Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari was a Carnatic musician 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 awardee of 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 late K.Srividya was the well-known, famous film actress in Tamil and Malayalam languages.
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, singer and music composer 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, producer and Carnatic singer. He is considered to be one of the most successful actors in Tamil cinema ever and the first super star of Tamil cinema.
Sirkazhi Govindarajan was a leading vocalist in Carnatic Music and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema.
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.
Ambikapathy is a 1937 Indian Tamil musical period film directed by American film director Ellis R. Dungan. It starred M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, M. R. Santhanalakshmi, Serugulathur Sama, T. S. Balaiya, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram and P. G. Venkatesan. Ambikapathy is regarded as one of the greatest hits of pre-independence Tamil cinema. Ambikapathy, along with Chintamani were the greatest hits of 1937 and made critics regard him as the "first superstar of Tamil cinema". This was the first Tamil film to name a music director in its credits.
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.
Porayathu Leela was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Odiya, Gujarati, Marati etc. and also Sinhale. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers V Dakshinamoorthy., MS Baburaj, G Devarajan, Ghantasala, MS Viswanathan, KRaghavan, Br Lakshmanan, LPR Varma, BA Chithambara athletes, AT Ummer, MK Arjun,Johnson, Ouseppachan, Ilaiyaraja, and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and Ghantalasa over the years. She is also known mostly for her sweet and melodious voice for which she is fondly called as Ganamani. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2006.
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.
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.
Sivagami is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language drama film produced by Muthiah Pictures and directed by A. Mitradas. It featured M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in his final film appearance alongside G. Varalakshmi playing the titular character. The film is a posthumous release for Bhagavathar.
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 screenplay and dialogues to some films.
A. Maruthakasi was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films.
Udayanan Vasavadatta is a 1947 Tamil language film directed and produced by T. R. Raghunath. The film features Vasundhara Devi, G. N. Balasubramaniam and M. S. Saroja in the lead roles with D. Balasubramaniam, K. Sarangapani and Kali N. Rathnam playing supporting roles.
Lalitha Bhanu was a Carnatic singer. She has also sung a few songs for Malayalam and Tamil films as a playback singer.
