Legendary Singer P Susheela entered Guinness Book of Records for the highest songs in over six languages
Susheela has over 30,000 songs to her credit across multiple languages. She has sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and other Bharatiya languages
One more honour in the feather cap of legendary playback singer Pulapaka Susheela Mohan (born 1935), as she now becomes the Guinness World Records title holder for the highest number of solo, duet and chorus-backed songs in over six Bharatiya languages.
In an official certificate presented by Guinness, it was verified that she has sung 17,695 solo, duet and chorus-backed songs as on January 28, 2016. With an illustrious career lasting over five decades, Susheela has over 30,000 songs to her credit across multiple languages. She has sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and other Bharatiya languages.
In Telugu alone, she has sung close to 20,000 songs, followed by around 10,000 songs in Tamil, besides much more in other languages. Having made her singing debut in 1952 Tamil film “Petra Thai”, she went on to croon in several classics such as “Missamma”, “Savaale Samaali”, “Siri Siri Muvva” and “Meghasandesham”. Susheela has five National Awards to her credit, besides the coveted Padma Bhushan , which was presented to her in 2008. The acclaimed singer has also won honours of several State governments in her long singing career which includes the Kalaimaamani Award of Tamil Nadu (1991) and Ragupathy Vangayya Award of Andhra Pradesh (2004).
“I will sing even now if I get the opportunity,” the 80-year-old playback singer said adding she had sung all kinds of songs and had learnt the nuances the hard way. “I came to Chennai only after getting trained in Carnatic music, so it was not that difficult,” she said and recalled how her practice sessions made her voice better. Speaking about the awards, the renowned playback singer P Susheela said that the adjudicators had only considered songs she had sung since 1960s. “Please remember that I started singing in 1951,” she said. None of this would have been possible without the work of her fans, who, by setting up psusheela.org, catalogued the songs that she had sung over the last few decades and sent it to the adjudicators of the award. Reflecting on the recognition, the singer said that she views it as an acknowledgement of her hard work. “There is a lot of hard work that has gone behind this achievement. Nowadays there are innumerable television channels and newspapers, a talented singer can shine through quickly. But when I was singing, it was very slow and I had to work my way up, step by step,” she recalled vividly .
“I was offered a chance to act by several directors, but I refused saying that I wouldn’t like to act even if I was paid a crore,” she said, adding, “My heart was in music”.
In 2011, Asha Bhosle featured in the Guinness World Records for 11,000 solos, duets and chorus supported songs in over a dozen Indian languages.
“I proudly recall that you had sung playback songs not only for me but also for my mother (Sandhya),”TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said, adding how several films got honours due to her sweet voice in songs.
DMK chief Karunanidhi said the legendary singer's voice was “sweeter than honey,” and stated that through her timeless songs she had earned a permanent place in the hearts of the people.” TS Venkatesan
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