In the passing away of Sri K Vishwanath, India has lost one of its finest directors.
There are many, especially young Indians who might not have heard his name or enjoyed the delights that he served on the screen. They might be wondering what this hullabaloo is all about.
Therein lies both the tragedy and the man’s greatness.
Self effacement is an amorphous concept. It is when a person attains professional Nirvana- a stage when the person lets the work talk without resorting to personal aggrandisement. PV Narasimha Rao is an example. He led the country during the toughest phase - economically ( our foreign exchange cover had shrunk to a few weeks ) and politically ( the Babri Masjid episode). But amidst this turmoil, he rolled out the most powerful irreversible reforms that sowed the seeds of the new India. But you don’t see a stamp, a scheme, a program, a stadium named after him.
K Vishwanath was like that. If you ask Telugus to list the top 10 movies of all time, in all probability, his movies would occupy at least 5 slots, such is the body of work he created. For a few decades, every movie he made became a cult hit in Telugu and the other southern languages.
What made his movies special were that they demonstrated “within the box” and “out of the box thinking” simultaneously - like the protagonists were not larger than life heroes but there was something heroic about them, like the movies being steeped in tradition but challenging archaic practices like untouchability, casteism, misogyny.
Dichotomous direction, if not done well can be jarring, but in Vishwanath’s case, it strengthened the narrative with nuanced subtlety.
Sankarabharanam ( Sur Sangam in Hindi ) would count as one of India’s greatest movies. In a span of three hours it takes us on a journey of the rise, fall and revival of Indian classical music. And, the revival is brought about by a single mother bringing up an illegitimate(as perceived then) child.
Sagara Sangamam is a celebration of dance, music and love. A man’s unrequited love for a married woman. It would not be a hyperbole to say that Kamal Hassan’s unbridled joy in dancing would have propelled many parents to push their children to learn classical dance.
Swati Mutyam ( Eeshwar in Hindi) is about an innocent autistic person who marries a widow.
And Siri Vennela (enriched by the flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasiya) entwines love for music and dance as it envelopes a person who can’t see and a person who can’t speak.
A book, a painting, a match or a movie is called a classic when it’s relevance and majesty has timelessness.
Many artists would feel that they have lived a great life delivering just one classic. What do you call someone who belts out classics, yet remains humble and true to his art? A Tapasvi?
The Sanskrit/ Telugu word Tapasvi means an ascetic or a meditator. K Vishwanath is fondly and with reverence called a Kala Tapasvi - an art ascetic. He embellished the title as much as the title embellished him. A Tapasvi is the epitome of self effacement.
Alas, his classics were made in the pre OTT era, where language was still a barrier to the flow of creativity across borders. Much like Kantara, many of his movies would have been raging hits if made today.
And, I have one personal regret. Sri K Vishwanath happened to be the father of my senior in XLRI, where I studied. He visited his son once.
I wanted to meet him, tell him how big a fan I was and felicitate him. Unfortunately, my reserved nature over powered my intent and the chance just went by.
If only I had met him, I would have had so many more memories to share.
Sri K Vishwanath lived a full life and leaves behind a rich, unmatchable legacy. He remains eternally in hearts of movie lovers.
