Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as well as by the ''Asia Book of Records'' for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five
National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry ...
and numerous state awards.
Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film songs
across South Indian languages.
The song "Paal Polave" from Tamil film ''
Uyarndha Manidhan
''Uyarndha Manithan'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language drama film written by Javar Seetharaman and directed by Krishnan–Panju. The film was produced by A. V. Meiyappan, M. Saravanan, M. Kumaran and M. Murugan under AVM Productions. It stars ...
'' brought her the first ever award at the
16th National Film Awards
The 16th National Film Awards, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1968. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 13 February 1970.
With 16th National Film ...
,
by winning her the
National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry ...
in 1969. Susheela became the first ever female singer in the country to win the national award. She is also considered one of the rich voiced singers whose pronunciation of the syllables are to be very clear and precise in any of the languages she sang.
In a career spanning more than six decades, she has recorded nearly 50,000 songs in various
Indian languages including
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
,
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
,
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 ...
,
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
Oriya,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
,
Tulu
Tulu may refer to:
People
*Derartu Tulu (born 1972), Ethiopian long-distance runner
*Walid Yacoubou (born 1997), Togolese footballer nicknamed "Tulu"
India
*Tulu calendar, traditional solar calendar generally used in the regions of southwest Kar ...
and
Badaga. She has also sung for
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
films. Her mother tongue is
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
. She can also speak
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
fluently, with a little
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
,
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 ...
and
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
.
Personal life
Susheela was born in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, India, as the daughter of Pulapaka Mukunda Rao, a leading advocate in Vizianagaram, Vizianagaram District, Andhra Pradesh State. She was married to Dr. Mohan Rao, who died in 1990; they have a son named Jayakrishna. Her niece, Sandhya Jayakrishna, is a singer who debuted with
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
in ''
Iruvar
''Iruvar'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language epic political drama film co-written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film, inspired by the lives of M. Karunanidhi, M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa is set against the backdrop of ...
'' and she has two grand daughters.One of them is Shuba Sri and she is the lead guitarist with music director Thaman S.
Education
After completion of schooling, Susheela joined in Maharaja's Music College under the tutelage of
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu
Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu (8 November 1893 – 25 November 1964) was one of the most important carnatic music violinists of the 20th century. Naidu was partially blind. He played at the National Physical Laboratory auditorium, New Delhi in 1952 ...
who was the Principal, Vizianagaram, and completed Diploma in Music from Andhra University in First Class at a very early age.
P. Susheela went on to become the most successful playback singer of South India from 1950 to 1990.
Career
Debut : 1950–1954
Born into a music-loving family, Susheela had been nurtured with formal classical music training at a very young age. She used to participate in all the musical competitions at her school and Vizianagaram town events. She developed the crucial nuances in singing songs with apt expressions and modulations through her extensive training during those days. She also sang few songs for the
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 ...
(AIR) for their private program telecasts.
In 1950, music director
Pendyala Nageswara Rao
Pendyala Nageswara Rao (6 March 1917 – 31 August 1984), known mononymously by his surname Pendyala, was an Indian composer, multi-instrumentalist, conductor, music producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema along with Tami ...
was on the look out for some fresh voices to sing for his new film compositions. He approached the AIR to help him shortlist some of the finest singers who have performed for the Radio. AIR sent forward five singers of whom Susheela was selected after some thorough audition tests. She was immediately signed on for the Tamil film ''Petra Thai'' (1952) for a duet song "Edhuku Azhaithhai" with
A. M. Raja.
This was subsequently made in Telugu as ''
Kanna Talli
''Kanna Talli'' () is a 1953 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced and directed by K. S. Prakash Rao under the Prakash Studios banner. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, G. Varalakshmi with music composed by Pendyala Nageshwara Rao. The ...
'' for which she recorded the same duet with
Ghantasala. This resulted in her long term employment with
AVM Studios
AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...
singing for their productions alone with a fixed monthly salary. The studio owner
A. V. Meiyappan hired a Tamil trainer for Susheela to hone her Tamil pronunciation skills. Thus Susheela began her illustrious career gaining abundant knowledge about music and language. She debuted into Kannada language with the film ''Maadidunno Maaraya'' in 1954.
Breakthrough : 1955 – 1960
It was not easy for a newcomer to foray into the musical scene in the 1950s with the domination of eminent female vocalists like
P. Leela
Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...
,
M. L. Vasanthakumari
Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...
,
Jikki
Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese languag ...
among others ruling the playback industry. Yet, Susheela made her own mark with her distinct and clear vocals. The year 1955 saw Susheela raising to popularity with her back to back hit songs both in Tamil and Telugu film industries. ''
Missamma
''Missamma'' () is a 1955 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed by L. V. Prasad. It was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani on Vijaya Productions banner. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao, Savitri, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Jam ...
'' released in 1955 had hugely popular songs backed with strong carnatic classical essence. Susheela created a huge impact among the listeners with her effortless renditions of the toughest notations. The same year released Tamil film ''Kanavane Kan Kanda Deivam'' made her a household name in Tamil Nadu.
Thus began a huge legacy of Susheela, who sang in almost all the films produced since 1955 through 1960s and 1970s till 1985. The legendary Tamil musicians
Viswanathan –
Ramamurthy duo composed some of the most evergreen songs of
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
cinema history in the voice of Susheela. Her duets with the acclaimed singers
Ghantasala in Telugu,
T. M. Soundararajan
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...
in Tamil and
P. B. Srinivas
Prathivadhi Bhayankara Sreenivas (22 September 1930 – 14 April 2013) widely known as P. B. Sreenivas was an Indian playback singer, composer, harmonium player, lyricist, littérateur, and poet known for his works in South cinema, and Bollyw ...
in Kannada marked a new era of duet songs in the South Indian music industry. She, along with T. M. Soundararajan went on to record more than hundreds of songs with Viswanathan – Ramamurthy.
Susheela's blockbuster Kannada song "Viraha Nooru Nooru Taraha" for the film ''
Edakallu Guddada Mele
''Edakallu Guddada Mele'' () is a 1973 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Puttanna Kanagal. It is based on the novel of same name by Bharathi Suta which was an adaptation of the English novel ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' by D. H. Lawrence. ...
'' is listed as one of the top 10 evergreen songs in Indian cinema. Her combination with actress
Jayanthi is very popular in
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
.
Successful domination : 1960 – 1985
The early 1960s saw Susheela grow as an undisputed lead female singer across all the south Indian language films putting all the older veteran singers to the background. The year 1960 saw Susheela entering the Malayalam films with the
V. Dakshinamurthy
Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy (9 December 1919 – 2 August 2013) was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 ...
compositions for the film ''Seetha''. From then, she went on to record numerous hit songs with all the Malayalam composers like
G. Devarajan
Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...
,
M. K. Arjunan
M. K. Arjunan ( ml, എം.കെ. അർജുനൻ; 1 March 1936 – 6 April 2020) was an Indian film and theatre composer, known for his works in Cinema of Kerala, Malayalam cinema and the theatre of Kerala. He was fondly referred to as ''Ar ...
among others. She recorded many Malayalam duets with the veteran singer
K. J. Yesudas. Her association with M.S. Viswanathan continued even after M.S.V split up with Ramamoorthy in 1965 and under M.S.V her duets with T.M. Sounderrajan and others and her solo songs were too popular with audience and made her first choice singer for every other music composer and film producer from 1960 to 1985. M.S.V.'s composition fetched her the first
National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry ...
in 1969 for her prolific rendition of "Naalai Intha Velai Paarthu" for the Tamil film ''Uyarndha Manidhan''. The same song got her the
Tamil Nadu State Award as well. Thereby, Susheela became one of the first recipients of the most dignified National awards in India. It was during these years the Nightingale of India,
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...
developed a strong friendship with Susheela and praised all her works frequently. Her work in Film Chandipriya is superb with song "Sri Bhagya Rekha - Janani Janani" with Jaya Prada superb dance. M.S.Viswanathan is regarded as her mentor and in his music direction she has maximum popular hit songs from 1955 to 1995.
The 1970s also saw Susheela in her prime form winning almost all the awards both nationally and in all the four states of Southern India. She also recorded even Hindi songs during this period with music directors like KV Mahdevan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, L. Vaidyanathan and Laxmi Kiran, S.L. Manohar, Ajit merchant, G. Devarajan and S.N. Tripathi. It was in this era that she sang few notable songs for another prolific Indian music director
Ilaiyaraja
Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...
. Though Janaki took a leading position from 1980 with her strong association with M.S.V and Ilayaraja, Susheela continued to be at the top till 1985 and after 1985 was still opted by several music directors for her legendary vocals. After 1986, she became selective about film songs and continued to have hit film songs till 2005.
Shift to non-films : 1985– 2000s
With
S. Janaki
Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...
and
Vani Jayaram
Vani Jairam (born as Kalaivani on 30 November 1945), also credited as Vani Jayaram, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in South Indian cinema. Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. She has don ...
taking over the Southern film songs center stage from 1985 and
K. S. Chitra
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), always credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various In ...
beginning her career, Susheela slowly shifted her focus from films to devotionals and light music. But she continued to get to sing melodious film songs from 1984 to 1999 though she had after 1985 cut down on offers for singing in films. She even won awards for songs in Telugu films – ''Viswanatha Nayakudu'' in 1987, ''Godavari Pongindi'' in 1989 and Tamil film ''Varam'' in 1989. She sang duets with Kishore Kumar in 1986 for the film ''Singhasan'' – "Chalta Hai Do Dilon Ka Kaise Sansaar" and "Tere Liye Maine Janam" which became popular. She also concentrated more on stage shows across the Globe where many associations worldwide invited her to perform for their organised shows. She recorded more than 1000 devotional songs for various audio companies. In 1988, acclaimed music composer
Naushad
Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...
insisted her to sing "Janaki Jaane" for his Malayalam film ''
Dhwani
''Dhwani (ധ്വനി)'' (meaning sound, melody or music) is a 1988 Malayalam-language musical romance film directed by A. T. Abu. It was the last completed film of veteran actor and evergreen hero of Malayalam cinema Prem Nazir who died o ...
''. She also recorded few of her career best songs for
Illayaraja
Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...
,
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
and others in the 1990s. "Kannukku Mai Azhagu" from the film ''
Pudhiya Mugam
''Pudhiya Mugam'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by Suresh Chandra Menon. It stars Revathi, Suresh Chandra Menon, Vineeth and Kasthuri. The film featured music by A. R. Rahman.
''Pudhiya Mugam'' is an adaptation ...
'' (1993) composed by Rahman was praised all over for its lyrical content and rendition. She had hit songs in Tamil till 2005 and sang many devotional and folk songs from 1986 to 2005 and did many live shows from 1990 to 2005.
Comeback : 2005– present
Susheela made a comeback by rendering her voice to her own song ''Raksha Raksha Jaganmatha'' which was released 72 years ago and was released as a single for the movie,
Aadai
''Aadai'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written and directed by Rathna Kumar, and produced by V Studios. Pradeep Kumar composed the film's soundtrack alongside the Oorka band, who made their debut with this film. Amala Paul st ...
, starring
Amala Paul
Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. She made her acting debut by appearing in a supporting role in the Malayalam-language ...
.
Susheela also recorded a Tamil song for the film 'LKG' in 2018, alongside
Vani Jayaram
Vani Jairam (born as Kalaivani on 30 November 1945), also credited as Vani Jayaram, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in South Indian cinema. Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. She has don ...
&
L.R.Eswari. Her superhit song 'Elluvochi' from the Telugu film 'Devatha' was reprised in her own voice for the film
Gaddalakonda Ganesh
''Gaddalakonda Ganesh'' is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Harish Shankar and produced by Ram Achanta and Gopichand Achanta under the 14 Reels Plus banner. The film is an official remake of the 2014 Tamil film '' Ji ...
in 2019 under
Mickey J Meyer
Mickey J. Meyer is an Indian music composer and singer known for his works predominantly in Telugu Cinema. He has received two Filmfare Awards South, and three state Nandi Awards for the Best Music Direction. An alumnus of Trinity College of Mu ...
's supervision.
P. Susheela Trust
The P. Susheela Trust, formed in 2008, has a monthly pension payment scheme and a few musicians in need are being benefited through it. On every 13 November there would be a musical concert during which a senior artist(s) chosen by a panel is conferred with the Lifetime Achievement awards and the P Susheela Trust award. The proceedings of the concert would go towards the Trust maintenance.
The Lifetime achievement awards so far has been conferred upon
T. M. Soundararajan
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...
and
P. B. Srinivas
Prathivadhi Bhayankara Sreenivas (22 September 1930 – 14 April 2013) widely known as P. B. Sreenivas was an Indian playback singer, composer, harmonium player, lyricist, littérateur, and poet known for his works in South cinema, and Bollyw ...
. The recipients of the Trust's awards so far are
S. Janaki
Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...
,
Vani Jairam
Vani Jairam (born as Kalaivani on 30 November 1945), also credited as Vani Jayaram, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in South Indian cinema. Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. She has do ...
,
L. R. Eswari
Lourde-Mary Rajeswari, better known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi language, Hindi, Tulu language, Tulu, and English.
She wa ...
,
P. Jayachandran
Paliyath Jayachandrakuttan is an Indian playback singer and actor from Kerala. Jayachandran is best known for his captivating voice which gave him the title ''Bhava Gayakan'' by the music fraternity of South India. He has worked with many comp ...
,
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
and
K. J. Yesudas.
Guinness World Records
As verified on 28 January 2016, Susheela has reportedly recorded up to 17,695 solo, duet and chorus backed songs in over six Indian languages since the 1960s, not counting some lost early recordings. She has now been recognized by both the Guinness Book of World Records and Asia Book of Records for singing most songs in Indian languages.
Statistics
Telugu
Susheela has sung more than 12000 songs in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
.
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...
's first duet in Telugu was with P. Susheela. SPB sung his first song with me says the legendary P. Susheela and SPB recorded more than 3000 duets with P. Susheela. She has recorded more than 2000 songs in K.V.Mahadevans music. she has recorded more than 2000 songs in K.chakravarthys music also. She won three national awards for Telugu songs.
Tamil
She has sung more than 6000 songs in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
, including devotionals. She has sung around 1000 duets with
T. M. Soundara Rajan. She also rendered more than 1500 Songs in
MSV
mSv or MSV may refer to:
* Maize streak virus, a plant disease
* Medium-speed vehicle, US category
* Medium Systems Vehicle, a class of fictional artificially intelligent starship in The Culture universe of late Scottish author Iain Banks
* Mill ...
music. She won two national awards for Tamil songs.
Kannada
Susheela has recorded more than 5000 songs in
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
. She has performed numerous duets with
Ghantasala and
P. B. Srinivas
Prathivadhi Bhayankara Sreenivas (22 September 1930 – 14 April 2013) widely known as P. B. Sreenivas was an Indian playback singer, composer, harmonium player, lyricist, littérateur, and poet known for his works in South cinema, and Bollyw ...
, and also a few duets with legendary actor and singer
Dr. Rajkumar
Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian ci ...
. Her duets with P. B. Shrinivas are considered some of the evergreen songs of
Kannada Film Industry
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...
. S. P. Balasubramaniam's first Kannada song ''Kanasido Nanasido'' from
Nakkare Ade Swarga
''Nakkare Ade Swarga'' is a 1967 Indian Kannada-language film, directed by M. R. Vittal and produced by Srikanth Nahatha and Srikanth Patel. The film stars Narasimharaju, along with Jayanthi, Shailashree, Jr. Revathi and Thara. The film has mu ...
was a duet with Susheela.
Malayalam
She has sung more than 1500 songs in Malayalam. The musician
Devarajan
Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...
gave her more than 300 songs (in all languages).
Other languages
Susheela has sung more than 300 songs in other languages, including 100 film songs in
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
, 120 devotional songs in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, and 9 film songs in
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
.
she also Sang in Bengali. Punjabi, Tulu, Baduga and Oriya songs.
Awards
Civilian and State Government honours
National Film Awards
She was the first recipient of the national award for female playback singing in 1969.
Filmfare Awards South
*
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South
The Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South ceremony.
Recipients
Notes
References General
*
Specific
External links
55th Filmfare Awards South Winners
{{DEFA ...
(2006)
State Awards
Other Awards
* "Kamban Pugazh" award from All Ceylon Kamban Kazhakam, Sri Lanka, 2016
*Best singer of the decade Award from Dr. Subbarami Reddy in 2001
*
Lifetime Achievement Award
Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions.
Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include:
A
* A.C. ...
at
7th South Indian International Movie Awards
The 7th South Indian International Movie Awards is an awards event held at Dubai on September 14 and 15, 2018. It aims to recognize notable films and performances from the past year in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films along with specia ...
Discography
1950s
1960s
1980s
1990s
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Susheela, P.
1935 births
Living people
Telugu playback singers
Indian women playback singers
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts
Kannada playback singers
Kerala State Film Award winners
Malayalam playback singers
Hindi-language singers
Tamil playback singers
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Andhra University alumni
20th-century Indian singers
20th-century Indian women singers
Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh
Singers from Andhra Pradesh
21st-century Indian singers
21st-century Indian women singers
Best Female Playback Singer National Film Award winners
People from Vizianagaram district
People from Uttarandhra
South Indian International Movie Awards winners
People from Vizianagaram
Women musicians from Andhra Pradesh
Indian women musicians
Filmfare Awards South winners
Nandi Award winners