Daniel Balaji made a huge splash as a villain opposite Kamal Haasan in Gautham Vasudev Menon's 'Vettaiyadu Vilayadu' and there is no looking back for him as he has established himself in negative roles. His recent films including Dhanush's 'Vada Chennai' directed by Vetrimaaran and Thalapathy Vijay's 'Bigil' have earned him high praises as well.

Balaji has been embroiled in controversy in the past few days as Hindu outfits have severely criticized him on social media for portraying a lower class thief who tries to pose as a Brahmin sanyasi in a web series 'Godman'. A teaser of the show not only consisted of religious scenes but also explicit sex scenes. Trollers are even more irked that a Christian has donned the role of a Hindu godman.

Daniel Balaji is actually a Hindu and his original name is P.C. Balaji and he is a first cousin of the late actor Murali and uncle to young hero Atharvaa. He got the name Daniel prefixed to his name after a convincing portrayal of a sadist in Radhika Sarathkumar's classic serial 'Chithi' telecast in the nineties.

Gayathri Raghuram a staunch Hindu activist and BJP member has come out in support of Balaji and has requested trolls to avoid threatening him and also his family members pointing out that he is a good friend of hers and is a Hindu.

Regarding the GODMAN controversy- I spoke to some of the actors who are my friends. Please don’t target actors and call them disturb thier privacy. Danniel Balaji is a hindu, the name Danniel is picked up from Chithi serial. His real name is PC Balaji. I want ppl to know ??

— Gayathri Raguramm (@gayathriraguram) May 30, 2020