He worked predominantly in the film industry for nearly forty years and was notable for his unique body language and dialogue delivery and was also well known for his intonation.

[3] Manobala was born as Balachandar[4] in a Marungoor village near Thirumarugal , Nagapattinam District, but did most of his primary education in Bangalore and Thirukattupalli for grades 10 and 11.

He later studied at the Government College of Fine Arts, when he started writing articles under the pen name Manobala, and also learnt Bharatanatyam and the Veena.

[5][6] Manobala started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with a reference from Kamal Haasan became an assistant director on Bharathiraja's 1979 film Puthiya Vaarpugal.

He was known for his comic roles in films including Ice, Nanban, Chandramukhi, Pithamagan, Thamizh Padam, Kavalai Vendam, Kalakalappu, Siruthai, Alex Pandian, Aranmanai, Aambala, and Yaaradi Nee Mohini.