It’s every director’s wish in Kollywood to make at least one film with top stars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. But Bala, quite like his films, is straight contrast to this popular trend of decades.

“I will never direct a film with either Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan. Because they too would not come forward to work with me,” the director of ‘Sethu’, ‘Nanda’, ‘Pithamagan’ and ‘Naan Kadavul’ says.

Bala, who insisted at the recent directors’ association function that he would receive a gold card only from the hands of his mentor Balumahendra, has named his daughter Akila, the name of Balumahendra’s wife.

For the national award winning director, his mentor’s wife is like his mother. He says: “Since it is not easy to call my daughter with that name often, she has a nickname Prarthana too,” he says.