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
The Apu Trilogy Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals. Produced on a shoestring budget ("Pather Panchali" had a budget of roughly 150,000 ($45,300—)) using an amateur cast and crew, the trilogy is a milestone in Indian cinema and remains one of the most acclaimed works in the Parallel Cinema movement. The three films comprise a "coming of age" narrative in the vein of a "bildungsroman"; they describe the childhood, education and early maturity of a young Bengali named Apu (Apurba Kumar Roy) in the early part of the 20th century. Pather Panchali (Bengali, "Song of the Little Road")<br> Apu's early experiences in rural