Potpourri of titbits about cinema - S. Janaki

Lata Mangeshkar has the distinction of having sung the maximum number of songs at the national level. But Janaki has the unique distinction of having sung 16,000 songs, the score including 17 languages! Janaki was born on 23-4-1938 at Pallapatta in Gundur district in Andhra Pradesh. Janaki stopped singing for some tome after the demise of her husband V. Ramaprasad. She revived her career due to the insistence of the people in film industry. At public functions, when her fans request for an autograph she’ll take them by surprise by distributing her photographs containing her signature.

‘Konjum salangai’ was the film which proved a milestone in her career. The song ‘Singaara velane devaa …’ has stood the test of the time, continuing to be popular even today. Janaki has the versatility of providing voice as easily to a five-year old as to a sixty-year old! She is adept in mimicking also. She has created a world record by having sung in numerous languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Singalam, Bengali, Oriyya, Sanskrit, Gurati, English, Konkani, Thulu, Saurashtra, German, Patuka, and Punjabi! She has received national awards on four occasions. She received awards for her songs in ‘Pathinaaru vayathinile’ (Tamil), ‘Oppol’ (Malayalam), ‘Sitara’ (Telugu) and ‘Devar magan’ (Tamil). And, she has received thirteen awards from the Kerala Government, six awards from the Tamil Nadu Government, seven awards from the Andhra Pradesh Government, ‘Kalai maamani award’, ‘Life-time achievement award’ and so on. Her only son Muralikrishna is her aide, who is running an audio-cassette business. Her daughter-in-law Uma is a popular ‘bharatanatya’ danseuse.

We all should pray that Janaki, a simple and humble genius should live for long, making people happy with her fascinating and titillating voice.