Writer Kasi Viswanath passes away

Visakhapatnam: Telugu dialogue writer and actor Chilutoki Kasi Viswanath passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at Khammam while he was coming from Secunderabad to Vizag in the LTT Express.
He reportedly suffered a heart attack when the train reached the Khammam station. The 69-year-old writer was immediately taken to the government hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.Viswanath is survived by wife, daughter and two sons.
According to sources, passengers in his coach noticed that he suffered a cardiac arrest and informed the railway police at Khammam, who shifted him to the hospital. The railway cops informed his younger son about the incident and handed over the body to him.
Viswanath was born and brought up in Vizag. The BA graduate had joined the Visakhapatnam Port Trust in 1966 as a clerk. While doing the job, he was also involved in sports and stage performances. He was a national weightlifter and won university championships three times.
Viswanath had attracted the Telugu audience with his famous dialogue in Patnam Vacchina Pativratalu in which late Nutan Prasad says 'Desam Chaalaa Klisha Paristitiloo Vundi...' (country is in deep trouble...). He was awarded the Sahitya Academy award in 1980. He also got Nandi awards for his plays 'Kala Sagar' 'Manavatvaniki Maro Konam' and 'Trend Marindi'. He won many awards and rewards for his writings.
He started his writing career in 1968. He has written 122 stories, 28 novels and 43 dramas. He has also acted in 37 movies. He started his career as a dialogue writer in 1980 with 'Ramayanamloo Pidakala Veta'. His mentor was actor Rao Gopala Rao. His association with the cine industry was of almost 25 years and he had written successful stories as well as acted with Chiranjeevi, Sobhan Babu, Krishna, Rajendra Prasad, Savitri, Anjali, Shavukar Janaki, Sridevi and Jayaprada. He had 20 hundred days movies to his credit in the Telugu film industry.
Viswanath was famous for writing film stories and dialogues. He was also a stage artiste and director. His famous movies as writer are Chiranjeevi's Magamaharaju and Patnam Vacchina Pativratalu. He had worked as writer for almost 120 movies under famous directors like Dasari Narayana Rao, Relangi Narasimha Rao, Raja Chandra, and Vijaya Bapineedu.