Cinema buffs pay tribute to Balu Mahendra

CHENNAI: Though Balu Mahendra directed many Tamil and Kannada movies in his lifetime, it was his famous Malayalam movie ‘Yatra’ that many speakers singled out while paying lavish tributes to the veteran director and cinematographer who died on February 13.
At least 35 people from the film industry had gathered at University of Madras on Sunday to pay tribute to the director.
“The visual narration at the end of the movie ‘Yatra’ was special. I don’t think anyone can do this kind of treatment in movies today. When it came to cinema, Balu Mahendra was a master,” said G P Krishna, a cinematographer.
“Balu used only one lens. He didn’t know how to zoom. But he used his own techniques to get as much naturality as possible into his movies,” said Krishna.
It was like the unfolding of one touching scene after the other as tributes poured in for the director on Sunday. Even though each speaker was allowed only five minutes to speak about their memorable moment with Balu Mahendra, they did justice to the time. “He would listen to the call of his heart and bring it into his movies,” said Sa Kandasamy, senior Tamil writer.
Balu, according to S Sivaraman, never showed his script to a producer if he was not confident. “If the script is not 100% good, he would never show it to a producer. It was his simplicity in techniques that made him different. I have more than 40 years of professional experience with him. He never compromised on his ideas,” said Sivaraman, general manager of Prasad Studio.
Tamil filmmaker Amshan Kumar said Balu Mahendra’s cinema was always consistent. “He was an all-in-all. The frame was consistent. Nobody can fill the gap,” said Kumar. Narrating an incident from his life, he said, “One day I gave my book on cinema to him. Surprisingly, he talked about the book with much familiarity. That was Balu Mahendra,” he said.
The programme was organised by ‘Tamizh Studio’, a movement for alternative cinema.