years_active children birth_place othername birth_date residence birthname article_title name occupation
1966 -- 2006 john mahendran ilaiyangudi , madras presidency , british india mahendran 25 july 1939 chennai , tamil nadu , india j. alexander j. mahendran
 j. mahendran literary editor , director , screenwriter
j. mahendran

j. mahendran -lrb- born 25 july 1939 as alexander -rrb- is an indian film director in the tamil film industry , who is best known for his true narration of screenplay and making .
though largely ignored during his times , mahendran is regarded as one of the greatest film makers of tamil cinema and has inspired many upcoming directors .
particularly he has been an inspiration for the legends of tamil cinema like mani ratnam and rajinikanth .
mahendran entered the film industry as a screenwriter , writing scripts for nearly 26 films .
he made an immediate impact with his first directional venture `` mullum malarum '' -lrb- 1978 -rrb- .
mahendran 's next film `` uthiripookkal '' , based on a short story written by pudumaipithan , firmly established him as an important film maker in tamil cinema .
his `` nenjathai killathe '' won three national film awards including the award for the best regional film .
