Chennai, Feb 13: Famous Tamil film producer Balu Mahendra died at the Vijaya Hospital here Thursday. He was 74.

“Following a heart attack, he was admitted to the hospital this morning. He was later shifted to medical aid Unit (ICU), wherever he passed away an hour later,” a hospital source told.

His body has been shifted to his residence for his fans to pay their respect.

Balu started his career as a photographer on the 1974 Malayalam film “Nellu”. He worked as a photographer in nearly 20 films before wielding the megaphone for 1976 National Award winning Kannada film “Kokila”.

One of the pioneers of Tamil cinema, he’s known for his visually inspiring  work like “Moondram Pirai”, “Sandhya Raagam” and “Veedu”.

His last directorial was the 2013 critically acclaimed Tamil film “Thalaimuraigal”, that was created by his student actor-filmmaker M. Sasi Kumar.

He has conjointly directed Hindi films like “Sadma” and “Aur Ek Prem Kahani”.