P. Susheela. The very name would evoke memories of many a number rendered in her rich, reverberating and resonant voice to the fans of South Indian movies. With her mellifluous voice she has breathed life into thousands of lyrics, bringing out the right emotion lying under each word and making the song waft straight into the listener’s heart.

A point to be noted here is the care with which she pronounced the words, though she sang in different languages. Words are the victims of rather constricted rhythms and contorted beats, compacted and deformed between the tongue and the teeth. But it was Susheela’s school to render them with effortless ease, as they are pronounced by the people speaking each individual language in which the lyrics are written.

Born in 1935 in Vijayanagaram in a music-loving family, Susheela had an innate talent in music. Her natural taste for music and her voice of gold were finely honed by the training she received and Susheela soon absorbed the finest nuances of giving expression to the verses she rendered.

Susheela started her career in 1952. ‘Petra Thaai’ was being made in Tamil (Kanna Thalli in Telugu) with A. Nageswararao and G. Varalakshmi in lead roles. Susheela sang her first song - a duet with A. M. Raja - ‘Edhukku azhaithaai’ for the movie. The songs that she sung in ‘Kanavane kan kanda dheiyvam’ (1955) brought her the popularity that she so well deserved. Especially songs like ‘Endhan ullam thulli vilyaaduvadhum,’ ‘unnaik kan thedudhe’ brought out her talent for rendition.

After her splendid performance in Kalyana Parisu, melody itself assumed a new dimension and soon a trend was set in motion that placed equal emphasis on songs on par with story, scenes and sequence. Susheela’s contribution to this trend was considerable. She has given hundreds of golden melodies under the direction of stalwarts Viswanathan - Ramamurthy. That her name is well known and is remembered with feelings of joy for more than 50 years now goes to her credit.

She was the recipient of the national award for best female playback singer in the years 1969, 1971, 1977, 1982 and 1983.