Director

Balu Mahendra

Directing

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Directed credits

Prolific

Very extensive directing filmography.

TMDB popularity

2.8

Moderate attention

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Directed movies: 37Directed series: 0All crew credits: 41

TMDB ID: 584297

IMDb ID: nm0536818

Known for: Directing

Born: May 20, 1939

Died: February 13, 2014

Age: 74

Place of birth: Batticaloa, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1972 - 2005

Years active: 34

Wikidata: Q3520413

Also known as

Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran • பாலு மகேந்திரா

Frequent jobs

Director (21)Director of Photography (16)Cinematography (2)Editor (1)Original Story (1)

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Biography

Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran or commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was an Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor. 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 in Sri Lanka. He started his career as a literary editor 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.

Movies