Artist Biography
Sistla Janaki Born 23 April 1938 popularly known as S. Janaki, is an Indian playback singer and occasional music-composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as “Janakiamma” and is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She is referred to as ‘Gaana Kogile’ in Karnataka. She has recorded nearly 48,000 songs in films, albums, TV and Radio including solos, duets and chorus songs in more than 25 languages including her native language Telugu and in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Odia, Bengali, Tulu, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Konkani, Assamese, Sindhi and also in languages such as English, Japanese, Arabic, German, and Sinhala, however the highest number of songs in her career were in Kannada followed by Malayalam. Starting in 1957 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu, her career has spanned over six decades.
Janaki, who is fondly called “The Nightingale of South India”, has won four National Film Awards and 33 different State Film Awards. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore, the Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Rajyotsava award from Government of Karnataka In 2013, she refused to accept Padma Bhushan, and pointed that it is too little and had come “too late” and that South Indian artists were not given their due recognition.
Widely acclaimed as one of the most versatile singers, her association with singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and composer Ilaiyaraaja is most talked about. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s her duets with P. B. Srinivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas and Dr. Rajkumar topped the charts across all the South Indian languages. She has sung in almost all the genres of songs. In October 2016, Janaki announced her retirement from singing for films and stage appearances. However, under pressure from the film fraternity, she made a comeback for the Tamil film Pannadi in 2018.
Career
Her contributions to the music industry in South India have been immense. Performing alongside prominent names such as P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, K J Yesudas, S P Balasubramanyam and Jayachandran, the lady was a renowned figure in the musical circuit. Janaki sung in all south Indian languages with P B Srinivas, who was one of the most popular singers. Besides being a spectacular singer, a brilliant lyricist and an awesome composer for Tamil and Telugu films, she has also sung innumerable songs in various Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, English, Sanskrit, Konkani, Oriya, Tulu, Baduga, Japanese, German, and Malyalam. In fact, she recorded the last song of her career in Malyalam. S. Janaki has sung thousands of songs in Kannada. Janaki says that “Shiva shiva ennada naaligeyeke”, a Kannada song from the movie Hemavathi, was the toughest song of her career. The song was composed by L Vaidyanathan and was in two different ragas � Thodi and Aabhogi. Janaki also said that she had prayed before recording the song. S. Janaki has also released devotional music cassettes on Meera.
Awards and Achievements
Throughout her career, S. Janaki has received many awards for her efforts, dedication and contribution towards her love for music and the music industry. Her award categories include National Film Awards, Mirchi Music Awards, Filmfare Awards South, Kerala State Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Orissa State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards. Some of these awards are listed below as:
- The Sur Singar Award, in 1987.
- The Government of Tamil Nadu awarded her the ‘Kalai Mamani’ award in 1986 and the State Film Awards for the best Playback singer, (seven times).
- The Government of Kerala awarded her the Cinema ‘Achiever Award’ in 2002 and the State Film Awards for the best Playback singer (fourteen times).
- The Special Jury ‘Swaralaya Yesudas’ Award for outstanding performance in music, in 2005.
- The National Film Awards for the best Playback singer, (four times) by the Government of India
- The State Film awards for the best Playback singer, (ten times) by the Government of Andhra Pradesh
- National Awards for songs for the following films including ’16 vayadhinile’ (1976, Tamil film), ‘Oppol’ (1980, Malayalam film), ‘Sithar’ (1984, Telugu film), and ‘Thevar Magan’ (1992, Tamil film).
Her special honours include Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1986, Sursinger Award for Mayuri (Hindi Version) in 1987, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South in 1997, Cinema ‘Achiever Award’ from the Government of Kerala in 2002, and many more. She received the latest award in 2016, Life Time Achievement Award from SIIMA for Outstanding Contribution in all South Indian Languages.
Apart from these, she is also the first recipient of many awards like M S Baburaj Award, P. Susheela trust National Award, V Dakshinamoorthi Award and Ramu Karyat Foundation Award.
