Veteran film director and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Kasinathuni Vishwanath passed away following brief illness at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Thursday, his family members said.
He was 92 and is survived by his two sons and a daughter.
The body of Vishwanath was laid to rest according to his family traditions at Punjagutta burial grounds on Friday afternoon, after a funeral procession from his Jubilee Hills residence.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Vishwanath who, he said was a stalwart of the cinema world, who distinguished himself as a creative and multifaceted director.
“Saddened by the passing away of Shri K Vishwanath Garu. He was a stalwart of the cinema world, distinguishing himself as a creative and multifaceted director. His films covered various genres and enthralled audiences for decades. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” PM Modi tweeted.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, governors of the two Telugu states – Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan and Bishwabhushan Harichandan, besides several political leaders and film personalities of Tollywood, Tamil and Kannada film industries expressed grief at the demise of the legendary director and conveyed their condolences to the bereaved members of his family.
Fondly called as “Kalatapasvi” (a sage of arts), Vishwanath was known for his remarkable directorial skill in making films that reflected Indian culture, tradition, fine arts and heritage, a perfect blend of parallel cinema and mainstream commercial cinema.
He directed several masterpieces in Tollywood that include “Shankarabharanam” (1980), highlighting how traditional Indian music was being neglected under the increasing influence of western music, which fetched national award.
Many of his other films like “Sagara Sangamam” (1982) about the failure of a dance maestro, “Swathi Muthyam” (1986) which was about the humanism of an autistic man who marries a widow to rescue her from her difficulties and “Siri Vennela” (1986) about the Platonic love between a blind singer and a rich call girl, touched the human emotions and turned out to be huge hits.
His films mostly addressed social issues such as caste, colour and gender discrimination, disability, misogyny and alcoholism and other socio-economic challenges.
Vishwanath directed more than 50 films in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil, besides a few films in Hindi including Rishi Kapoor-starrer “Sargam,” (1979), Kaamchor (1982), Shubh Kaamna (1983), Jaag Utha Insan (1984), Sur Sangam (1985), Sanjog (1985), Eeshwar (1989), Sangeet (1992) and Dhanwan (1993).
Born on February 19, 1930 at Pedapulivarru in Guntur district, Vishwanath began his career in the film industry as a sound engineer at Vauhini Studios, Vijayawada and later worked as assistant director with famous director Adurthi Subba Rao.
He debuted as a director in 1965 with “Aatma Gowravam”. He went on to direct more than 50 movies. He also acted about 30 Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films.
The veteran filmmaker received the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2016 and was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1992. He won 10 Filmfare Awards, five National Awards and five Nandi Awards including others too. His last film was Shubapradam in 2010.
In 1992, he received the Andhra Pradesh state Raghupathi Venkaiah award.
