When Attakathi Dinesh met Balu Mahendra

Before starting his career as an actor, Attakathi Dinesh aspired to be a cinematographer and camped outside veteran cameraman Balu Mahendra’s house for six months during his teens. One fine day, Balu’s spouse Akila noticed Dinesh and he submitted her few amateurish pictures clicked by him. Akila, apparently, showed the pictures to Balu Mahendra and he came out and shouted – “How can educated kids do this? Come to my office.”

That was when he met Vetrimaaran, who launched him as an actor in a small role in Aadukalam, and Durai Senthilkumar of Ethirneechal, the erstwhile assistants of Balu Mahendra. “They told me there were far too many camera assistants but they were looking for an actor. At the audition, they asked me to laugh naturally, but I just couldn’t do it. I was rejected, and they suggested I get into theatre to hone my acting skills,” says Dinesh. Later, he joined Koothu-p-Pattarai to hone his acting skills and was eventually launched by Pa. Ranjith as a lead hero in his debut film Attakathi.