K. Vishwanath, A Telugu Legendary Director Options

[swarapriya]

K. Vishwanath - A Telugu Legendary Director

Vishwanath is a distinguished director of Telugu film industry who also made himself name with several good Hindi movies. For a long time, he was an assistant to the Telugu film director Adurti Subba Rao (director of “Doli” starring Rajesh Khanna). He got a major break with Annapurna Studio’s home production in 1965 as a director for the film “Aatma Gowravam”. Even though the movie was not a money spinner, it didn’t loose its investments.

From that time onwards Vishwanath started making movies on a regular basis, some of them big hits. But not until 1980’s his full potential was realized. This started with “Shankarabharanam” which dealt with disappearing classical music of India. This movie fetched him President’s Gold Medal as the best picture for that year. In 1985 he made “Saptapadi” which dealt with intercast marriage issues. He also made “Swati Mutyam” the same year that dealt with an adult with a child’s mind and how he deals with struggles in his life. He made a movie in 1986, “Sirivennela”, that dealt with a deaf woman’s relationship with a blind man. The film “Swayam Krishi” made in 1987 dealt with issues related to work attitudes. He continued to make other fine movies through rest of the 80’s and into 90’s. Currently he only makes movies occasionally. Instead he has diverted his efforts into acting.

Some of Vishwanath’s Hindi movies include “Sargam”, “Kaam Chor”, and “Eeshwar”. Altogether he directed 55 movies. Of these 44 were in Telugu, one was in Tamil, and ten were in Hindi. In 1985 alone, he made three Hindi movies and two Telugu movies! His complete filmography as a director is shown below (H is for Hindi and T is for Tamil in the table).

Most of the albums from the period when Vishwanath found his groove and hit the stride are currently available in the marketplace in one form or another. It is the early albums that everyone has problems procuring them. Recently a friend of mine gave several albums including now “never to be found again” LPs that cover some of this early work. I will try to share as much of this music as possible through this thread provided there is enough interest.

Because of the popularity it has gained, and being considered to be a landmark achievement in Telugu cinema history, I will start with uploading songs of “Shankarabharanam” first.

[swarapriya]

Kaalam Maarindi (1972)

This movie, apparently based on a real life story, borrowed heavily from Bimal Roy's "Sujata". Both movies have almost a similar storyline and some characters in the Telugu version are identical to those in the Hindi (for example, Geetanjali's portion in Telugu is same as that of Shashikala's portion in Hindi).

However, this was a landmark movie in one sense. This was 100th film for which the incomparable Saluri Rajeshwara Rao composed music. Rao Gaaru enjoyed a brilliant career. A child prodigy, he recorded "Bhagawadgita" when he was still in teens. Impressed by his voice, he was given an opportunity to star in a movie called "Sri Krishna Leelalu (1935)". He played the title role of Lord Krishna in the movie. The movie was a hit. It was followed by several other Telugu movies like "Maya Bazar (1936)" and "Keechaka Vadha (1937)".

During those years the movie making facilities were very scarce in Madras. So the producers decided to make "Keechaka Vadha" in Calcutta where the movie industry was in full swing and thriving. Young Rao had an opportunity to meet and work with several great stalwarts of Indian cinema like K.L. Saigal. He also took the opportunity to hone his skills in playing several musical instruments. When he returned to Madras next year, he was already adept in playing dholak, electric guitar, harmonium, mandolin, mridangam, and tabla. He also learned to mix music and conduct orchestra.

With this background he decided to form his own music troupe. He acted, composed music, and sang in several Tamil and Telugu movies. During this time he signed a long time contract to compose music for Gemini Pictures. One of the ladmark movies he composed was "Chandralekha" that was made in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi and became a super hit. Rao gained instant recognition nationwide.

After his contract with Gemini expired he basically concentrated in providing music for Telugu films. Some of these include "Malleeshwari", "Missamma", "Vipra Narayana", just to name a few.

In this move, to commemorate his 100th film, Rao also sang a song "Maara Ledu Le Ee Kaalam". The music for this movie became super hit. I am uploading all the songs except a small verse by Ghantasala. This is shown in red italics in the table below.

Now for the songs of Rajeshwara Rao's landmark album ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jul 4 2009, 04:23 AM