Filmmaker KNT Sastry is no more!

Director K.N.T. Sastry, who was known for his artistic and realistic movies, passed away on September 13. A film critic-turned-director, Sastry started winning awards right from his debut film Tiladaanam. He served as a Jury member on many National and International Award committees and as Chairman of the Critics Jury for the National Film Awards. Many of his own films also won awards at the State, National and International level.

Sastry began his career as a film critic and later made many documentaries with the help of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). His 2001 directorial debut, Tiladaanam, based on a short story by Rentala Nageswara Rao, premiered in the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India and won the National Award for best debut film of a director. The film also won a Nandi award for the best feature film category in 2001. He later made another Telugu film titled Kamli with Nandita Das as the main lead, which went on to win awards at many levels, including a Nandi award for Das in the Best Actress category. Sastry made a few Kannada films too.

“His films are more like art and very realistic. He saw my Sindhooram and then approached me to play a naxal in Tiladaanam. The story revolves around the conflict between a father and a son belonging to a traditional Brahmin family. He explained the scene to me and asked me to act on my own, that’s how the character came to be so real,” recalls Brahmaji. Sastry also made a children’s film Shaanu screened at the last Children’s Film Festival in 2017.

HT06