Balu Mahendra to the script". As a film-maker, he claimed himself as belonging to the realistic way of story-telling devised by Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica. Mahendra was drawn towards realistic cinema after watching Ray's "Pather Panchali" (1955). He is credited as being one among the earliest filmmakers to bring "naturalism" in Tamil cinema in the 1970s. He usually photographed, scripted and edited all his films. His films were characterised by strong "visual appeal" and minimal number of characters. A majority of his films centre on the complexity of human relationships and are known to portray women as strong characters. Although
Pather Panchali at times choosing to preserve the distinctive look of the films even at the cost of retaining some imperfections. On 4 May 2015, the restored "Pather Panchali" premiered at the Museum of Modern Art, a little more than 60 years to the day after the film’s world premiere at the same venue. Several days later, all three films opened at New York’s Film Forum, where they were originally scheduled to run for three weeks. Because of overwhelming public demand – with one writer commenting that "audiences can’t seem to get enough" – the films were held over at that theater