Fondly called as Gana Kokila, Nightingale of South and Gaana Saraswathi, P Susheela celebrates her 80th birthday today. The singer is considered as one of the soulful voices of India and has sung over half a lakh songs across different languages. She is one of very few singers, who were permanently employed by AVM Studios for a monthly pay. She was also been given a trainer to hone her artistic and linguistic skills. She considers the legendary MS Viswanathan as her mentor. Susheela is also the torchbearer as she became the first recipient of national awards for best playback singer in India.
A little statistics of Wow!: Having sung over 40,000 songs in various languages – 19,000 in Telugu, over 10,000 in Tamil, over 5,000 in Kannada, over 900 in Malayalam, she has also sung over a hundred songs in other languages like Hindi, Sanskrit, Sinhalese Bengali, Tulu, Oriya, Padugu and Marathi. Here’s a quick overview of her early milestones of contribution to the music industry.
Introductory milestones:
1952 – Susheela debuted in the Tamil film Petra Thaai, a duet with A M Raja. This song was subsequently done in Telugu with Susheela voicing the telugu version, with co singer Ghantasala.
1954 – Debut in Kannada language with the film Maadidunno Maaraya.
1955 - Her contribution for the film Missamma received a lot of critical accolades and a huge name and fame in the industry, which inturn created a fan base for her.
1960 - Susheela debuts in the Malayalam industry for the film Seetha, composed by V Dakshinamurthy.
1969 - The very First National Award for the song Paal Polave from Uyarndha Manidhan. The same song also won her a Tamilnadu State Award.
1971 - National award again for the song ‘Chittukuruvikkenna’ from Savaale Samaali (Tamil).
With this, Susheela began singing in all the compositions in Tamil from 1960-1985 and ruled the film industry undisputly as one of the finest and fantastic singers of all time. She also started crooning devotional compositions, which was enjoyed equally by audience. After a long gap of 13 years, P Susheela made a comeback when she sang forl Sila Nerangalil in 2007.
P Suseela Trust: P Susheela started a trust in 2008, providing pension schemes to benefit needy musicians, sponsoring music programs and offering aid to poor and needy music students. The trust organises a concert every year and the proceedings go towards the maintenance of the trust.
Acting: Not just a breathtaking singer, P Susheela has done her acting debut through a cameo appearance in the film Manadhai Thirudi Vittai in Tamil. Even the cameo appearance won her positive recognition for her acting abilities.
The titles: While the Andhra Pradesh Government honoured her with Raghupathi Venkiah Awards in 2001 for Lifetime Achievement in Telugu Cinema, she was conferred the title Kalaimamani in 2005 by the Tamil Nadu Government in addition to Bharathi Dasan Award and Arignar Anna Award for her Lifetime Contribution to Tamil Cinema. Padma Bhushan saw its honour of being conferred to P Suseela in the year 2008. While there are no Filmfare awards won by the singer, she has won five National Awards for her songs in various languages. She has also been recognised for her lifetime contribution to the music industry by American Telugu Association, Detroit Telugu Association, Kamakura Sangeeth Melody Orchestra to name a few. P Suseela is now the honorary president of ‘Kala Gurukulam’, a music gurukulam in Srikakulam district similar to Kalakshetra in Chennai.
Galatta media wishes the legendary singer a very happy birthday and a healthy long-life ahead!
