chennai i was one of kailasams roommates in iowa in 1986 although i was never interested in films he drew me into the world we even cooked together the one dish that he made quite regularly was thayir sadam curd rice wrote sarosh kuruvilla on a paper pasted on a blackboard hung at the entrance of spaces in besant nagar friends and relatives of bala kailasam son of veteran director k balachander had gathered at the venue to on tuesday to honour him he died of pneumonia and lung disease at a hospital in chennai on august 15 kailasam who was 53 years old headed a production house min bimbangal he was unhappy dealing with the tension between making films he wanted to make and doing the uninteresting but necessary work to make min bimbangal successful kuruvilla said filmmaker k balachander stepped onto the dais with the help of two people he didnt speak but spent the time listening to the speeches what the father did in cinema son did in television but kailasam was an unsung hero he didnt get the due that he deserved said chanakya who worked with the father as well as son for more than two decades even though kailasam directed many documentaries and produced a number of tv serials he always wanted to do something new even as a student in guindy engineering college he was like that holding a blackandwhite camera he would roam around he would take pictures and develop them himself he always wanted something different from every click said suresh k who was his classmate in the late 1970s