As a freelance film critic in the seventies and eighties I had the opportunity to interview Balu Mahendra on several occasions. I have always found him to be full of beans and though there were accusing fingers pointed towards him for filching subjects from Hollywood movies his brand of cinema had many takers. Cinematography was child’s play for him and his frames in his films like ‘Moondram Pirai’ would reveal that he had mastered the craft. It is a fitting tribute to the late director ( who also wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the films that he helmed) that the top auteurs of today like Bala, Vetrimaran, Ameer, Seenu Ramaswamy all picked up the nuances of film direction by being his understudies.
As a freelance film critic in the seventies and eighties I had the opportunity to interview Balu Mahendra on several occasions. I have always found him to be full of beans and though there were accusing fingers pointed towards him for filching subjects from Hollywood movies his brand of cinema had many takers. Cinematography was child’s play for him and his frames in his films like ‘Moondram Pirai’ would reveal that he had mastered the craft. It is a fitting tribute to the late director ( who also wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the films that he helmed) that the top auteurs of today like Bala, Vetrimaran, Ameer, Seenu Ramaswamy all picked up the nuances of film direction by being his understudies.