Balu Mahendra
May 20, 1939 (85 years old) in Batticaloa, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
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.