Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (20 May 1939 – 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was an Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Born into a Sri Lanka Tamil household, he developed a passion for photography and literature at a young age. After witnessing the shoot of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) during a school trip in Sri Lanka, he was drawn towards filmmaking. He graduated from the London University and started his career as a draughtsman with the Sri Lankan Government. In 1966, he moved to India and gained an admission to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to pursue a course in motion picture photography. Upon completion of his diploma, he entered Malayalam cinema as a cinematographer in the early 1970s. As a fresh graduate from the FTII, Mahendra's early attempts to enter Tamil cinema were unsuccessful. He got his first break as a cinematographer in 1971 in the Malayalam film Nellu.