Balu Mahendra

Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran was born in a Sri Lankan Tamil family on the 20th of May 1939 and passed away on the 13th of February 2014. He was a cinematographer, film editor, director and a screenwriter. He has worked in some Indian film industries but mostly worked in the Tamil film industry. BaluManhendra had developed an interest in photography in his early years, as he graduated as a gold medallist in cinematography from FTII in Pune he first started his career as a cameraman.

Balu Mahendra had married three times, his first wife was Akhileshwari who was the mother of his first son and in the year 1980 his second wife actress Shoba had committed suicide ending their relationship and also putting BaluMahendra and Akhileshwari in prison for four months as they were living in India Illegally. In the year 1998 he married again, BaluMahendra had married actress Mounika but declared his marriage to the public in the year 2004. BaluMahendra won the best cinematographer award from the Indian government for his first film called Nell which was Malayalam film released in the year 1947 and even since he has worked hard to win the best cinematographer award for about ten films because of his innovation in camera style. BaluMahendra won the National Film Award for his first directed film Kokila, which was a Kannada film.

He was a brilliant director who had the ability to narrate visually a story and also handle camera editing all by himself. He won 6 National Film Awards.BaluMahendra went on to direct his first Tamil film AzhiyathaKolangal in the year 1979.He mostly worked for directors in Malayalam such as P.N.Menon and K.S.Sethumadhavan. BaluMahendra loved to experiment and explore the Indian film industry and did so by directing his first film in Hindi, which was a remake of MoondramPirai a Tamil film that was also directed by him. He also directed Aur Ek Prem Kahani which is also a Hindi film. BaluMahendrahad decided to be a filmmaker after he witnessed David Leans shooting for the film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Director Main Ratnam had offered BaluMahendra to work on his first Kannada film called Pallavi Anu Pallavi which Balu Mahendra agreed to work for with enthusiasm. Balu Mahendra also made sure he gave a message to his viewers that revolved around many social issues such as corruption and old age in his films like SandhyaRaagam.