My biggest mistake was letting go of doing MS Subbulakshmi biopic with Viswanath sir: Radikaa Sarathkumar

The doyen of Telugu cinema, Kala Tapasvi K Viswanath, died on Friday, leaving a vacuum in the field of art and filmmaking.

Born on February 19, 1932, he had a thriving career spanning across six decades during which he helmed 53 films. K Viswanath was an erstwhile associate of Adurthi Subba Rao, one of the auteurs of Telugu cinema.

While the film industry mourned on Viswanath’s death, speaking to Cinema Express, actor Radikaa Sarathkumar, who collaborated with the director in iconic films like Swathi Muthyam (1986), and Swathi Kiranam (1992), recollected, “He was one of the path-breaking directors and made some iconic movies. When everybody was making different movies, he believed in what he was making and stuck to his beliefs. He delivered some fabulous movies.”

Calling the late director a “child at heart and fun-loving”, Radikaa said that his working style brings the best out of the artists. “Viswanath sir believed what he did. I always say that he was calm in the storm,” she added.

Radikaa also revealed how Viswanath wanted her to headline the biopic of MS Subbulakshmi, alongside Mohanlal and Prakash Raj.

“I think for one year we discussed about it and got the production going. But at the last moment, I don’t know what got into me and I said that I was not confident to do this. After that, he felt sick and he couldn’t do the project. When I met him a few months ago in Hyderabad, he was recalling about the film and was willing to direct it, and asked me to turn up for shooting (laughs). I said him, ‘I have become older sir, why do you want me now?’ He still believed that I could do that role. I think that was the biggest mistake I did, by not doing that film,” said Radikaa.