T. R. Mahalingam Biography 
T. R. Mahalingam was a popular actor, music director and singer of 1940s and 1950s. His songs based on romantic or devotional themes were indeed popular. Lord Murugan, released during the Second World War placed him as an established actor and singer. As a singer, he got opportunity to sing with many singing actresses of yesterdays. He has sung songs with P. A. Periya Nayaki, T. R. Rajakumari, T. V. Rathinam, P. Bhanumathi, P. Suseela, Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi, Leela and S. Varalakshmi. As a playback singer he was active in the industry till late 1970’s. He has worked with some of the early names as well as leading music directors of the industry like T. A. Kalyanam, C. R. Subburaman, T. G. Lingappa, Viswanathan Ramamoorthy, Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan, C. N. Pandurangan, R. Sudharsanam, Sharma Brothers, G. Ramanathan, T. A. Kalyanam, Lalitha Venkatraman, S. Rajeswara Rao, T. Rajagopala Sarma & K. V. Mahadevan.
His full name is Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam and he was born in the year 1923. Mahalingam used to act and sing in the stage dramas popularly called special dramas, since childhood. S. C. Krishnan, noted singer was his close companion in those days at a time when microphones and amplifiers were rarely available. Singers used to sing aloud. Mahalingam got his first chance at film in the year 1933. He also appeared as a child artist in the movie, Nandakumar (1937) at the age of 14. In this mythological film, he played the lead role of Lord Krishna and the movie flopped in all its regional versions. But its songs got noticed.
Mahalingam got his big break in the film Sri Valli, where he played the role of Subrahmaniyam. The film helped him to earn appreciation as an actor and a singer. Thus he stayed in the industry and became successful as well. He passed away in the year 1978.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 17, 2014
