Telugu actor-director Kasinadhuni Viswanath wins prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2016
Filmmaker Kasinadhuni Viswanath honoured with the 48th Dadasaheb Phalke award
Veteran director and actor Kasinadhuni Viswanath was nominated for and won the Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2016, India’s highest award in the film industry. The accolade will be conferred upon him by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on May 3, 2017.
Kasinadhuni Viswanath, the sound designer turned actor and director, celebrated for his notable contributions to Indian cinema, specifically in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi cinema, has been nominated as the awardee for the Dadasaheb Phalke award 2016. The award, considered to be the highest recognition for national lifetime achievement in Indian cinema, is being bestowed on him for his outstanding contribution to the film industry.
This will make him the 48th recipient of the award, which consists of a Swarna Kamal (golden lotus) medal, cash prize worth INR 1 million (around EUR 14,300) and a shawl. President Pranab Mukherjee will confer the award upon him at a ceremony on May 3 at Vigyan Bhawan, the premier convention centre of Government of India in New Delhi.
Viswanath began his career as a technician in a studio at Chennai before debuting as a director with the film Aatma Gowravam in 1965. He is known for plotting his films around social concepts and amongst around the 50 films he made since 1965, Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Swati Mutyam, Saptapadi, Kaamchor, Sanjog and Jaag Utha Insaan, are the most acclaimed.
The 87-year-old is also a recipient of five National Film Awards, Padma Shri (1992) and 20 Nandi awards. Nandi (bull) award is the highest award presented for Telugu cinema, theatre and television, by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
His film Swati Mutyam was India’s official entry to the 59th Academy Awards for the best foreign language film category, however, it was not nominated for the award.
“It is difficult to express (my feelings) in words. It is a routine to say I am very happy. What I felt was, it has proved that whatever we do with commitment and discipline — whether it is making a film or anything else — will have its worth. I am really grateful to my producers because they never objected any aspect of my work. They never wanted alternatives to what I was doing and never said you are doing something that a layman would not understand,” Kasinadhuni Viswanath told the Indian media while reacting to the announcement.
