Renowned director and Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Kasinadhuni Viswanath passed away late on Thursday at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He was 92. The five-time national award winner was suffering from age-related diseases.

Many Bollywood and Tollywood celebrities paid tributes to the filmmaker. Aggrieved fans of the legendary film personality are trending hashtags in the name of the departed soul on social media.

`RRR` director SS Rajamouli wrote on his Twitter handle: “Your signature on Telugu Cinema &art in general will shine brightly forever (rest was written in a regional language).”

https://twitter.com/ssrajamouli/status/1621338458848628736?ref

Extending his condolences for the bereaved family of the late filmmaker, Jr NTR and wrote: “Vishwanath holds a high place among those who spread the fame of Telugu cinema across the continents. He gave many incredible films like Shankarabharan and Sagara Sangam. The loss without him is never-ending. My deepest condolences to his family and may his soul rest in peace.”

Sharing pictures of himself with late director K Viswanath, Anil Kapoor wrote, “K. Vishwanath Ji you taught me so much, being on set with you during Eeshwar was like being in a temple… RIP My Guru.”

https://twitter.com/AnilKapoor/status/1621258508581863424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Viswanath began as an audiographer. His filmmaking career started under the director Adurthi Subba Rao after a brief stint as a sound engineer, and he later went on to work as an assistant director for the Telugu film Pathala Bhairavi in 1951. With the 1965 movie Aatma Gowravam, Viswanath made his directorial debut and went on to win the state Nandi award.

Following it, the director released `Chelleli Kapuram`, `O Seeta Katha`, `Jeevana Jyoti`, and `Sarada`. In addition to performing in major films, Viswanath directed some of them, including `Swarabhishekam`, `Pandurangadu`, `Narasimha Naidu`, `Lakshmi Narasimha` and `Seemasimham`, `Kuruthipunal`, `Kakkai Siraginilae` and `Bagavathi`. Additionally, he emerged in over 20 films from the Tamil and Telugu film industries.

Viswanath also did many partnerships with Rakesh Roshan in Bollywood. He was honoured with Padma Shri honour in 1992 and the Dada Saheb Phalke in 2017. Over the course of a career spanning over four decades, he won the Filmfare awards eight times.