Glowing tributes paid to legendary director Dr K Viswanath

GUNTUR: Cultural organisations and artistes paid glowing tributes to the legendary tollywood director Dr K Viswanath, who passed away in Hyderabad on Friday.

Viswanath, director of several national award winning films including Sankara Bharanam was a native of Guntur district and has strong bond with the cultural organisations. He made several trips to home town during his long filmy career and received awards.

Viswanath was born in Pedapulivarru village near Repalle in Tenali division, completed his intermediate from Hindu College and graduated from AC college in Guntur. After reaching Madras to work with a movie production house, Viswanath finally turned director.

"Viswanth was a down to earth personality and lovable by all. We used to be surprised at his simplicity despite being a world famous film director," said SVS Lakshminarayana, general secretary of Sahiti Samakhya.

He said that Dr Viswanath attended several functions organized by them besides attending Ugadi vasanthotsavam. He said that Viswanath had never turned down their request to attend the cultural events organized by Samakhya as he had fond memories with the organization.

"Viswanath is a true Rishi and Kala Tapaswi. His works have brought enormous respect to film writing, traditional music, the arts, and cinema. His films with social concepts as themes led to a great change," said Lakshminarayana. He said that Dr Viswanath scripted and tuned a song for them last month and it would remain as their precious property. He said that they did not expect Viswanth would leave them so soon

Vignan university presented honorary doctorate at its 5th convocation. Vignan’s University management and the students paid homage to legendary film director Kala Tapaswi K. Vishwanath on Friday. Vignan chairman Dr.Lavu Rattaiah said that Vishwanath had contributed a lot of work in bringing tremendous recognition to Telugu culture and Indian arts via his films. He said that Viswanath started his film career as a technician in a studio and rose to win the highest award in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

With films such as Shankarabharanam, Sagara Sangam, Swathimutyam, and Sirisiramuvva, he is credited with reviving Telugu self-esteem on a national level. He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to his family members.