M. S. Rajeswari Biography 
M. S. Rajeswari was a playback singer associated with south Indian film industry, who rendered her voice for more than 500 film songs belonging to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. Most of her songs were recorded in the black and white era of 1940s and 1950s, when Indian talkies had just started to flourish in, and she belongs to the first generation of Indian playback singers, when singing actresses too were in demand. She sang songs for several movies over seven decades. Rajeswari began singing for films in 1941 with a song in the Tamil film Vijayadasami. She recorded film songs till first half of 1990s. She passed away most recent in 2018. She died at the age of 87 due to age –related ailments.
Madurai Satagopan Rajeswari was born on 24 February 1932 in Madras Presidency, British India into a family of artists. Madurai Satagopan and T. V. Rajasundari were her parents. Her mother was a singer and stage artist. Rajeswari was introduced to playback singing by family friend B. R. Panthulu. She started her career in AVM Studios as a resident playback singer, and her first recorded song was Maiyal Migavum Meerudhe in the film Vijayalakshmi.
Throughout 1940s she was associated with films produced by AVM studio. Jeevitham, Or Iravu, Nam Iruvar, Vedhala Ulagam, Vazhkai, Parasakthi, Gunasagari, Penn, Rama Rajyam and Chella Pillai are among the movies produced from AVM, for which she did playback singing. Later she worked as an independent artist, who also rendered her voice for children in songs. From 1960s till 1990s, she was one of the most sought singers for children’s voice and also worked as a dubbing artist for child artistes in Tamil movies.
In Kamal Haasan’s debut movie as a child artist, Kalathur Kannamma, Rajeswari had sung the song ‘Ammavum Neeye’ pictured on him. ‘Paapa Paadum Paatu’ pictured on Baby Shamli in the early 1990s is yet another popular song. Naan Sirithaal Deepavali in the movie Nayakan is one of her popular songs in late 1980s. Parasakthi, Velaikaran, Mudhalali, Sendhoora Devi and Naan Petra Selvam are among her major works.
Published: February 19, 2019
Updated: February 19, 2019
