Veteran film director Kasinadhuni Viswanath, 92, who made films like Shankarabharanam, Swatimuthyam and Sagara Sangamam, is no more. He breathed his last late on Thursday night in a private hospital. 

Known for his films with themes around culture and music, Viswanath, who’s known as Kalathapaswi Viswanath, was a visual storyteller. With well-craft scripts with subtle humour, all his films were musical hits too as he made music, culture and art an integral part of his films.

Though he made several hit films in the late 1960s and 1970s, his film 1980 film Shankarabharanam shot him to fame beyond the Telugu States. It revived the interest in Carnatic music in (the then undivided) Andhra Pradesh. Incidentally, he passed away on the same date that the film hit the screen 43 years ago.

He launched a 50-year-old stage actor J V Somayajulu in the lead role in the film, where the protagonist that once enjoyed fame and riches was pushed to poverty due to lack of patronage for traditional music. The film ends with him passing on the baton to the son of a woman who secretly admired his work and help him revive the forgotten music tradition. 

The film was a roaring hit at a time when box office hits were largely confined to top-rung heroes like NT Rama Rao, A Nageshwara Rao, Krishna and Shobhanbabu.

In a film career spanning over 60 years, he made over 50 films. He took the art of filmmaking so seriously that he would always wear a khaki uniform to remind himself that he was a ‘film worker’.

While sticking to his genre of themes, he worked with popular actors like Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Mammootty, Venkatesh and Balakrishna.

He had a special bonding with actor Kamal Haasan and playback singer S P Balasubramanyam. Though Balasubramanyam had no formal training in Carnatic music, he made him sing all the songs in ‘Sankarabharanam’ where the hero was a champion of that music tradition.

Born in Repalle in Guntur district in 1930, Viswanath moved to Chennai after graduating from Andhra University, seeking a career in the film industry.

Groomed at Vauhini Studios in audio engineering, he transitioned to the film direction department and associated himself with directors like Adurthi Subba Rao.

After working as an assistant director for a few films, he made his directorial debut with Atmagouravam (Self-respect) in 1965, which bagged the best film of the year award from the State Government.

Though he made a few hit films like Jeevana Jyothi and Sarada in his early career, his tryst with themes around culture and music started with the film Siri Siri Muvva (1976), starring the new-comer Jayaprada and Chandramohan, which was a blockbuster musical hit.

His other important works include Srutilayalu, Swarnakamalam, Swathikiranam and Apadhbandhavudu. 

He also directed a few films in Hindi too, remaking some of his hits in Telugu.

Vishwanath also proved himself as an actor. Launching himself in the film Subha Sankalpam (starring Kamal Hasaan), he acted in about 40 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

Criticism

Vishwanath, who always stayed away from controversies, however, faced criticism from a section of film critics that his themes were either reformist or status quoist, forcing the characters to conform to the traditions when confronted to take a crucial decision of their lives.

Though he never talked about his films or defended his themes, his supporters cited the film Saptapadi and a few other characters in some of his films to disprove his critics.

Putting the criticism aside, he created a niche for himself by creating a mark of his own in the art of making films. He stayed away from the pomp and glitter, which is usually associated with the film industry, in his films and personal life.

He had won scores of awards, including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padmasri, and a host of other national and international awards in recognition of his directorial prowess. Notably, his movie Swathi Muthyam was the India’s official entry to the 59th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category.

Condolences

Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh K Chandrashekar Rao and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, film actors Kamal Haasan, K Chiranjeevi, Mammootty, Radhika Sarathkumar and several other actors and directors mourned his death.

Condolences pour in from film lovers too with hashtags like #RIPViswanathGaru, #RIPSir, #KViswanath and #Kvishwanath trending on Twitter and Facebook.

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