C. S. Radhadevi is a playback singer, dubbing artist, radio artist and actor from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India. Radhadevi has been in the field of

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

radio broadcasting for seven decades. She has sung in over thirty films in a span of 30 years. She has received many awards including

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship is an honour presented by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Depa ...

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award is an award given by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultur ...

, Gurupooja Award by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi,

Kerala Film Critics Award The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were instit ...

and the Kerala State Film Award for her ''Outstanding Contribution to Malayalam Cinema''.

Biography

C. S. Radhadevi was born in 1931, in

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

, the daughter of Sivasankara Pillai and Chellamma. From a young age she was interested in dance and music. Radhadevi's first gurus were Vaikom Mani Iyer and Iraniyal Thankappan. She learned

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the Dravidian languages, South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an ...

from Ramanatha Bhagavathar of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. She later studied music at the Thycaud Music Academy for one year.

Personal life

Radhadevi and her husband N. Narayanan Nair, who was a University Assistant Registrar, have one son N. Nandagopan. She is currently staying at Malikappurakkal house on Uppalam Road, Pulimoottil,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Career

Radhadevi started acting at the age of 13 in a play by

T. N. Gopinathan Nair T. N. Gopinathan Nair (24 April 1918 – 24 May 1999), was an Indian dramatist, novelist, poet, screenwriter and biographer of Malayalam language. One of the prolific among Malayalam playwrights, Nair published 39 plays, besides his four novels ...

. Her father Sivasankara Pillai initially opposed her acting. In 1944, she acted as a child actress in the films ''Yachakamohini'' and ''Ambikapathy'' (Tamil). She also acted and danced in ''Yachakamohini''. In 1948, she acted as the second heroine in the film ''Stree'' starring

Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair (16 October 191611 March 1997) was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri from t ...

. Later she played the lead role in the play ''Ballatha Pahayan'' directed by actor Bahadur. Radhadevi has been active in the field of playback singing since the early days of Malayalam cinema. Thirunayinarkurichi Madhavan Nair brought Radhadevi to playback singing. She first sang with

Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as a c ...

' father Augustine Joseph in a song by

Dakshinamurthy Dakshinamurthy () is an aspect of the Hindu god Shiva as a guru (teacher) of all types of knowledge. This aspect of Shiva, as the original guru, is his personification as the supreme or the ultimate awareness, understanding and knowledge. Thi ...

in the 1950 film ''Nallathanka''. She has sung in over thirty films in a span of 30 years. Radhadevi has been in the field of Malayalam radio broadcasting for seven decades. She started conducting musical programs in the Travancore radio station in 1942 and joined

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

in 1950 as an artist. While working in All India Radio, Radhadevi has entered the dubbing industry and has lent her voice in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. As a dubbing artist, she first voiced for a child actress in the film ''Vanamala'' (1951) directed by G. Viswanath. Her first dubbing for a heroine was in the film ''Jnanasundari'' (1961).

Awards and honours

In 1983, Radhamani received the

. In 2018, she was honoured with the

. She also received many other awards including Gurupooja Award by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi,

, the Tagore Jayanti Award, the Kerala State Film Award for Outstanding Contribution to Malayalam Cinema, the Natyagriham Award, TR Sukumaran Nair Memorial Award, Swathithirunal Sangeethasabha Award, Swaram Award, Bharathiyakalapeedam Sangeeta Samgama Puraskaram and the All India Radio Award for service of 60 Years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radhadevi, C. S. 1931 births Living people Singers from Kerala 20th-century Indian singers Indian women playback singers Kerala State Film Award winners Malayalam playback singers Singers from Thiruvananthapuram Film musicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Kerala Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award