in Chennai. He was suffering from illness related to pancreas. His sudden death saddened the film industry and fans.