Veteran Tamil cinematographer-turned-director Balu Mahendra feels that a film's success should be measured by the impact it has on the audience and not by its box-office collections.

A film can truly be called successful if it becomes a memorable experience for the audiences, said Balu and added that "films made by Bala may not be box office hits, but they have always managed to have immense impact on the audience."

"If we judge films based on their box office success, in that case we're ignoring so many quality films that are not commercial hits", Balu told reporters here Sunday.

He was speaking at the audio launch of Bala's forthcoming Tamil period drama "Paradesi", starring Atharva Murali, Vedhika Kumar and Dhansika.

Based on the Tamil translation of Paul Harris Daniel's English novel "Red Tea", the film is set in pre-independence India and the story of the film narrates the affliction of plantation workers in southern India.

"Paradesi" is coming out on Dec 21.