During the tail end of his career, he established a film school in Chennai, which offers courses in cinematography, direction and acting.

[9] When he was at the sixth grade, he got an opportunity to witness the making of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (shot in Sri Lanka) during a school field trip.

Upon completion of school, he joined the London University and graduated with a bachelor's degree (honours) in science.

[1] In Colombo, he worked as an amateur drama artist with Radio Ceylon and got acquainted with the Sinhala theatre groups.

[11][15] At the institute he was exposed to world cinema as he got an opportunity to watch films made by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, both associated with the French New Wave movement.

[11] As a fresh graduate from the FTII, Mahendra's early attempts to enter Sri Lankan Tamil cinema were unsuccessful.

[11][16] Ramu Kariat, the director of Nellu, was impressed by A View from the Fort, Mahendra's diploma film at the FTII.

[11] Nellu, shot in colour, won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinematography after it was released in 1974.

[11] Mahendra had continued successes with films such as Prayanam (1975) and Chuvanna Sandhyakal (1975), both fetching the state award for best photography to him for the second consecutive time.

It was equally successful in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and has the distinction of being the only Kannada film to complete 150 days in Madras (now Chennai) as of 2014.

[24] During this time he did the cinematography of K. Vishwanath's Telugu film Sankarabharanam (1979) which turned out to be a major critical and commercial success.

[30] In 1983, Mahendra entered Hindi cinema with Sadma, a remake of Moondram Pirai, with Kamal Hasan and Sridevi reprising their roles.

While Veedu focused on the life of a lower middle-class urban woman and her struggle to build a house,[37][38] Sandhya Raagam dealt with "old age".

[27][41] During this time M. Night Shyamalan, then a newcomer, approached Mahendra to be the cinematographer for his directorial debut Praying with Anger to which he refused.

[36] The following year, he made a comeback in Bollywood through Aur Ek Prem Kahani, a remake of his Kannada film Kokila.

[10] He then attempted to make film titled Vaarayo Vennilave with Prabhu in the lead role, but the project was later dropped.

[46] After Raman Abdullah, Mahendra took a break from films during which he made Kathai Neram, a television series based on different short stories, mostly by Sujatha.

According to Mahendra, Julie Ganapathi was made on the lines of his previous films Moondram Pirai (1982) and Moodu Pani (1980).

[49][50] A review from Rediff.com stated, "Balu Mahendra has kept the flag of sensible cinema within the commercial format once again in his latest offering Julie Ganapathy" and rated the film as one of the best thrillers ever made.

[54][55][56] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu stated, "If Mahendra's aim was to make a film that can compete on a global level, Thalaimuraigal is a concrete step in that direction.

Following that, Mahendra wrote a series of "sentimental musings" in the Tamil magazine Kumudam under the title Shobavum Naanum (lit.

[61] Their relationship was explored by K. G. George (Mahendra's junior at the FTII) in his 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback.

[64][65] Following a heart attack on 13 February 2014, Mahendra was admitted to Vijaya Hospital in Chennai where he was declared dead after six hours of cardiac arrest.

[66][67] Shortly after the news of his death, members of the Indian film industry posted their condolences in Twitter and Facebook.

[12] As a film-maker, he claimed himself as belonging to the realistic way of story-telling devised by Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica.

[39][72] Although influenced by realism, his films Moodu Pani, Rettai Vaal Kuruvi and Julie Ganapathi heavily borrowed from American cinema.

[10] Fellow cinematographer Madhu Ambat described that it was Mahendra who gave "fame" to those cameramen who came out of the FTII, and further noted that he was one of the few film-makers who effectively used romantic realism.

[74] Lauded for usage of "natural lighting",[10][75] Mahendra was considered "one of the few filmmakers in Tamil who believes in telling a story visually".

Their equation was symbiotic & synergetic, with Ilaiyaraja, unfailingly churning out enviable chart busters, for Balu Mahendra.

An exceptional highlight of their creative bonding being, the eternal superhit Thumbi Vaa ..... from Olangal-1982, was used by them 5 times, in 4 languages [Mal-1, Tamizh-2, Tel-1 & Hin-1, apart from in Paa by R. Balki & a Vocal-Orchestra Symphony version, in Raja's Concert in Italy–2004, titled as Mood Kaapi.