Legendary Filmmaker K Viswanath Passes Away at 92

Filmmaker-actor Kasinadhuni Viswanath (aka K Viswanath) passed away at a private hospital in Hyderabad during the late hours of Thursday. Reports suggest that he was suffering from age-related issues and had died of natural health causes. Fans and film fraternities across several industries poured in their condolences. He is survived by his wife and three children. 

Popularly known as Kalatapasvi, K Viswanath began his career as an audiographer (sound engineer) before shifting gears to filmmaking. He directed films for close to 60 years predominantly in the Telugu, Hindi and Tamil languages. He made his debut in 1965 with the Telugu film Aatma Gowravam featuring Akkineni Nageswara Rao, which went on to fetch his first award — Bronze in the Nandi Award (Andhra Pradesh state) for Best Feature Film of the year. While most of his films have defied time and are celebrated even today, some of his top films include Jeevana Jyothi (1975), Sankarabharanam (1980), Sarada (1973), Swathi Muthyam (1986) and Swarnakamalam (1988). 

His artistic touch and deep knowledge of social issues paved the way for his meticulously crafted stories. The veteran director is fondly remembered for films such Sankarabharanam and Saptapadi (1981) in which he perfectly converged the entertaining forms of music and dance with stories that explored the social evils and issues that existed back in the day. While Sankarabharanam discussed the gradual decline of traditional Indian music and propelled its revival, Satapadi peeled the layers of the caste system to condemn the evils of untouchability. And through such films, the veteran filmmaker intrinsically packaged socially-conscious stories with commercial elements. 

Swathi Muthyam, starring Kamal Haasan and Raadhika, was screened at many international film festivals. It received the National Award for Best Feature, along with three Nandi Awards. Remarkably, the film was India’s official entry for the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986. To his name, K Viswanath has won five National Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, and eleven Filmfare Awards. Acknowledging his immense contribution to cinema, he was awarded the Andhra Pradesh state Raghupathi Venkaiah Award in 1992 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2016. He also went on to receive the Padma Shri in 1992. 

30 years after he began directing, K Viswanath ventured into acting in 1995 and has appeared in close to 25 films in Tamil and Telugu including titles like Vajram (1995), Devasthanam (2012), Pudhiya Geethai (2003) and Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008), among others. The 2010 drama film Subhapradam starring Allari Naresh and Manjari Phadnis was his last directorial venture.