Cinema's 'Vishwanath' gets Phalke

HYDERABAD: For the first few days ‘Shankarabharanam' ran to empty theatres. But, soon the musical drama flick released on January 15, 1980, would be a rage with all age groups of audiences patronising it.
Thirty seven years later, on Monday, the director of the movie, K Vishwanath, was named for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award for the year 2016 for outstanding contribution to the film industry.The recommendation of the Dadasaheb Phalke award committee to recognise 87-year-old Vishwanath was approved by I&B minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
With his genre of films and the subjects he chooses, Viswanath had reached the pinnacle and it would be unthinkable that anyone could come anywhere close to emulating him. Vishwanth who hails from Gudivada in Andhra Pradesh had been making films since 1965, but it was with ‘Shankarabharanam' that he showed his prowess as a director as it went on to win several awards on the international fora.
What was the crowning glory of Vishwanath was his film ‘Swati Muthyam', another huge hit with Kamal Haasan in the lead, that was India's official entry to the 59th Academy awards in the best foreign films category . Prior to that in 1976, Viswanath's `Siri Siri Muvva' in which Jaya Pradha and Chandramohan played the lead roles captured the imagination of audience. Bollywood was so impressed with it that the film was remade in Hindi as `Sargam' in 1979.I am extremely delighted. I have never expected that such a great honour will come my way . This is a real surprise for me,“ Vishwanath told TOI. Vishwanath told TOI, “I am extremely delighted.I have never expected that such a great honour will come my way . This is a real surprise for me.”
“I make a film because I am fascinated with the subject. Never in my career have I made a film keeping awards in mind, though a lot of them came my way,” he said. Vishwanath was a technician in the film industry before he learnt the nuances of film-making and directed his first film `Aatma Gouravam' in 1965 with Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the lead. The film also won the best feature film Nandi award of the AP government.
Asked if he would single out any film as his favourite or best, Vishwanath said, “A mother has no favourite children. She loves everyone equally, no matter how many children she has. I have put my soul into every film I made. No creative artiste will ever single out any of his films as the best,” Viswanath said in reply to a question. Asked if he was planning to make any more films, the veteran director replied: “Some people assume that I do not have producers and that I do not have a subject in mind. I do not intend to direct any more films because I want to relax a bit now. Of course, somewhere inside of me, there definitely is an urge.”
Kasinadhuni Viswanath, will be conferred 48th Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2016. By the Government of India for his `outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema'. The award consisting of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of `10 lakh and a shawl will be presented to him by the President at a function on May 3 at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi.