K
Viswanath,
one
of
the
most
celebrated
directors
and
prominent
personalities
of
Telugu
Cinema
was
conferred
with
the
prestigious
Dadasaheb
Phalke
award,
the
highest
award
in
Indian
cinema
at
the
64th
National
awards.
The
87-year-old
thespian
started
his
career
as
a
sound
recordist
and
then
took
the
plunge
into
direction
in
the
year
1965.
The
veteran
director
has
worked
in
Telugu,
Tamil
&
Hindi
movies
and
has
made
over
50
movies.
Being
a
recipient
of
9
Filmfare
awards,
Kasinathuni
Viswanath
has
been
felicitated
with
National
award
for
as
many
as
5
times
and
is
also
a
proud
recipient
of
India's
fourth
highest
civilian
honour,
Padma
Shri
,
which
was
conferred
to
him
in
the
year
1992.
With
a
career
spanning
over
6
decades,
Dr.
K
Viswanath
has
worked
in
numerous
movies
in
the
capacity
of
a
film
director,
screenwriter
and
actor.
If
the
stalwart
has
called
action-cut
to
some
classic
movies
for
the
likes
of
Telugu's
Megastar
Chiranjeevi
and
versatile
actor
Kamal
Haasan,
then
the
former
has
shared
space
with
India's
Superstar
Rajinikanth
on
screen.
Viswanath
also
became
the
7th
Telugu
personality
to
receive
the
prominent
award
after
Bommireddy
Narasimha
Reddy
(1974),
Paidi
Jairaj
(1980),
L.V.
Prasad
(1982),
B
Nagi
Reddy
(1986),
Akkineni
Nageswar
Rao
(1990)
&
D
Ramanaidu
(2009).
Soon
after
the
delightful
news
broke
out,
our
Thalaiva,
as
usual
took
time
and
wished
the
legendary
eminent
personality
through
his
twitter
account.
"I
salute
respected
Shri
K
Viswanathji
for
being
conferred
with
the
much
deserved
honour
...
#DadasahebPhalkeAward."
Post
Enthiran,
in
a
public
function
which
saw
both
Viswanath
and
Rajinikanth
sharing
the
same
dice,
the
latter
mentioned
the
fact
that
he
was
still
being
eluded
of
an
opportunity
to
work
with
the
legendary
director
and
that
he
always
craved
for
one
such
instance.
Rajini's
remark
was
soon
followed
by
Viswanath's
instant
response
where
he
was
quoted
saying
"Rajini,
it's
still
not
late,
we
can
do" which
evoked
smile
on
the
faces
of
both
legends.
However,
the
director
has
given
some
masterpieces
to
Chiranjeevi,
Venkatesh
and
Kamal
Haasan
in
the
Telugu
language
and
had
been
a
major
contributor
for
the
latter
actor's
success
in
the
1990s
era.
Rajini's
twitter
wishes
were
followed
by
Annaya-Tammudu's
personal
visit
to
the
eminent
director's
residence
who
were
seen
wishing
the
Swati
Mutyam
director.
Chiranjeevi
who
has
worked
with
the
ace
director
wasted
no
time
in
showing
his
respect
and
adulation
towards
the
director
whilst
his
brother,
Powerstar
Pawan
Kalyan
who
was
accompanied
by
his
friend-director,
wished
the
veteran
director.