An Interesting Note On Viswanath’s Khaki Pants

Some directors have this habit of wearing a cap on the sets of their films indicating that they are the captain of the ship and Dasari Narayana Rao is an example. Some directors like EVV Satyanarayana slip a towel on their shoulder, while a few like Kodi Ramakrishna puts on a headband. And then comes the late legendary K Viswanath who slips into a Khaki dress on his sets. Here’s why he has done that.

Probably Viswanath is the first Indian director to give a uniform to the whole of his crew on the sets of his films. He slipped into a Khaki dress for his first film itself, while his art crew and lightmen used to wear Khaki shirt and knickers. Talking about the same, he has earlier revealed, “Everyone on the film set wants to grab that director’s chair one day. I used to work as a sound-recordist before grabbing an offer as a director. Now that I’ve gotten the chance, I might turn arrogant and proud, and to not let that happen I’ve slipped myself into this Khaki uniform”.

K Viswanath used to joke a lot about his Khaki uniform as he stated to multiple journalists that he got the dress as a backup to work like a taxi driver if his first film fails. Throughout his career, while carving out many classics, he appeared only in a Khaki uniform only. After starting as a sound recordist, he turned assistant director with Paathala Bhairavi in 1951 and directed his debut film Aatma Gowravam in 1965 where he introduced his Khaki avatar to the world.

Born in 1930, the legendary director breathed his last other day.