Veteran Playback Singer S. Janaki Dies at 88 in Mysuru
Bengaluru, July 11 (TNT): Veteran playback singer S. Janaki, one of the most celebrated voices in Indian cinema with a career spanning nearly six decades, passed away at a corporate hospital in Mysuru, Karnataka, on Saturday following age-related ailments.
She was 88. She is survived by her son. Her husband, V. Ramprasad, who had been a constant source of support throughout her musical career, died of a cardiac arrest in 1997.
Popularly known as “Janaki Amma” and hailed as the “Nightingale of South India”, Janaki recorded more than 48,000 songs in films, albums, television and radio across 20 Indian and foreign languages, making her one of India’s most prolific and versatile playback singers.
Born on April 23, 1938, in Pallapatla village of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Janaki learnt the basics of music from Nadaswaram exponent Paidiswamy before moving to Chennai to pursue a career in playback singing.
She made her debut in 1957 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu and also sang for the Telugu film M.L.A. in the same year, recording songs in six languages during her first year in the industry.
Janaki went on to become one of the most sought-after playback singers in South Indian cinema, lending her voice to thousands of songs in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, besides Hindi, Sanskrit, Odia, Tulu, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Konkani, Sinhala and several other languages.
Kannada remained the language in which she recorded the highest number of songs.
Widely admired for her expressive singing and vocal versatility, Janaki shared memorable duets with legendary singers including P. B. Srinivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Dr. Rajkumar.
She was often referred to as the “Queen of Expression and Modulation” for her ability to adapt her voice to a wide range of emotions and characters.
During her distinguished career, Janaki won four National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer and 33 State Film Awards, including a record number of honours from southern states.
She was also conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Tamil Nadu government, the Rajyotsava Prashasti by the Karnataka government and an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore.
In 2013, Janaki declined the Padma Bhushan, saying the recognition had come too late and expressing disappointment that her contributions had not received timely national acknowledgement.
She retired from playback singing and stage performances in 2017 after a farewell concert in Mysuru, but returned briefly in 2018 to record a song for the Tamil film Pannaadi.
With her passing, Indian cinema has lost one of its most iconic playback singers whose voice defined generations of film music across multiple languages.
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