Balu Mahendra knew 'Thalaimuraigal' would win National Award, his student says

CHENNAI: Director Balu Mahendra was so confident that his Tamil movie ‘Thalaimuraigal’ (generations) would win a National Award that one of the last things he did before his death in February this year was to make sure the entry form was filled in correctly.
“He double checked the National Film Awards entry form as he lay on his hospital bed,” says his student Vicky Raja, who was also the assistant director of ‘Thalaimuraigal,’ released in December 2013.
‘Thalaimuraigal,’ the story of the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson, on Wednesday bagged the National Award for Best National Integration Film.
The award, although posthumous, is Mahendra’s sixth national award. He received awards for best cinematography and best feature film for the movies ‘Kokila,’ ‘Moondram Pirai,’ ‘Veedu,’ ‘Sandhya Raagam,’ and ‘Vanna Vanna Pookal.’ Mahendra won a National Award for his first directorial venture ‘Kokila.’ And ‘Thalaimuraigal,’ which marked his acting debut, also won
a national award.
“This is a happy moment, but it would have been much happier if Balu sir was around to receive the award,” says producer Sasikumar, who will receive the award on behalf of the ‘Thalaimuraigal’ team.
“It was like he gave me this gift before he left the world,” he adds.
Sasikumar says Mahendra was insistent that the movie be a learning experience for his students and made sure they were involved in every aspect, from direction to editing.
The Tamil movie was shot in 44 days, says Raja. “He picked a handful of us from his film institute in December 2011, and we started work on the movie. Shooting happened only over the weekends because he was taking classes during the weekdays,” says Raja.
“He was so weak on some days that he could barely stand for more than ten minutes, yet he would keep working,” says Raja.
In fact, say students of Mahendra, what makes the awards more special is that two of the other people from Tamil cinema who won awards this year, were mentored by Mahendra in the course of their career – Ram, who wrote and directed ‘Thangameengal,’ which won the Award for Best Regional Film, and Na Muthu Kumar, who won the Award for Best Lyricist for his work in the same movie.
“It is a tribute to the fact that he was one of the best teachers of the craft of film-making,” says Raja.