Legendary
singer
S
P
Balasubrahmanyam
was
on
Tuesday
(November
9)
posthumously
honoured
with
the
Padma
Vibhushan,
the
second-highest
civilian
award
of
the
country,
at
a
ceremony
at
the
Rashtrapati
Bhavan
here.
Balasubrahmanyam's
son
S
P
Charan
received
the
award
on
his
father's
behalf
from
President
Ram
Nath
Kovind.
Popularly
known
as
SPB,
the
celebrated
singer
died
in
September
2020
due
to
COVID-19
complications.
He
was
74.
His
career
spanned
five
decades
in
the
film
and
stage
music
world
with
hits
in
16
languages,
many
in
Tamil
and
his
mother
tongue
Telugu.
The
singer
was
the
on-screen
voice
of
superstars
Rajinikanth,
Kamal
Haasan
and
Salman
Khan
in
several
films.
Balasubrahmanyam
was
previously
felicitated
with
Padma
Bhushan
in
2011
and
Padma
Shri
in
2001.
Veteran
playback
singer
Krishnan
Nair
Shantakumari
Chithra,
or
simply
KS
Chithra,
and
singer
Bombay
Jayashri
Ramnath
were
also
honoured
at
the
ceremony.
Chithra
was
conferred
the
Padma
Bhushan,
the
third-highest
civilian
award
of
the
country.
A
stalwart
in
the
world
of
Indian
music,
Chithra
has
recorded
more
than
25,000
songs
in
various
Indian
languages,
including
Telugu,
Malayalam,
Tamil,
Kannada,
Hindi,
Bengali,
and
Urdu,
as
well
as
foreign
languages
such
as
Malay,
Latin,
Arabic,
Sinhalese,
English
and
French.
She
has
sung
duet
songs
with
fellow
singers
Balasubrahmanyam
and
Rajesh
Krishnan
and
collaborated
with
music
composer
AR
Rahman
on
several
hits
like
"Rukkumani
Rukkumani",
"Kehna
Hee
Kya",
"Kulu
Kulu",
"Yaaro
Sunlo
Zara",
among
others.
Singer
Bombay
Jayashri
Ramnath,
who
has
sung
in
multiple
languages
including
Tamil,
Telugu,
Kannada,
Malayalam
and
Hindi,
was
presented
with
Padma
Shri
by
the
president.
"Humbled
to
be
honoured
by
the
Government
of
India
with
Padma
Shri
#BombayJayashri
#PadmaShriAward" the
singer
wrote
on
Twitter
after
the
ceremony.
Malayalam
lyricist
Kaithapram
Damodaran
Namboothiri
was
also
conferred
with
the
Padma
Shri
award
at
the
ceremony.
As
a
lyricist
in
Malayalam
cinema,
Namboothiri
made
his
debut
with
the
hit
song
"Devadundubhi
Sandralayam"
in
the
1986
romance
drama
"Ennennum
Kannettante",
directed
by
Fazil.
He
has
since
penned
over
300
songs.
Namboothiri
later
expanded
as
an
actor,
music
composer,
poet,
and
screenwriter.