Legendary Telugu filmmaker K. Vishwanath passes away

Legendary Telugu filmmaker K Vishwanath who also acted in some Tamil films has passed away He was 92Vishanath breathed his last at Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad late Thursday He is survived by two sons and a daughterThe Dadasaheb Phalke awardee and fivetime national award winner was suffering from agerelated ailments He will be cremated on FridayBorn on February 19 1930 in Andhra Pradeshs Guntur district he directed over 50 filmsVishwanath was popular for iconic films such as Sankarabharanam Sagara Sangamam Swathi Muthyam and Swarna Kamalam He also acted in Tamil movies like Yaaradi Nee Mohini Rajapattai Lingaa and Uttama Villain and shared screen space with the likes of Kamal Haasan R Parthiban and AjithIn 1992 he was awarded the Padma Shri and in 2016 he was conferred with Dadasaheb Phalke award the highest honour in India for the film industry In a career spanning over four decades he also won the Filmfare awards eight timesHe also acted in over two dozen films across Telugu and Tamil industriesVishwanath began his career as an audiographer for Vauhini Studios in Madras He later started filmmaking career under Adurthi Subba Rao and worked as an assistant director on 1951 Telugu film Pathala BhairaviHe made his directorial debut with Aatma Gowravam 1965 which went on to bag the state Nandi award for best feature filmVishawanath became a national phenomenon with his awardwinning classic Telugu film Sankarabharanam 1980 It proved a huge hit and is still considered to be one of his best worksSankarabharanam which spoke about the gap between Carnatic music and Western music based on the perspective of people from two different generations won four National awards It was later remade as Sur Sangam in Hindi also directed by VishwanathIt was on February 2 1980 that Sankarabharanam was released and he breathed his last on the same day in 2023Also Read 24 Runaways actor Annie Wersching passes away at 45He subsequently made many films that had art especially music as their backdrop These include Sagara Sangamam Swati Kiranam Swarna Kamalam Sruthilayalu and SwarabhishekamHis 1985 Telugu film Swati Muthyam featuring Kamal Haasan in the central character as an autistic man who comes to the rescue of a young widow was Indias entry for Best Language Foreign Film for the Academy AwardsKamal Haasan considers Vishwanath as one of his mentors He had called on the legendary director during his visit to Hyderabad in November last yearViswanath made his Bollywood debut with 1979 film Sargam which was a remake of his own movie Siri Siri Muvva Kaamchor Shubh Kaamna Jaag Utha Insan Sanjog Eeshwar and Dhanwaan were some of his other movies in BollywoodThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever