by Murali Chari

It's an unfortunate thing the current generation knows K.Vishwanath only as a character actor. It might be difficult for them to fathom, that there was a time, before the advent of cable TV, when people would look forward to his movies with an excitement that can only be matched with the buzz that preceded the release of a superstar's movie.

With the arrival of cable TV, came the desertion of movie halls by the middle-class, the staple audience for his movies. I am not saying that nobody else watched them. Quite a few of his movies had a universal appeal, which enthralled a rickshaw-puller as much as a priest. (This example is only to describe the range of his audience, and doesn't imply in any way that a rickshaw-wallah is inferior to a priest. Apparently the rickshaw-wallah in question had a taste good enough to watch such sophisticated movies. How can he be inferior? )

But the fact remains, K.Vishwanath needed the presence of the middle-class viewers at the marquee, because it's with them he struck a common chord. His movies were geared towards them since he believed the great Indian Ethos that has survived for thousands of years, could be sustained only by having a middle-class that understands its significance and respects it. And he chose Classical Arts as the main theme in his movies to spread this message.

The reason he did this was perhaps his unshaking belief in the power of Classical Arts to appeal to one and all. Presented in the right manner, they could touch a viewer's soul, in a way, movies with other themes could not. And he succeeded for more than a decade during the period from 1980 (when Sankaraabharanam was released) to 1991 (when Swaran Kamalam, his last authentic hit was made).

Vishwanath made successful and good movies before 1980 too. But Sankarabharanam was his magnum opus. Swimming against the tide of the popular masala movies that were being made left, right and center, Sankarabharanam shook the box-office with a relatively unknown cast, proving that a good story along with a better direction are the most important ingredients of a successful movie. (Even average actors can be made to perform well under the aegis of a great director.)

He didn't compromise on his self-imposed standards ever. (He might have made some bad movies later in his career, but the standards never went down.) Everything was pleasantly different in his movies. The people who played various instruments in the movie, were renowned musicians in real life too. All the actors in his movies spoke good Telugu, minding their p's and q's. Big heroes let their image take a second seat as he tried to fit them in his type of movies, sometimes unsuccessfully. All in all, he imposed his vision on the audiences, not the other way round. (He had the guts to take Manju Barghavi, a vamp in demand then, as the heroine in Sankarabharanam, and pull it off.)

K. Vishwanath created some scenes that will be remembered as long as Telugu movies are around. I, personally believe, Sankarabharanam, Sapta Padi, Saagara Sangamam and Swati Kiranam are his finest. A scene from each of these movies holds a mirror to his genius.

1. Sankarabharanam
Allu Ramalingaiah explains to the audience who come to attend Sankara Sastry's last concert. (played by J.V. Somayajulu), about his uncompromsing nature. "He stuck to what he believed is right. He worshipped the classical music that is dear to his heart, whether the audiences were either polished human beings listening to him in a grand auditorium or just mosquitoes and ants at his old house." With this one sentence the character of the Hero is established in a way a thousand "fight scenes" cannot.

2. Sapta Padi
J.V. Somayajulu again plays the central character in this movie too. His grand-daughter is in love with a man belonging to a scheduled caste, but gets married to her first cousin owing to the circumstances. When the groom and the bride are left in a room to consummate their married life, the husband sees his wife as a Goddess who can be only respected as such. The idea here is, the husband intuitively knows that her heart doesn't belong to him. She is a para stree and hence equivalent to a Goddess. Unbelievably, this scene has been pulled off with the greatest elan. I cannot remember a single Telugu movie which had an audacious scene as this. All viewers might not have liked the idea, but it speaks volumes about the courage of the director, who was not afraid how the audience would react to such a notion.

3. Saagara Sangamam
Kamal Hasan, the Hero gets a job as an assistant to a dance director who works for the film industry. There is a scene that exposes the dark underbelly of the movie industry in such a way, it shocks you even today. The dance director enlightens Kamal Hasan how to dance "the right way," with all the gyrations and pelvic movements thrown in. When Kamal Hasan protests, the dance director dismisses him saying, "Who cares how a certain character is supposed to act? We are here to make commercially successful movies and we will make them whatever it takes, however obscene they might turn out to be." Eerily, the current situation with Telugu movies is exactly that.

4. Swati Kiranam
Gangadharam (played by Manjuanth), the child prodigy, performs in front of Narayana Sharma (essayed by Mammootty) during his felicitation. Though Narayana Sharma is Gangadharam's inspiration, without knowing, Gangadharam had already surpassed him. But, this is when Mammootty finds out that Manjunath is really superior to him though he is so young. Mammootty expressed the feelings of both admiration and dark jealousy at the same time fantastically. The movie flopped because of the sad climax, but K.Vishwanath was in his elements throught this movie.

These are, but a sample. There are many more. Vishwanath has already left a rich legacy behind, irrespective of whether he is going to make more movies in future or not. It's a legacy every serious Telugu movie viewer should be proud of.

Quite a few directors have come from his school of thought. Jandhyala, S.V. Krishna Reddy and a few other famous directors are his self-professed fans. And they all made their own mark. Though they might have different sources of inspiration, today, we have promising directors like Yeleti Chandra Sekhar, Neelakanta and Sekhar Kammula, generating some hope that all is not lost yet.

But as the Telugu Movie Industry falls from one depth to another, it would be a miracle if any of them can do what K.Vishwanath did in the Eighties to Telugu movies: Make them respectable again in the eyes of an international audience. In that aspect, he is truly Oke Okkadu.

Other articles by Murari Chari:
• Blame it on British
• Now it's Bangladesh's turn
• Is India a Super Power?
• Chiranjeevi - seeing is believing