Kasinadhuni Viswanath (92), who has directed over 50 feature films during his illustrious career, had a special attachment towards the city of Visakhapatnam and was in love with it.
Viswanath who breathed his last late on Thursday night in Hyderabad, had a special affection for the City of Destiny. Though he had shot most of the films in the rural setting of East and West Godavari districts, he was fascinated with beaches of Viskhapatnam and had a special love for the Ramakrishna Beach.
He had featured the city in two of his films Swarnakamalam and Sagara Sangamam.
“Whenever, ‘Viswanath sir’ visited the city he would tell that this city was blessed with the aesthetic beauty of the beaches and the hills,” reminisced M.V. Raghu, cinematographer, who worked as director of photography for two of his films Sirivennela and Swathi Muthyam.
Everybody knew that Viswanath was a perfectionist and a filmmaker ‘Par excellence’, but he was also very particular about how the city should be pronounced. Whenever, we would refer to the city as Vizag, he would correct us by saying ‘The city has got such a beautiful name ‘Visakhapatnam’ at least call it ‘Visakha’, ‘Vizag’ does not sound good, added Mr. Raghu.
Acquiescing with Mr. Raghu, trustee of Visakha Music and Dance Academy G.R.K.Prasad (Rambabu) said, “Viswanath would have come to Kalabharathi auditorium at least over 10 times in the last couple of decades and he never missed praising the city and its people. He would say that the people of this city are as beautiful and calm as the beautiful beaches. He would hold lengthy discussions on classical music with Nedunuri Krishnamurthy.”
Music and dance are the two eyes of Indian culture and were also for Mr. Viswanath.
“He was the master of all the 24 crafts of filmmaking right from direction to cinematography and from light technician to sound engineering. Though all his films focussed on some social message, the hallmark of his films were songs, lyrics, music and dance, be they Sirivennela, Sankarabharanam, Swathi Muthyam or Sagara Sangamam,” said Bobby Vardhan, former professor of Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Andhra University.
A self-critic
A self critic, Mr. Viswanath, had once said to this scribe in an interview that among all his films ‘Sirivennela’ was the most challenging project.
“It was really challenging for me to come out with a script where the hero was blind and the heroine was dumb. How do they communicate and how can I weave a story around them was a challenge for me. I had to change the script many times,” he said.
He also had said that he had the knack of picking scripts or stories from day-to-day life and weaved a story around them. “I do not believe in ‘Formulae films’ but it is the era now, he had said.
End of an era
While all from the film industry, his fans and the people of Andhra Pradesh and rest of India, mourn his passing away and say that a void has been created, filmmaker Sunil Kumar Reddy, who created Sontha Ooru, shares a unique experience with the doyen.
“When I was making Sontha Ooru in Visakhapatnam, I approached him for casting him in a role in the film. He liked the script, made a few changes, but politely refused, as in the film his character was scripted to die.”
I still remember is words Quote: “Everyone has to go one day, but I do not want to die on the screen. I liked your script and my character and it would not be fair on my part to change a director’s script, and more importantly the script demands such an ending. Probably in your next film, we will see.”- Unquote. These words still haunt me and today he is no more and it is the end of an era ‘The era of Viswanath’.
The ultimate irony
Sankarabharanam, was the film that propelled Mr. Viswanath to the international arena of filmmaking. It was also one of his most favourite films and was very close to his heart. The film was released on February 2, 1980, and he passed away exactly on the same day 43 years later (February 2, 2023).
This was also probably the only film that played for 100 days in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, in Telugu language, without dubbing.
