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 Greatest Films of All Time" and 48th in its 2012 directors' poll. In 1998, in a similar critics' poll from Asian film magazine "Cinemaya", "Pather Panchali" was ranked the second-greatest film of all time. "The Village Voice" ranked the film at number 12 (tied with "The Godfather") in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. "Pather Panchali" was included in various other all-time lists, including "Time Out"s "Centenary Top One Hundred Films" in 1995, the "San Francisco Chronicle" "Hot 100 Films From the Past" in 1997, the "Rolling Stone" "100