Photo: President's Secretariat / GODL-India (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
K. Viswanath belongs in any serious conversation about Indian auteurs, and I think he is underappreciated outside Telugu cinema. Born in Repalle in 1930, he did the rare thing of fusing parallel and mainstream filmmaking, making art that audiences actually watched. The hardware backs it up: multiple Nandi Awards, the Padma Shri, the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, and finally the Dadasaheb Phalke in 2016, India's highest film honor. What impresses me is the refusal to choose between depth and accessibility, a balance most directors never strike. He passed in 2023, but films that reconcile soul and spectacle simply do not age.
Overview
Kasinadhuni Viswanath (19 February 1930 – 2 February 2023) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist and actor who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. One of the greatest auteurs of Indian cinema, he received international recognition for his works, and is known for blending parallel cinema with mainstream cinema.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kasinathuni Viswanath
- Name (Japanese)
- カシナトゥニ・ヴィシュワナート
- Reading
- かしなとぅに・ゔぃしゅわなーと
- Born
- February 19, 1930 – February 2, 2023
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Horse
- Origin
- Repalle, Guntur district, India
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / actor / screenwriter / television actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1981 Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer
- 1974 Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu
- 1992 Raghupathi Venkaiah Award
- 1992 Padma Shri in arts
- 2016 Dadasaheb Phalke Award
- 1986 Nandi Award for Best Director
- 1987 Nandi Award for Best Director
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Actor — see all → · More people from India →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.