Tollywood ecstatic over Viswanath getting Phalke award

Tollywood in one voice has congratulated eminent Director and actor Kasinathuni Viswanath for being conferred with prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award for the year 2016. Union government has declared the award on Monday.  The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh and a shawl will be conferred by President Pranab Mukherjee here on May 3 in the national capital

“By honouring K Viswanath the government has recognized the contribution of Telugu cinema to the fraternity of cinema makers elsewhere,” M Murali Mohan former president Movie Artists Association (MAA), an umbrella organization of Tollywood said in a statement here.  “I am indebted to all those artists and technicians who helped me to reach this stage,” an elated K Viswanath said reacting to the news.

Born in Gudivada of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, K Visawanath began his career in 1957 from movie Todukodallu as sound engineer, later he become director for Atmagouravam, an instant hit. He won five national awards and produced highly acclaimed and artistic films such as Sirisiri Muvva, Sankarabharanam, Saptapadi, Swathi Mutyam, Siri Vennela, Apadbhandavudu, Subha Lekha and Swarnakalam.  His Kamalhasan starrer Swathi Mutyam was nominated for Oscar as an entry from India. He is also a recipient of Padmasri Award.

BN Reddy (1974), P Jairaj (1980), LV Prasad (1982), B.Nagireddy (1986), Akkineni Nageswara Rao (1990) , D Rama Naidu  (2010 ) were other Telugus to receive the Phalke award.