K Vishwanath is the best Telugu cine director ever. Period.
All of his movies are gems. Brilliant music, screenplay and sahityam. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Sankarabharanam, Swathimuthyam & Swarna Kamalam.
The beautiful use of language, the finely tuned nuances, the emphasis on classical arts and the ethos......brilliant !
The legendary K V Mahadevan (fondly known as Mama) arguably gave his best music for KV's films. Balu, Suseela, Vani Jayaram and my favorite - S Janaki: all gave their best for KV's films. No wonder, the songs are all animuthyalu !
Vishwanath has introduced and given big breaks to the best artistes in the industry, be it Sitarama Sastry in Sirivennela or S P Balasubrahmanyam in his first ever carnatic foray in Sankarabharam.
No other director in telugu has brought about the best in his actors like KV did with Kamal Hasan in Swathimuthyam, Chiranjeevi is Swayamkrushi or Venkatesh in Swarnakamalam.
My favorite song from his films is "Raama Kanavemira" from Swathimuthyam. It recounts the seetha swayamvaram from The Ramayana. The song is a rare blend of a Harikatha, Kolatam and a Chekka bhajana and is beautifully rendered by Balu.
I have been fortunate enough to interact with him. As an interesting anecdote, he told me that K V Mahadevan made Balu practice for seven hours a day for a week for Sankarabharanam ! No wonder the movie fetched Balu a National Award for "Omkara Nadhalu" !
What many also do not know was that Dr M Balamuralikrishna was originally considered for singing the songs of Sankarabharanam. But he was adamant that he also be cast as Shankar Sastry. Vishwanath demurred and brought in Balu.
The rest as they say, is history...
The rest as they say, is history...
My photos and memories with him are among my most treasured possessions.
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