K Viswanath: Legendary Telugu filmmaker K. Viswanath, who was popular for his movies like Sankarabharanam, Swathi Muthyam, Sagara Sangamam, and Swarna Kamalam among others, passed away on Thursday at his residence located in Hyderabad. The five-time National Award winner was suffering from some age-related ailments. K Viswanth age was 92 years.
K Viswanath started his career as an audiographer for Vauhini Studios, Madras. After a short stint as a sound engineer, he started his filmmaking career under director Adurthi Subba Rao and eventually worked as an assistant director for the 1951 Telugu movie titled “Pathala Bhairavi”.
Viswanath made his directional debut with “Aatma Gowravam” in 1965, which won the state Nandi Award. His “Sankarabharanam” (1980) is widely popular and became a national phenomenon. The movie went on to win four National Awards and was also later remade into Hindi as Sur Sangam, which is also directed by Kala Tapaswi Viswanath.
His Telugu movie Swati Muthyam (1985), featuring Kamal Haasan in the central character as an autistic man who comes to rescue a young widow, was India’s entry for Best Language Foreign Film for the Academy Awards.
K Viswanath made his Bollywood debut with Sargam (1979), which was a remake of his own movie titled “Siri Siri Muvva“. Some of his other popular Hindi movies include Shubh Kaamna, Kaamchor, Sanjog, Jaag Utha Insan, Dhanwaan, and Eeshwar.
K Viswanath’s last directed movie was the 2010 Telugu movie Subhapradam starring Allari Naresh and Manjari Phadnis in lead roles. He also acted in movies more than two dozen across Telugu and Tamil film industries.
In the year 1992, K Viswanath was honored with the Padma Shri and Dada Saheb Phalke award in 2017. He had won Filmfare awards eight times in the career span of over four decades.
