Jaymala Shiledar Biography 
Jaymala Shiledar was a Hindustani vocalist and stage actress from Maharashtra. She has been part of several musical plays portraying different kinds of roles and singing for her roles as well. She had also composed music for a few plays and sangeet nataks also. Her career spreads to 5 decades appearing in more than 4500 shows. She established a production banner of "Marathi Rangabhoomi" along with her husband Jayram Shiledar, who was her co-actor and singer. The pair is credited to bring audience back to sangeet natak scene. For her overall contributions towards the field of arts, especially theatre and music, Government of India honoured him with the fourth highest civilian honour - Padma Shri in 2013. She passed away the same year.
Jaymala Shiledar was born on 21 August 1926 in Indore, present-day Madhya Pradesh. She started her professional career in 1942, when she became a part of the Marathi play Veshantar. She started her acting and musical career with this play. Three years later she got her first lead role through Sangeet Sharada alongside Bal Gandharva. The female lead role was earlier played by Bal Gandharva because of the non-availability of female actors. She made her debut in Marathi theatre almost at the same time and acted in over 50 plays.
In the musical dramas, her performance in Maan Apmaan, Sanshaykallol, Sangeet Saubhadra as Subhadra, Sangeet Sharada and Ekach Pyala earned her fame and popularity. She married her co-actor and singer Jayram Shiledar in 1950. Their pairing was well appreciated by audience in those days. The couple had 5 daughters of whom, Kirti Shiledar and Lata Shiledar pursued career in theatre. In year 2000, she underwent a bypass heart surgery and used a pacemaker. After that it was difficult to sing or talk for long hours. She suffered renal failure and cardiac failure, a few months after she received Padma Shri awards in 2013.
Published: March 01, 2019
Updated: March 01, 2019
