T. V. Rathinam Biography 
Tenkasi Vallinayagam Rathinam, shortly called T. V. Rathinam was a Tamil playback singer in the black and white era of Tamil movies. She was also a trained classical singer, well-versed in Carnatic music. She was a student of Vidhwan Ramnad Krishnan, which helped her to join film industry as a playback singer. She has worked with almost all leading composers and playback singers of 1940s and 1950s, when she was fully active in the industry. Her career graph started drifting downwards in the 1960s with the emergence of new and younger voices and with 1970s, she faced heavy competition from youngsters before she retired from playback singing.
T. V. Rathinam was in Tenkasi to Vallinayagam Pillai and Aavudai Ammal in 1929 or 1930. She was initiated to the world of music at the age of 7, and Ramalinga Aachari was her first guru. Her professional career began with a concert in Sri Lanka. She studied under Vidhwan Ramnad Krishnan, which played a major role in her life to become a playback singer and succeed in this profession. She married Visvanathan Pillai in 1947. She also took musical lessons from Ramnad Krishnan, and later from the legendary Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.
She was into film field since year 1940, and she turned a full-fledged playback singer only after marriage in 1947. In fact she joined film industry as a child actress and acted in Bhaktha Chetha in 1940. She also appeared as child Kannagi in Kannagi in 1942.She dominated Tamil music scene in the late 1940s and throughout 1950s, singing many evergreen songs of classic era. She became famous by her songs in Miss Malini (1947) by the Gemini Studios, and there was no turning back after that.
Published: February 27, 2019
Updated: February 27, 2019
