K. Viswanath

Kasinathuni Vishwanath (born 19 February 1930; better known as K. Vishwanath) is an Indian audiographer turned director, screenwriter, and character actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and also notable films in Tamil and Hindi cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, six state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South, and a Bollywood Filmfare Award. In a film career spanning sixty years, Viswanath has directed fifty three feature films in a variety of genres, including films based on performing arts, visual arts, and aesthetics. Kasinathuni has received international recognition for his works, and is known for blending parallel cinema with mainstream commercial cinema. Kasinathuni was honored with the "Prize of the Public" at the "Besancon Film Festival of France" in the year 1981. His directorial works which are produced by Poornodaya Movie Creations were dubbed into Russian language and theatrically released in Moscow. In 1992, he received the Andhra Pradesh state Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, and the civilian honor Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of arts. He was awarded the 2017 Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema, at the 64th National Film Awards.