Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, ”Saddened by the passing away of Shri K. Viswanath 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.”
Saddened by the passing away of Shri K. Viswanath Garu. He was a stalwart of the cinema world, distinguishing himse… https://t.co/5AFKUiXgq7
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1675395503000
K Viswanath passed away on Thursday night in a private hospital in Hyderabad, where he was undergoing treatment. He was 92. The five-time national award winner was suffering from age-related ailments.
Viswanath started his professional life as an audiographer. His filmmaking career began under director Adurthi Subba Rao after a brief stint as a sound engineer, and he later went on to work as an assistant director for the Telugu film Pathala Bhairavi in 1951. With the 1965 movie Aatma Gowravam, Viswanath made his directorial debut and went on to win the state Nandi award.
Following it, the director released ‘Chelleli Kapuram’, ‘O Seeta Katha’, ‘Jeevana Jyoti’, and ‘Sarada’. In addition to performing in major films, Viswanath also directed some of them, including ‘Swarabhishekam’, ‘Pandurangadu’, ‘Narasimha Naidu’, ‘Lakshmi Narasimha’ and ‘Seemasimham’, ‘Kuruthipunal’, ‘Kakkai Siraginilae’ and ‘Bagavathi’.
Additionally, he appeared in over twenty films from the Tamil and Telugu film industries. He also did many collaborations with Rakesh Roshan in Bollywood. He was honoured with Padma Shri honour in 1992 and the Dada Saheb Phalke in 2017. Over the course of a career spanning over four decades, he won the Filmfare awards eight times.
