MUMBAI: Despite the thriving Hindi Film Industry, South India developed its own Film Industry, which has always been on a boom. All major states in South India have flourishing film industries and thus music industries too. Music is anyway a large part of South Indian culture, which reflects in their films, as their music has always been legendary and musicians revered. Let’s have a look at seven most revered musicians that South India has given.
Ghantasala: Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao is the most admired name in Telugu cinema. So much is the love that people have showered on him, that despite having left for heavenly abode almost 40 years ago, people still consider him to be a reference point in music. Unfortunately, he left this world at 51. His work in Telugu cinema as a composer and a singer stays unparalleled. He is primarily known for blending classical music to light music. He started his career by serving as a court musician, and gradually took to playback singing in movies. He has been a multilingual singer and has sung in all south Indian languages and sparingly in Hindi too.
K J Yesudas: This singer is known in the South industry as well as Hindi film Industry. K J Yesudas has eight national awards, a feat untouched by any other playback singer. Yesudas, an icon of Malayalam language, has been a prolific singer and has sung in almost all Indian languages except Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri and Konkani. His tally of state awards stands in total of staggering 43 awards, across all the states in India. A Catholic by origin, his songs are buzzing at all shrines in Kerala, a true symbol of National integration. His fan following is ardent and borderline fanatic.
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S. P. Balasubrahmanyam: Popularly known in Non-South zones as a voice for Salman Khan and for the songs from Ek Duje Ke Liye, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam holds a Guinness Book of Records, for recording most number of film scores. He has sung over 16000 songs in various languages and is known for his distinct voice. He gained international recognition after the legendary Telugu cinema, Shankarbharnam. As he is also a voice actor along with a known actor, he is known to be the voice for Kamal Hasan. He has dubbed for many actors including Anil Kapoor. His combination with maestro Ilyaraja and female singer S Janaki is well known. Last Hindi film fans heard him was for the Shahrukh Khan starrer Chennai Express.
P Sreeniwas: P B Sreeniwas, a singer holding the distinction for being the voice of Kannada superstar Dr Rajkumar. Besides that, he has sung for all the reigning superstars in South industry. Having sung in all four languages, Sreeniwas was known to be fluent in multiple languages. Some of his famous songs include Kalangalil Aval Vasantham and Baagilanu Teredu among many others. He also sang with Lata Mangeshkar for the movie, Main Bhi Ladka Hoon.
S Janaki: One of the rare singers from India, to have recorded songs in foreign Language, S Janaki has sung in 16 languages over 48,000 songs in a career spanning over six decades. Known as the Nightingale of South, S Janaki stays the most favourite South Indian female singer. The duo S Janaki and M S Baburaj are equal to Lata-Madan Mohan combination in Hindi film industry.
Susheela: A contemporary of S Janaki, Susheela is known for her pro-feminism approach. Her songs across all the states are extremely respected and she has been conferred with many awards. Her contribution to Sinhalese music industry (Sri Lanka) is also well known. Her duets with P Sreeniwas and Ghantasala are still on loop in the respective states.
Chitra: The only singer to be acknowledged by the Government of China, she is also the only Indian woman to be conferred by House of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom. Chithra’s long association with the maestro A R Rahman only talks about her talent. When speaking about her career in Telugu and Kannada cinema, her association with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam is legendary. For the music composer duo Raj-Koti, the combination SPB and Chitra have sung over 2500 songs; out of the 3000 songs that composer duo has composed. The singer also owns a studio and label called Audiotracs.
