Legendary filmmaker K Viswanathan passes away

Legendary Telugu filmmaker K. Viswanath, who was popular for iconic films such as Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Swathi Muthyam and Swarna Kamalam among others, breathed his last on Thursday at his residence in Hyderabad. The five-time national award winner was suffering from age-related ailments. He was 92.

Born on February 19, 1930, in Guntur district, Kalatapasvi — as he was popularly known — was a top film director and screenwriter who also acted in a couple of hit movies. He had directed over 50 films in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil languages. K Viswanath began his directorial venture with Atma Gouravam in 1965 which went on to win the Nandi Award for the best feature film as a debut director. The last movie he directed was Subhapradam in 2010. He also dabbled in acting by appearing first in 1995 in Subhasankalpam and was last seen in the Kannada film Oppandu. He appeared in over two dozen movies and was seen alongside top Telugu heroes.He won five National Film Awards, seven Nandi awards, and 10 Filmfare Awards for South. In 1992, he was conferred Raghupathi Venkaiah Award by the Andhra Pradesh government, and in 2017, the Union government presented him with Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema. He was popular for his many collaborations with Rakesh Roshan in Bollywood. In an interview with IANS, Rakesh Roshan had said he learnt everything about filmmaking from Viswanath.