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| S. Janaki gifted with a cheque for Rs. 1 lakh as a part of the P. Susheela National Award |
P. Susheela Award to S. Janaki - Photo Gallery
"This is probably the most ostentatious and most crowded function in the history of Ravindra Bharati!", said the anchor, addressing the crowds that filled the whole auditorium leaving no space to even move around on a single foot! In fact, hundreds more left the premises without space to even stand within audible reach of the auditorium! Such was the response to the first event by "P. Susheela Trust" set up by the veteran Melody Queen Pulapaka Susheela, fondly called P. Susheela! P. Susheela's birthday, November 13, marked the event on the calendar of the city with an unforgettable event! Sangam Academy headed by M. Sanjay Kishore helped organize the event.
Among the attendees of the evening were a long list of special invitees and uninvited celebrities who chose to be there out of their own interest! Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna was the Special Guest of the day, while other chief guests and celebrities included playback singers Rao Balasaraswathi, P.B. Sreenivos, V. Ramakrishna, Jamuna Rani, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S.P. Sailaja, Venu, and Srikrishna, producers R.V. Ramana Murthy and K.B. Tilak, artistes Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, Jamuna, Sarada, Geethanjali, Delhi Rajeswari, Jitmohan Mithra, Baladitya, Jhansi, music director Madhavapeddi Suresh, politicians Roshaiah, T. Subbirami Reddy, and Nannapaneni Rajakumari, ex-Advocate General S. Ramachandra Rao, and more!
P. Susheela explained that she formed the Trust to support artistes, felicitate artistic talent, and to establish a prestigious music college and library for music in Hyderabad. The library would host books pertaining to music and also tapes, disks, CDs and DVDs. The Trust also chooses one person each year for the "P. Susheela National Award". This year, a Committee comprising of veteran music director Sree M.S. Viswanathan and Telugu Cinema's first playback singer Smt. Rao Bala Saraswathi among others has chosen veteran singer S. Janaki for the Award. The awardee receives a gift of Rs. 1,00,000 and an appropriate felicitation. The event was convened by Ind Bharat Power Group Chairman and Program Committee Chairman, Sree K. Raghu.
One low-light of the event was that audience, particularly those in front rows, could not see a part or even complete dais due to too many video cameras and cameramen taking up all the space in the aisle and even stood in the seating area with video cameras! The organizer M. Sanjay Kishore, who's also a Managing Trustee of P. Susheela Trust, requested the audience to cooperate, because so many cameras had to be set up to let non-attendees to watch the program too, and the audience fell in line soon as the actual event started.
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| S. Janaki & P. Susheela garlanded together by Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna |
Minister of State Sree Roshaiah informed that the Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy responded positively about providing land and other amenities and funds to the Trust to fulfill their intentions for a better situation for music and artistes in the State. Among the appreciative audience, Sree T. Subbirami Reddy announced Rs. 5,00,000 as his donation to P. Susheela Trust. Film celebrities shared their experiences of working with P. Susheela and S. Janaki, and their memories of the past.
The felicitation programme got more attractive after the veteran carnatic musician Dr. Balamuralikrishna garlanded both P. Susheela and S. Janaki with one garland, and everyone else followed suit. Every speaker highlighted the exemplary, amicable relation of mutual respect that the veteran singers and artistes shared, and the mesmerized audience could see it in reality! S. Janaki was praised to have sung about 16,000 songs in over 15 languages including German and English since 1957, while P. Susheela was praised as the female playback singer with second-most number of songs (about 40,000) only after Lata Mangeshkar, since 1952. Another highlight of the event was a recital of P. Susheela and S. Janaki's songs by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S.P. Sailaja and party. Among those sung at the event were award-winning songs by the veterans.
On the whole, the event was a glittering night of memories to music lovers in the city! P. Susheela Trust also plans to provide pension to musicians in Guntur on December 04, commemorating the birthday of the legendary playback singer Sree Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao.
