"He could shoot a scene from one angle and shoot another by changing just the calendar to give an impression to the audience that the sequences were filmed in different places and people could hardly notice it," Upendra, a protégé of Kashinath, once hailed his guru over his command on the craft.
Besides praising Kashinath as a "screenplay expert," the Real Star had said that the veteran filmmaker had an eye for spotting talents and it is not surprising to see many celebs that include Sunil Kumar Desai came out of his school.
Kashinath, who was part of more than 40 movies, was the change that the movie buffs were looking out for films in the 80s. When the industry was flooded with regular commercial entertainers, he came up with a new brand of films – adult comedy. The conservative society did not accept his films openly and labelled his works as "vulgar". But it hardly mattered him as his films were striking gold at the box office.
"Censor board had issues with Anubhava. Those days films were censored in Madras. I was quite shocked and decided to screen the film to a set of eminent personalities in Bengaluru. After watching the film, I heard from them in unison that this movie should have been made 20 years later," Kashinath recalled when Anubhava was re-released a few years ago.
In short, films of Kashinath were ahead of times. He neither possessed a well-built narrative body nor had mass elements, yet he knew the secret recipe to sell his films. Kashinath proved that an ordinary man too can impress the viewers with his unique talent. Although he rose in popularity with adult comedy films, he took serious themes as well and was part of many socially relevant movies, but the critics ignored them.
At a time when the producers played safe by preferring to do remakes, his films were remade in leading film industries of India. Aparichita (Be-Shaque in Hindi) Anubhava Anubhav in Hindi) and Avale Nanna Hendthi (Jawani Zindabad in Hindi) were some of his films that were remade in Bollywood.
In fact, the shades of his Love Maadi Nodu could be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Ajagajaanthara in the Hindi movie Judaai.
His good works were never discussed in the mainstream. And throughout his career, he was more or less remembered as a man who popularised nuanced jokes in Sandalwood. Even his contributions in bringing in talents in Upendra, Sunil Kumar Desai, V Manohar and many others remain largely underrated.
