Aruna Irani remembers late director K Viswanath

Veteran actor Aruna Irani has shared her fond memories of working with the legendary Telegu director-actor K Viswanath, who passed away late Thursday due to age-related issues.

Viswanath was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hyderabad. The five-time national award winner director was famous for his movies such as 'Sankarabharanam', 'Sagara Sangamam', 'Swathi Muthyam' and 'Swarna Kamalam' among others.

In an exclusive ANI podcast with Smita Prakash, Aruna said, "I loved working with Raj Kapoor, Gulzar Saab. There's one more director, who has become an actor now, K. Viswanath... Unke sath Kaam kar ne ke baad raat ko nind nehi aati thi. (I can't sleep in the night after working with him). He was so creative...Wo jis tarah se scene ko act kar ke bata the na, wo act nehi karte the... (Aruna showed his acting by doing hand movements) wo kuch chhil rahe hai, kuch bana rahe ha, aur ye karte karte hume dialogue bol na tha (He used to show the hand movements and we have to deliver the dialogues, while doing that). Mein aur Rekha (actor) toh pray karte the, ke inka shift jaldi khatam ho jaye. Wo kal kaunsa aisa expression dikhayange, jo hum kar nehi payenge. Dono iss baat se rote the. (Rekha and me used to pray that his shifts get over early. He will show some expressions the next day and we won't be able to do that. Both of us used to fret about that.")

Viswanath began his career as an audiographer for Vauhini Studios in Madras. After a short stint as a sound engineer, he started his filmmaking career under filmmaker Adurthi Subba Rao. Eventually, he went on to work as an assistant director on the Telugu film 'Pathala Bhairavi' (1951).

Viswanath made his directorial debut with the 1965 film 'Aatma Gowravam', which went on to win the state Nandi award. The director got his nationwide fame with the 1980 Telugu film 'Sankarabharanam'. The film spoke about the gap between Carnatic music and Western music based on the perspective of people from two different generations.

Viswanath made his Bollywood debut with the 1979 film 'Sargam', which was a remake of his own movie 'Siri Siri Muvva'. Some of his other popular Hindi films include 'Kaamchor', 'Shubh Kaamna', 'Jaag Utha Insan', 'Sanjog', 'Eeshwar' and 'Dhanwaan'.