Ambili Biography 
Ambili is a popular playback singer of Malayalam cinema yesterdays best remembered for the devotional song of Swami Ayyappan – Thedi Varum Kannukalil, the song she sang at the age of just 12 years. Oonjala, oonjala – the theme song for Veendum Prabhatam, Swarnamalakal, Maayalle raga mazhaville and Guruvayoorappante thiruvamruthethinu are other noted songs. She has sung more than 3000 songs for 800 movies belonging to Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali languages. 'Krishna Yadu Nandana' marked her 125th album. She is married to film director Raja Sekharan. Now she resides in Chennai. After a long break, she made a comeback after 20 years in 2012.
Padmaja Thampi is her real name, born in Thiruvananthapuram to R. C. Thampi and Sukumari Amma. Her mother was a musician, though not professional. So her mother dreamt to fulfill her dreams through Ambili. Young Ambili started singing at the age of 2 or 3. When she started receiving prizes, her mother thought of grooming her as a singer. She used to sing for clubs and functions since younger days. The mother found good music teachers for her daughter. So she sent Ambili to Rathnakaran Bhagavathar at the age of 7 or 8. Bhagavathar worked at radio station. Though her father was not interested in her choice of singing, later he appreciated it, following mother’s words.
She was not good at studies. But she was a singing star at school and colleges and spent time in rehearsals. Later her whole family shifted to Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram to seek good music teachers for young Ambili. Her parents want her to learn under V. Dakshinamoorthy. She debut films at a very young age and didn’t struggle to get offers. Thedivarum Kannukalil – the turning point of her career was given by Dakshinamoorthy who again gave her Guruvayoorappante thiruvamruthethinu and she became a shining star very soon.
Whenever songs for kids were composed, Ambili became the voice and many evergreen songs were composed later. She concentrated on stage shows more and couldn’t make a mark in playback singing later. She involved with family most and lost interest in playback singing career after marriage. Hers was a love cum arranged marriage. Huge loss from a film was also a major setback.
Published: N/A
Updated: November 20, 2015
