    balanathan benjamin mahendran (20 may 1939&nbsp;â 13 february 2014), commonly known as balu mahendra, was a cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor, who worked in various indian film industries, primarily in tamil cinema. born into a sri lankan tamil household, mahendra developed a passion towards photography and literature at a tender age. he was drawn towards film-making after witnessing the shoot of david lean's the bridge on the river kwai (1957) in sri lanka. a graduate of the london university, he started his career as a draughtsman before gaining an admission to the film and television institute of india (ftii) to pursue a course in cinematography. mahendra entered films as a cinematographer in the early 1970s and gradually rose to becoming a film-maker by the end of the decade. making his directorial debut through the kannada film kokila (1977), mahendra made over 20 films in all south indian languages and two in hindi. he was one of the earliest film-makers in tamil cinema to introduce realism and he helped re-vitalise the tamil film industry. towards the tail end of his career, in 2007, he established a film school in chennai which offers courses in cinematography, d
1939_births 2014_deaths Alumni_of_St._Michael\'s_College,_Batticaloa Alumni_of_the_University_of_London Best_Cinematography_National_Film_Award_winners Deaths_from_heart_failure Film_and_Television_Institute_of_India_alumni Filmfare_Awards_South_winners Indian_film_directors Kannada_film_directors Kerala_State_Film_Award_winners Malayalam_cinematographers Malayalam_film_directors National_Film_Award_(India)_winners Sri_Lankan_Tamil_film_directors Sri_Lankan_emigrants_to_India Tamil-language_film_directors Tamil_cinematographers Tamil_film_directors Tamil_film_editors Telugu_film_directors