G.V. Iyer who was widely known as Acharya of Kannada cinema passed away

Eminent film director G.V. Iyer known as 'Acharya' of Kannada cinema passed away yesterday. He was 86. Iyer had gone to Mumbai to finalize the cast group for his new project Ramayana. He had a urinary infection and while he was in Mumbai, pain started in his stomach and was hospitalized. Around 2 p.m. in the afternoon his kidney failed and after a few hours his heart stopped functioning. His body has been brought to Bangalore this morning and kept at his residence Bharadwaj Ashrama in Kengeri. Dr. Rajkumar, Paravathamma Rajkumar, Srinath, C.V.L. Shathri, Jayanthi, Anuprabhakar, B. Sarojadevi, director Nagabharana etc went to Bharadhwaj Ashrama to offer their tribute and condolence.

Iyer, who was better known as `bare foot Brahmin', joined Gubbi Veeranna Theater when he was a kid. His first film was Radha Ramana. But he got the recognition through the film Bedara Kannappa. He was got many accolades as a producer, director, lyricist and even as a scriptwriter. A rhetorician in Kannada and Sanskrit Iyer bagged Swarna Kamala three times. Hamsa Geethe, Bhagavad Geetha and Adi Shankara these three were his Swarna Kamala award winners. Adi Shankara is the first Sanskrit movie by him. His theater presence was evident. His drama Ranadheera Kanteearava became a film during later days starring Dr. Rajkumar.

After 1980 he moved from mainstream films and by making films like Madhvacharya, Bhagavadhgeetha, Swami Vivekananda and Ramajujacharya he tied his hand in languages like Kannada, Hindi, English and Sanskrit. Iyer always wanted to make innovative films. His recent film Ramayana was one such example. Iyer was a great philosopher too. Each character in the script of Ramayana was a metaphor. In that script he compared Rama to Dhrama, Sita to science, Janaka is an explorer who discovered Sita and Ravana is the kingdom of lust. Unfortunately he could not complete his project that he loved a lot.

An era of a legendary came to an end. We at viggy.com deeply mourn the sorrowful grieve of this legendary personality.

Also see:
A new definition to Ramayana by G.V Iyer

G.V. Iyer's book on Ramayan released