Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various Indian languages, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration with music composers like A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja, Hamsalekha, M. M. Keeravani and with the playback singers K. J. Yesudas and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam over the years. She is regarded as a 'cultural icon' of South Indian states. She is called as the 'Melody Queen of Indian Cinema' and 'Little Nightingale of Indian Cinema'. She was cited as the Golden Voice of India by the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London, and her performance in the hall was applauded with much appreciation by a roomful of an international audience.
Sadhana Sargam is an Indian singer known for her playback career in Indian cinema predominantly in Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Telugu and Tamil language films. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare Awards South. She has also won five Maharashtra State Film Awards, four Gujarat State Film Awards, and one Orissa State Film.
Swarnalatha was an Indian playback singer. In a career spanning almost 22 years, she recorded over 10,000 songs in many Indian languages, including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, and Badaga.
Harini is an Indian film playback singer and classical singer who sings in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films, working with many leading film composers. She is married to another playback singer, Tippu.
Shweta Pandit is an Indian singer and actress from Bollywood. She is the grand-niece of Indian classical vocalist and Padma Vibhushan awardee, Pandit Jasraj. She has also recorded popular songs for various Telugu and Tamil film songs and many other Indian languages.
Pulapaka Susheela, popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 40,000 film and devotional songs across South Indian languages.
Vani Jairam was an Indian playback singer in Indian cinema. She is fondly referred to as the "Meera of modern India" Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over five decades. She did playback for over one thousand Indian movies recording over 10,000 songs. In addition, she recorded thousands of devotionals and private albums and also participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad.
Sujatha Mohan is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She has also sung for Kannada, Badaga, Hindi and Marathi and more languages movies. As of 2021, she had recorded more than 10,000 songs.
Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, composer, television presenter, radio jockey, and an entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company Blue Elephant, a skincare company importing K-beauty to India - Isle Of Skin, and a medi-spa Deep Skin Dialogues in Chennai and Hyderabad. She is often credited as Chinmayee and Indai Haza. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae" from the National Award winning movie Kannathil Muthamittal directed by Mani Ratnam and composed by A. R. Rahman. She was 15 years old when she made her singing debut in Kannathil Muthamittal. She debuted as a Dubbing Artist in director Krishna's Sillunu Oru Kaadhal rendering her voice for Bhumika Chawla, after being referred by one of A. R. Rahman's sound engineers. She debuted as a composer with a short lullaby titled Laali, which she also sang and released as part of Instagram's #1MinMusic. She is also a social activist often raising her voice against issues faced by women and has been the face of the second wave of #MeToo movement in India.
Vijay Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas.
Anuradha Sriram is an Indian carnatic and playback singer and child actress who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 3500 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Hindi films.
Shweta Mohan is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 songs and albums in all the four south Indian languages namely Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, she has also recorded songs for Hindi films and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema.
The Tamil Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Tamil films. The first Tamil award was given in 2006. However, since 1997 till 2005, a common award for playback was available for both male and female singers of all the four South Indian languages.
