S. Janaki

Over her seven-decade career, film playback singer S. Janaki has been bestowed with several sobriquets. She’s been hailed as the Nightingale of South India, the Melody Queen and the Queen of Expressions, to name just a few. Yet they all fall somewhat short of describing an icon whose list of achievements runs unparalleled. S. Janaki—or Janaki Amma, as she would come to be fondly referred to by her fans—made her playback singing debut in 1957, introducing her mellifluous, malleable voice to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam audiences. She would go on to record hundreds of songs in each of these languages, becoming a favourite of multiple music directors and forming a formidable pair with a host of male duet partners. Of these, the S. Janaki–S. P. Balasubrahmanyam partnership is the most famed but her hits with P. B. Sreenivas and Dr. Rajkumar are equally adored. Her ability to alter her voice to suit characters of various ages, from children to the elderly, set her out as one of the most adaptable singers in the industry. Hindi film music fans know her from the 1980s chartbusters she recorded for Bappi Lahiri but she’s also rendered memorable Odia tunes. In fact, her discography includes tracks in numerous other Indian languages, as well as English, German, Japanese and Sinhalese; though raised in a Telugu-speaking family, she has a knack for making any language sound like her own. Given her dominance of the playback scene during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, her slew of industry and state awards should be no surprise. Less obvious may be that she has a personality as strong as her voice, as when she declined the Padma Bhushan in 2013 because she felt it was being bestowed on her long after it was due. Even though she bowed out from recording and performing towards the end of the 2010s, S. Janaki’s countless run of songs continue to be streamed in the millions every month by listeners around the world.