Scriptwriter Kona Venkat, who is the presenter of Nikhil Siddharth's "Shankarabharanam", felicitated legendary director K Viswanath at the audio launch of the movie in Hyderabad on 31 October.

In 1979, K Viswanath had written and directed a musical drama film titled "Sankarabharanam", which went on to become one of the 100 greatest Indian films of all time. The movie won four National Film Awards and five state Nandi Awards. It was premiered at several international film festivals in India, Tashkent, Moscow and France.

Kona Venkat has now penned a script with the same title, but the latest "Shankarabaranam" is not a remake of K Vishwanth's film. It is an action-crime-comedy film, which marks the debut of Uday Nandanavanam as director. Kona Venkat paid tribute to Vishwanth by honouring him with a garland and shawl at the music release of the movie.

Later, K Vishwanth also posed with a gun and released a song of "Shankarabaranam". Addressing after the audio launch, the legendary director praised Kona Venkat for his scriptwriting. He also lauded the musician and cinematographers for their wonderful work in the movie. "The songs are rhythmic and there is lot of energy in them," he said.

Nikhil Siddhartha was all thrilled to get the blessings of K Vishwanth at the audio launch of "Shankarabaranam". On his Twitter handle, the actor posted a photo featuring him with the director and wrote, "The Legend is here... ShankaraBharanam was a classic.. Blessed he is here 2 giv us his blessings... Amazing feeling."

Kona Venkat, who has penned the script for "Shankarabaranam", has taken inspiration from the Hindi movie "Phas Gaye Re Obama". On 30 October, he tweeted, "The original idea of Shankarabharanam is taken from "Phas gaya re obama" & woven our story around it.We have taken rights for entire south!!"

Later, Nikhil Siddhartha tweeted, "Even though only the core Point of 'Phas Gaya Re Obama' has been used for ShankaraBharanam. We have bought the entire South Rights officially. I think it's very ethical and giving a lot of respect to the creative Talent when we buy the rights officially. Kudos to @konavenkat99 sir."

Click this video to watch Sankarabharanam audio launch: