N. C. Vasanthakokilam Biography 
Nagapattinam Chandrashekhara Vasanthakokilam, shortly known as N. C. Vasanthakokilam was a carnatic singer and actress from Irinjalakuda, Cochin State of present Kerala. She is known for popularizing the songs of famous mystic poet of Tamil Nadu, Yogi Suddhananda Bharathi. As a Carnatic singer, she was verse in kritis by Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar. As a playback singer, her career started with early 1940 and in a career spanning to one decade, she worked with leading composers of the time including T. Govindarajulu Naidu, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, Papanasam Sivan and G. Ramanathan.
Though she was an extra talented vocalist, many of her records are not available right now. She died at a younger age of just 32 in 1951 due to tuberculosis and thus a great loss to Carnatic music fans. She was first married to a person who was against her career and wishes. During her last days, she married C. K. Sathasivan, a lawyer turned film producer. She entered film industry in the year 1940 as an actress and a singer and spent exactly one decade in the industry. Her debut movie was an actress was Chandra Gupta Chanakya (1940), playing the role of the princess Chaaya. She later acted in movies like Venuganan (1940), Gangavathar (1942), Haridas (1944), Valmiki (1946), Kundalakesi (1946) and Krishna Vijayam (1950). As a playback singer, her songs are recorded in the movies like Haridas, Valmiki, Venuganan, Gangavathar and Krishna Vijayam.
Her real name is Kamakshi and she was born in Irinjalakuda of present Thrissur district of Kerala. The family later got shifted to Nagapattinam. She learnt music under Nagapattinam 'Jalra' Gopala Iyer, a Harikatha performer. In 1936, the family moved to Chennai where she started her concerts. She also performed for the Tyagaraja Aradhana each year between 1942 and 1951 and was one of the top ranked vocalists of her time.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 17, 2014
