Viswanath was in love with Visakhapatnam and its beaches
The Hindu
The illustrious filmmaker was not happy when we call the city as Vizag and said it should at least be called as Visakha, says cinematographer Raghu
Kasinadhuni Viswanath (92), who has directed over 50 feature films during his illustrious career, had a special attachment towards the city of Visakhapatnam and was in love with it.
Viswanath who breathed his last late on Thursday night in Hyderabad, had a special affection for the City of Destiny. Though he had shot most of the films in the rural setting of East and West Godavari districts, he was fascinated with beaches of Viskhapatnam and had a special love for the Ramakrishna Beach.
He had featured the city in two of his films Swarnakamalam and Sagara Sangamam.
“Whenever, ‘Viswanath sir’ visited the city he would tell that this city was blessed with the aesthetic beauty of the beaches and the hills,” reminisced M.V. Raghu, cinematographer, who worked as director of photography for two of his films Sirivennela and Swathi Muthyam.
Everybody knew that Viswanath was a perfectionist and a filmmaker ‘Par excellence’, but he was also very particular about how the city should be pronounced. Whenever, we would refer to the city as Vizag, he would correct us by saying ‘The city has got such a beautiful name ‘Visakhapatnam’ at least call it ‘Visakha’, ‘Vizag’ does not sound good, added Mr. Raghu.
Acquiescing with Mr. Raghu, trustee of Visakha Music and Dance Academy G.R.K.Prasad (Rambabu) said, “Viswanath would have come to Kalabharathi auditorium at least over 10 times in the last couple of decades and he never missed praising the city and its people. He would say that the people of this city are as beautiful and calm as the beautiful beaches. He would hold lengthy discussions on classical music with Nedunuri Krishnamurthy.”
Music and dance are the two eyes of Indian culture and were also for Mr. Viswanath.