S. C. Krishnan (1929-1983) was an Indian actor and

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

who worked mainly in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

dramas and films.

Early life

He was born into a

Saurashtra Saurashtra, Sourashtra, or variants may refer to: ** Kathiawar, also called Saurashtra Peninsula, a peninsula in western India ** Saurashtra (state), alias United State of Kathiawar, a former Indian state, merged into Bombay State and since its d ...

family as the fourth son of a jeweller ''Chelvam Achary'' in Sivaganga that was part of Ramnad district at that time. He joined T. K. S. Brothers drama troupe in 1937 and started acting as a child artiste. He has also acted in dramas staged by N. S. Krishnan and K. R. Ramasamy. He acted in

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 19093 February 1969), also known as Perarignar, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chi ...

's ''Velaikari'' and ''Or Iravu'' dramas that were later made into films.

Career

S. C. Krishnan was then a teenage member of actor K.R.Ramaswamy's ''Krishnan Drama Sabha'' drama troupe. The name of the troupe derived from popular comedian N. S. Krishnan. But, when reaching 20, he was disappointed that he didn't receive adequate opportunities for acting in movies. As such, he had suddenly quit this drama troupe and joined Modern Theatres studio as a paid actor. He joined

Modern Theatres Modern Theaters Ltd was an Indian film studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu started by T. R. Sundaram Mudaliar in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 films until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English ...

in 1949 as an artist on monthly pay and featured in many of their films. But later on he began singing for films and has sung many memorable songs. He first sang for the film Kalyani produced by Modern Theatres. The solo ''Kalapadam Kalapadam'' became a hit. He is well talented in classical Carnatic music but unfortunately producers and music directors made him to lend voice mostly for comedians. However, there is one song ''Thathuva Kalaiyudan'' in Amudhavalli that he sang along with T. R. Mahalingam. The sequence was a music competition and it gave him an opportunity to show his talent in classical music. ''Aayi Mahamaayi Angkaara Dheviye'' from the film

Rajarajan Rajaraja I (Middle Tamil: ''Rājarāja Cōḻaṉ''; Classical Sanskrit: ''Rājarāja Śōḷa''; 3 November 947 – January/February 1014), also known as Rajaraja the Great, was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 to 1014. He was known for ...

is the only song he sang for

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

. Likewise he has sung only one song for

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

, that is from the film Raja Rani beginning ''Leelaa, laalee, adhu polee''. He worked as a music director in Chennai Television (Doordarshan) Kendra for some time.

Music composers he sang for

Many music directors gave him memorable songs, including

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician who won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Music Direction in (1967) for '' Kandan Karunai''. ...

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy w ...

, G. Ramanathan,

S. M. Subbaiah Naidu Subburayulu Munuswami Subbaiah Naidu (a.k.a. SMS) (15 March 1914 – 26 May 1979) was an Indian composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was one of the oldest music directors. He worked as an in-house music composer for Central Studios and ...

, Ghantasala, C. N. Pandurangan, S. V. Venkatraman, T. R. Pappa,

G. Govindarajulu Naidu G. Govindarajulu Naidu was an acclaimed music director in 1940s and 50s in the south Indian film industry. Hailing from Tiruchirappalli, he was one among the musicians who defined the way of music in South Indian film industry. He composed music ...

, T. G. Lingappa, S. Dakshinamurthi, S. Rajeswara Rao, S. Hanumantha Rao, T. R. Ramanathan, R. Sudarsanam, R. Govardhanam,

Vedha Vedha may refer to: * ''Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called th ...

, H. R. Padmanabha Sastri, M. K. Athmanathan, V. T. Rajagopalan, M. S. Gnanamani,

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 Tam ...

, P. Adinarayana Rao, M. Ranga Rao, K. Prasad Rao, K. H. Reddy, T. M. Ibrahim,

Master Venu Madduri Venugopal better known as Master Venu (1916–1981) was an Indian music composer of the Telugu and Tamil cinemas and the father of the actor Bhanu Chander. He was born 1916 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India and died 1981 in Chenna ...

, T. V. Raju, V. Kumar,

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu movies for around 50 years. They also directed one movie '' Jagathalaprathapan'' in 1990 Personal life Shankar was the younger brother of ...

and M. S. Viswanathan.

Playback singers he sang with

He had many solo songs but also sang with other singers. He was very popular with comedy songs. He sang immemorable the most number of comedy duets with

A. G. Rathnamala A. G. Rathnamala () (1931 – 3 July 2007) was an Indian stage drama artist and playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. Career life Stage Drama Whe ...

, the next is with L. R. Eswari and followed by K. Jamuna Rani. He also sang duets with female singers with most notably with T. V. Rathnam,

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, Sinhalese, and Hindi lan ...

, A. P. Komala, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, K. Rani,

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely referred to as Janaki Amma and Nightingale of India(nightingale of South) . She is one of the greatest playback singers in the history ...

, P. Leela,

M. S. Rajeswari M. S. Rajeswari (; 24 February 1932 – 25 April 2018) was an Indian playback singer who has recorded over 500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. Early life She was born on 24 February 1932 to Madurai Satagopan and ...

, N. L. Ganasaraswathi, U. R. Chandra, Vadivambal, P. Suseela, G. Kasthoori, Swarnalatha, K. Swarna, L. R. Anjali, T. K. Kala, Manorama, C. Gomathi, Ponnammal, S. J. Kantha, Udutha Sarojini & Pathma. He also sang with other male singers such as T. M. Soundararajan,

Seerkazhi Govindarajan Sirkazhi Govindarajan (19 January 1933 – 24 March 1988) was a Carnatic vocalist and a playback singer of Indian cinema, predominantly in Tamil cinema. Early life Govindarajan, was born on 19 January 1933 at Sirkazhi (a small town in prese ...

, Ghantasala,

Thiruchi Loganathan Thiruchi Loganathan (24 July 1924 – 17 November 1989) was an Indian playback singer of the Tamil film industry. He is known for his work in movies such as '' Manthiri Kumari'' (1950)and Sarvadhikari'. He was married to Rajalakshmi, daughter ...

, A. M. Rajah, T. A. Mothi, T. R. Mahalingam & Nagore E. M. Hanifa. He sang with all other comedy singers too such as J. P. Chandrababu, N. S. Krishnan, K. Sarangapani, A. L. Raghavan, V. T. Rajagopalan, K. Chellamutthu, S. V. Ponnusamy, M. M. Muthu, Krishnamoorthy, C. Thangappan & Maadhavan.

Awards and Felicitations

He was bestowed with ''Kalaimamani'' award in 1981 by the Tamil Nadu State government.

Personal life

He had a wife (Pushpavalli), a son (S.C.K.Selladurai) and two daughters (Manonmani, Uma rani). He was a good friend of actor and singer T. R. Mahalingam. While he was working for the TV station he was affected by paralysis. He suffered for about 4 years and died in 1983.

Discography

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* - His first solo song. {{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnan, S. C. 1929 births 1983 deaths Indian male film actors Male actors in Tamil cinema Tamil playback singers People from Ramanathapuram district Male actors from Tamil Nadu Singers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian male actors 20th-century Indian male singers 20th-century Indian singers