P. Susheela: Difference between revisions

| alias               =

Melody Queen of South India 

| birth_place        = [[Vizianagaram]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British India]]<!-- "What the place may correspond to on a modern map is a matter for an article's main text." -->

| yearsactive        = 1950–present

| spouse            = {{Marriage|Mohan Rao|1957|2012|reason=died}}

'''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]] 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]]'' as well as by the ''Asia Book of Records'' for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/veteran-playback-singer-p-susheela-recognised-by-guinness-and-asia-book-of-records/article8409692.ece?homepage=true | title=P. Susheela enters Guinness World Records | date=29 March 2016 | first=Udhav | last=Naig | newspaper=The Hindu | access-date=4 May 2020}}</ref> She is also the recipient of five [[National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer]] and numerous state awards.<ref name="Happy Birthday PSusheela">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indiaglitz.com/happy-birthday-psusheela-telugu-news-118585.html |title=Happy Birthday PSusheela |date=13 November 2014 |website=IndiaGlitz.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924172238/https://www.indiaglitz.com/happy-birthday-psusheela-telugu-news-118585.html |archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="About">{{cite web|url=http://thesouthernnightingale.net/about/|title=About|work=The Southern Nightingale}}</ref>  Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/5722704|title=South Asian Popular Culture Voices of Meenakumari: Sound, meaning, and self-fashioning in performances of an item number|author=Amanda Weidman}}</ref> in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/voice-defying-age/article3190832.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216094409/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/voice-defying-age/article3190832.ece|title=Voice defying age|archive-date=16 December 2014|work=The Hindu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/a-well-composed-tribute-to-a-veteran-singer/article334162.ece|title=A well composed tribute to a veteran singer|work=The Hindu}}</ref> vocal performances<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/05/18/stories/09180705.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150917150917/http://www.thehindu.com/2001/05/18/stories/09180705.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-09-17|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=2001-05-18|title=Accent is on novelty}}</ref> for over 50,000 film songs<ref name="psusheela.org">{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/interviews/aug042000screen.html|title=Melody Queen P. Susheela - Interviews|website=psusheela.org}}</ref> across South Indian languages. She is fondly called "The Melody Queen of South India".

The song "Paal Polave"<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/global/tamil-songwriter-vaali-dies-at-83-1200565558/ |title=Tamil Songwriter Vaali Dies at 83 |last=Dore |first=Shalini |date=19 July 2013 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref> from Tamil film ''[[Uyarndha Manidhan]]'' brought her the first ever award at the [[16th National Film Awards]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dff.nic.in/2011/16th_nff_1970.pdf |title=Sixteenth National Awards For Films |date=13 February 1970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225234623/http://dff.nic.in/2011/16th_nff_1970.pdf |archive-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>

 

<ref name="National Awards Winners 1968: Complete list of winners of National Awards 1968">{{cite news|last1=Times of India|first1=Entertainment|title=National Awards Winners 1968: Complete list of winners of National Awards 1968|work=timesofindia.indiatimes.com|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/1968/108|accessdate=11 August 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511142357/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/2005/108|archivedate=12 May 2021}}</ref> by winning her the [[National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer]] in 1969. Susheela was the first recipient of this prestigious honour, which also made [[Uyarndha Manidhan]], the first film to win a National Award under that category. 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.<ref name="aboutps">{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/aboutps.html|title=Melody Queen P. Susheela - About Smt. P. Susheela|website=psusheela.org}}</ref> In a career spanning more than six decades, she has recorded nearly 50,000 songs in various [[Languages of India|Indian languages]] including [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Kannada]], [[Malayalam]], [[Hindi]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Oriya language|Oriya]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]] and [[Badaga language|Badaga]]. She has also sung for [[Sinhalese language|Sinhalese]] films. Her mother tongue is [[Telugu language|Telugu]]. She can also speak [[Tamil language|Tamil]] fluently, with a little [[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[Malayalam]] and [[Kannada]].

Susheela was born in [[Andhra Pradesh]], 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 2012; they have a son named Jayakrishna. Her niece, Sandhya Jayakrishna, is a singer who debuted with [[A. R. Rahman]] in ''[[Iruvar]]'' and she has two grand daughters.

P. Susheela went on to become the most successful playback singers of south India from 1950 to 1990.

In 1950, music director [[Pendyala Nageswara Rao]] 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. Rajah|A. M. Raja]].<ref name="aboutps"/> This was subsequently made in Telugu as ''[[Kanna Talli]]'' for which she recorded the same duet with [[Ghantasala (singer)|Ghantasala]]. This resulted in her long term employment with [[AVM Studios]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/articles/kan/aregini_kannada.html|title=Untitled Document|website=psusheela.org}}</ref>

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 [[M. S. Viswanathan|Viswanathan]] – [[T. K. Ramamoorthy|Ramamurthy]] duo composed some of the most evergreen songs of [[Tamil language|Tamil]] cinema history in the voice of Susheela. Her duets with the acclaimed singers [[Ghantasala (singer)|Ghantasala]] in Telugu, [[T. M. Soundararajan]] in Tamil and [[P. B. Srinivas]] 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.<ref name="aboutps"/> Susheela's blockbuster Kannada song "Viraha Nooru Nooru Taraha" for the film ''[[Edakallu Guddada Mele]]'' is listed as one of the top 10 evergreen songs in Indian cinema. Her combination with actress [[Jayanthi (actress)|Jayanthi]] is very popular in [[Karnataka]].

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]] compositions for the film ''Seetha''. From then, she went on to record numerous hit songs with all the Malayalam composers like [[G. Devarajan]], [[M. K. Arjunan]] 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]] 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 Film Awards|Tamil Nadu State Award]] as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/awards.html|title=Melody Queen P. Susheela|website=psusheela.org}}</ref> 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]] 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 Jayaprada 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]]. 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.

==P. Susheela Trust : 2008–present==

The Lifetime achievement awards so far has been conferred upon [[T. M. Soundararajan]] and [[P. B. Srinivas]]. The recipients of the Trust's awards so far are [[S. Janaki]], [[Vani Jairam]], [[L. R. Eswari]], [[P. Jayachandran]], [[S. P. Balasubramaniam]] and [[K. J. Yesudas]].

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/singer-p-susheela-enters-guinness-world-records/article8410119.ece|title=Singer P Susheela enters Guinness World Records|website=@businessline}}</ref>

Susheela has sung more than 12000 songs in [[Telugu language|Telugu]]. [[S. P. Balasubrahmanyam]]'s first duet in Telugu was with p susheela. SPB sung his first song with me says the legendary 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.

{{Main article|P. Susheela discography}}

Susheela has recorded more than 5000 songs in [[Kannada]]. She has performed numerous duets with [[Ghantasala (singer)|Ghantasala]] and [[P. B. Srinivas]], and also a few duets with legendary actor and singer [[Dr. Rajkumar]]. Her duets with P. B. Shrinivas are considered some of the evergreen songs of [[Kannada Film Industry]]. S. P. Balasubramaniam's first Kannada song ''Kanasido Nanasido'' from [[Nakkare Ade Swarga]] was a duet with Susheela.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/kannada/index.html|title=Melody Queen P. Susheela - Kannada Page|website=psusheela.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2014/aug/06/Melody-Still-Rules-Kannada-Music-Says-SPB-644410.html|title=Melody Still Rules Kannada Music, Says SPB|work=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref>

She has sung more than 1200 songs in Malayalam. The musician [[Devarajan]] gave her more than 300 songs (in all languages).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://psusheela.org/malayalam/index.html|title=Melody Queen P. Susheela - Malayalam Page|website=psusheela.org}}</ref>

|[[Uyarndha Manithan|Uyarntha Manithan]]

|Naalai intha velai parthu

|[[Savaale Samali|Savaale Samaali]]

|Chittuk kuruvikkenna kattuppaadu

|[[Siri Siri Muvva|Siri Siri muvva]]

|Jummandi naadham

|[[Meghasandesam|Megha sandesam]]

|Aakulo Aakunai

|M.L.A.Edu kondalu

|Entha Beeda Vade

*[[Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South]] (2006)<ref name="Filmfare Awards presented">{{cite web|url=http://www.telugucinema.com/c/publish/movietidbits/filmfareawards_aug0407.php|title=Filmfare Awards presented|publisher=telugucinema.com|access-date=2009-08-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303151528/http://www.telugucinema.com/c/publish/movietidbits/filmfareawards_aug0407.php|archive-date=3 March 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

|''[[Sangeeta Samrat|Sangeetha Samrat]]''

|"Chandana Charchita Nila Kalebara", "Thennavan Thaai Nattu Singaarame", "Unnazhagai Kanniyargal"

|[[G. Ramanathan]]

{{Raghupathi Venkaiah Award Recipients}}

{{Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South}}

[[Category:Indian female film singers]]