Swaralaya award for P Susheela

The recipient of this year"s Swaralaya-KPAC Sulochana Award will be playback singer P. Susheela.

This award, with a purse of Rs. 50,000, established in memory of K.P.A.C. Sulochana, the great theatre playback artist, is given to female playback artists of exemplary talent. P. Susheela is receiving this award for her great contribution to the growth of South Indian film music.

Recognized as a legend in the world of South Indian cinema, Pulapaka Susheela, born in 1935 at Vijaynagaram, Andhra Pradesh, has recorded many songs in most of the Indian languages, predominantly Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada.

In a career that covers over four decades, she has received the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer five times in 1969, 1972, 1978, 1983 and 1984.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh honoured her with the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for lifetime achievement to Telugu Cinema in 2001. Four years later, she received the Special Jury Swaralaya Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music.

She is also a recent recipient of the prestigious Padmabhushan award.