India's renowned Tamil director K Balachander passed away in Chennai on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 84.

Balachander was admitted to the hospital last week after he lost consciousness at his residence. His condition had deteriorated after a surgery early last month to remove a brain tumour.

“Around 7pm following a massive heart attack, KB was declared dead," an official at the hospital said. "His condition was already in a deteriorated state after he developed an infection and fever and that he had been under dialysis for the last five days following the failure of his kidneys did not help.”

Balachander wrote and directed over 100 movies and a dozen TV serials in the 1990s. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 1987, the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2010, besides winning nine national awards during his 49-year association with filmmaking.

While many of his movies as well as television serials have been noted for the portrayal of strong female characters, he is also credited for introducing actors like Rajinikanth (Aboorva Ragangal), Kamal Hasan (Arangetram) and Prakash Raj (Duet).

Balachander is survived by his wife Rajam, son Prasanna and daughter Pushpa Kandaswamy.

The film fraternity mourned the death of the filmmaker: