caption death_date death_place years_active birth_place othername title birth_date spouse birthname image article_title name occupation death_cause
balu mahendra in 2013 13 february 2014 chennai , tamil nadu , india 1971 -- 2013 batticaloa , eastern province , sri lanka mahendra , balu , bala mahendran isc 19 may 1939 ahileshwari her death -rrb- mounika -lrb- 1998 & nbsp ; -- mahendra 2014 -rrb- -lrb- his death -rrb- shoba -lrb- 1978 -- 80 ; until balanathan benjamin mahendran balu mahendra -lrb- cropped -rrb- . jpg balu mahendra
 balu mahendra literary , film editor editor , cinematographer , film director , screenwriter cardiac arrest
balu mahendra

balanathan benjamin mahendran -lrb- 20 may 1939 -- 13 february 2014 -rrb- , 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 young age .
he was drawn towards film-making after witnessing the shoot of david lean 's `` the bridge on the river kwai '' -lrb- 1957 -rrb- 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 -lrb- ftii -rrb- 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 '' -lrb- 1977 -rrb- , 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 , direction and acting .
following a brief phase of poor health , mahendra died of cardiac arrest in february 2014 .
widely regarded as an auteur , mahendra wrote the script for his films , handled the camera and edited the film himself apart from directing .
he was the recipient of six national film awards -- including two for best cinematography , three filmfare awards south , and several state awards from the governments of kerala , karnataka and andhra pradesh .
