[3] His parents died when he was young and hence he had to take care of his siblings and discontinue his studies at eighth grade.

Balan K. Nair died of Multiple myeloma at Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram on 26 August 2000, aged 67.

Prior to acting in Malayalam movies, he worked as a stunt double for Bollywood star Dev Anand.

He won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor in 1974 and 1978 for his roles in Adhiti and Thacholi Ambu.

His last movie was Kadavu, in which he played the role of an oarsman directed by the novelist M. T. Vasudevan Nair based on a story by another famous literary figure S. K. Pottekkatt.