Renowned filmmaker Balu Mahendra died of a heart attack at a private hospital here on Thursday. The legendary director suffered a severe heart attack in the early hours of Thursday and underwent emergency care treatment. He breathed his last at around 11 am. He was 74 and is survived by wife and son.
A multi-faceted personality, Mahendra has worked as a filmmaker, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer. He started his career in the industry as a cinematographer for the Malayalam movie “Nellu” in 1974. The film earned him the best cinematographer award from the Kerala government.
The veteran director made his directorial debut with Kannada film “Kokila” in 1977. Born on May 20, 1939, Mahendra received the National Film Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White) for the film, which he not only directed, but also handled the cinematography.
He also won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay for “Kokila”. His first Tamil film was “Azhiyatha Kolangal”. Mahendra is considered to be among the first to pioneer innovative camera style for colour in south India besides drawing acclaim for use of natural lighting as much as possible in his frames.
The famous director has worked in several films in various film industries including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. Some of his critically-acclaimed films include “Moodu Pani”, “Moondram Pirai”, “Marupadiyum”, “Sathi Leelavathi” and “Sadma”, among others.
His last film was “Thalaimuraigal”, released in 2013.
Mahendra’s films fetched awards not only to himself, but also to many of his lead actors. In 1983, “Moondram Pirai” fetched him the national award for best cinematography, and also won Kamal Haasan his first national award. A native of Sri Lanka, Mahendra came to India to study at the Film Institute at Pune.