Kalatapasvi
K
Viswanath,
who
breathed
his
last
on
February
2
in
Hyderabad,
is
a
legendary
personality
and
another
stalwart
who
belongs
to
the
golden
era
of
the
Tollywood
industry.
With
his
death,
the
Tollywood
industry
was
once
again
pushed
into
a
void.
K
Viswanath
began
working
as
an
audiographer
first
and
then
started
to
assist
directors
like
K
Ramnoth
and
Adurthi
Subbarao.
Although
he
wanted
to
work
under
K
Balachander
and
Bapu,
Viswanath
became
a
director
in
1961
with
'Aatma
Gowram'
starring
Akkineni
Nageswara
Rao.
Throughout
his
career
spanning
five
decades,
Viswanath
made
films
in
Tamil
and
Hindi
apart
from
Telugu.
He
made
films
that
uplifted
the
cultural
and
traditional
values
of
Telugu
people
and
spoke
about
issues
like
caste,
colour,
disability,
gender
discrimination,
misogyny,
alcoholism,
and
socio-economic
challenges
through
celluloid,
which
continue
to
be
celebrated
as
classical
films
ever
made
in
Telugu.
One
stand-out
feature
of
Viswanath's
films
was
his
songs
and
music.
The
stalwart
has
a
peculiar
taste
and
penchant
for
the
same.
His
films
in
collaboration
with
legendary
Playback
singer
SP
Balasubramanyam,
his
cousin,
and
lyricist
Sirivennela
Sitaramasastry
have
stood
out
as
far
as
the
songs
are
concerned.
Following
the
demise
of
Viswanath,
fans
of
the
director,
Telugu
films,
and
music
have
trended
a
picture
of
the
epic
trio
on
Twitter,
which
is
now
going
viral
on
the
internet.
The
trio
had
come
out
with
extraordinary
compositions
and
films
like
'Sirivennela',
'Swarna
Kamlam',
'Sruthilayalu',
and
'Hailesso'
from
Subha
Sankalpam
are
great
examples.
Check
out
a
Tweet
here:
Viswanath,
who
rose
to
stardom
with
'Sankarabharanam'
died
on
the
same
date
the
movie
was
released
44
years
ago.
The
entire
Tollywood
from
directors
Raghavendra
Rao
to
Rajamouli,
Megastar
Chiranjeevi
to
younger
actors,
musicians
AR
Rahman,
Keeravani,
and
Thaman
among
others
paid
emotional
tributes
to
the
legend.