Madras Lalithangi Vasanthakumari was a Carnatic musician [1 and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries, D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulakshmi, are popularly referred to as the female trinity of Carnatic music. A prime disciple of G. N. Balasubramaniam, she was the youngest among the established musicians of that era and was the youngest female to receive the Sangita Kalanidhi award. In 1967, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, by the government of India. Her daughter, the late K. Srividya, was an actress in Tamil and Malayalam.
Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs. He gave classical concerts starting in 1943.
Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam born in Sholavandan Thenkarai was an Indian actor and playback singer of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his melodious songs mostly based on romantic or devotional themes.
Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar, also known by his initials as M. K. T., was an Indian actor and carnatic singer.
Sirkazhi Govindarajan was an Indian Carnatic vocalist and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema.
Raja Mukthi is a 1948 Indian Tamil language film starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, V. N. Janaki and P. Bhanumathi. M. G. Ramachandran had done a supporting role. The film was released on 9 October 1948.
Thiruneelakantar is a 1939 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Raja Sandow and starring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. The film, based on the life of Tirunilakanta Nayanar, was a big hit and was known for Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's acting apart from his songs. The noted nadaswaram player T. N. Rajarathinam Pillai makes a guest appearance.
Subburayulu Munuswami Subbaiah Naidu was an Indian composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was one of the oldest music directors. He worked as an in-house music composer for Central Studios and Pakshiraja Studios and well associated with S. M. Sriramulu Naidu. SMS also worked with many films under Jupiter Pictures banner and a favorite of M. G. Ramachandran.
Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, popularly known as Soolamangalam Sisters were Carnatic music sister-pair vocalists and musicians known for their devotional songs in Tamil. They were early singers in the trend of duo singing in Carnatic music, which started in the 1950s, with performers like Radha Jayalakshmi, and later continued by Bombay Sisters, Ranjani-Gayatri, Mambalam Sisters, Bangalore Sisters and Priya Sisters. The Soolamangalam Sisters are best known for singing the Kanda Shasti Kavasam, a hymn on the Hindu god Muruga.
Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni, more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese, and Hindi languages.
Radha and Jayalakshmi, popularly known as Radha Jayalakshmi, were an Indian Carnatic music vocalist duo as well as playback singers in films in the 1940s and 1950s. They later became teachers and trained notable Carnatic music singers. Jayalakshmi was the playback singer of the duo, but was credited as Radha Jayalakshmi in the cine field. Radha was her cousin and singing partner on stage performances. They were early vocalists in the duo singing trend in Carnatic music which started in the 1950s and includes performers like Bombay Sisters and Soolamangalam Sisters. In recent times, the trend has been continued by popular Carnatic music singers like Priya Sisters, their disciples, Ranjani Gayatri, Akkarai sisters, and others.
C. R. Subbaraman also known as C. S. Ram (1916–1952) was a famous South Indian film music composer and producer. He was born to Ramasamy at Chintamani village in Thirunelveli, in present-day Tamil Nadu. Music director Shankar of Shankar–Ganesh duo was his younger brother. His ancestors were from the Krishna district of present-day Andhra Pradesh and due to this, his family spoke Telugu well.
Tenkasi Vallinayagam Rathnam hailed from Tenkasi, Madras Presidency, British India. She was a playback singer for Tamil films.
Thiruchirappalli Govindarajulu Lingappa was an Indian music director who worked predominantly in Kannada language films. He also worked in Tamil and Telugu movies. He was the son of G. Govindarajulu Naidu who was also a musician.
G. Govindarajulu Naidu was an acclaimed music director in 1940s and 50s in the south Indian film industry. Hailing from Tiruchirappalli, he was one among the musicians who defined the way of music in South Indian film industry. He composed music for Tamil and Telugu movies. He has family living in Dubai, UAE.
Thiruthuraipoondi Radhakrishnan Sivasankaran was an Indian music director of Tamil, Telugu and Sinhalese films. He was born in 1923 at Thiruthuraipoondi, Madras Presidency, British India.
Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman, also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, who was active in the Indian film industry from 1938 to the 1970s.
Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's Panam to 1965's Aayirathil Oruvan. After their split, Ramamoorthy worked on 16 films between 1966 and 1986. He and Viswanathan reunited in 1995 for Engirundho Vandhan.
Cuddalore Nagarathnam Pandurangan was a noted music director who had scored music for Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Sinhala movies. C. N. Pandurangan was an Indian music director who worked mainly in South Indian films.
Ka. Mu. Sheriff was a writer and poet who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He was a popular Tamil film lyricist during the 1950s and 60s. His lyrics Chittukuruvi Chittukuruvi Sedhi Theriyuma?, Yerikaraiyin Maele Poravale Penn Mayile are ever-green in the minds of Tamil film song lovers. He has also written screenplays and dialogue for some films.
