Balasubramaniam was born and brought up in
Mysore, where he completed his
matriculation. He was one of seven children of Singaravelu, a ticket collector with the
Indian Railways, and Dhanalakshmi. Balasubramaniam was married to Vimala, a singer. His wife was called to perform at
Gubbi Veeranna's theatre company, when Dinesh followed her. Once there, he was given opportunities to act in
plays, thanks to his booming voice. However, eager to act in films, Balasubramaniam travelled to
Madras (now Chennai) for an audition for a
Kannada-language film. He was rejected owing to his lack of fluency in the language. Balasubramaniam subsequently returned to
Karnataka where he continued performing on stage. Balasubramaniam's first film appearance came in
Naandi (1964), during the making of which he was given the screen name, Dinesh, by producer Vadiraj. The 1960s saw Dinesh appearing in negative-shaded roles such as in
Choori Chikkanna (1969). In
Seetharamu (1979), he appeared in a comedic character, a role he would continue to portray majorly for the rest of his career. In
Ruthugaana (1977), his 100th film as an actor, Dinesh played the lead role. Dinesh appeared in a total of 360 films. His final screen appearance came in
Udbhava (1990). Dinesh was also an active stage actor during this time; he was touring with a troupe performing
Lakshadheeshwara, a play written by him. Dinesh died from
cardiac arrest on 28 April 1990, aged 53. ==Selected filmography==