It is a well-known fact that P. Susheela was at the peak of her career until the 80’s in the South Indian film industry. In this article, let’s have a look at how her career fared during this time period (1980-1989).
In Tamil film industry, P.Susheela didn’t have any stiff competition and was the numero uno until the mid-70’s when Vani Jayaram entered the field. The interesting fact is that VJ was introduced by the music director M.S. Viswanathan who was partly instrumental in PS’s successful domination in the industry. So Vani proved to be the first singer whom PS competed with during this time period. VJ getting a national award for the song “Yezhu Swarangal” from Apoorva Ragangal made a huge difference with her singing most of the songs for MSV and Shankar Ganesh and was on an equal footing along with PS. Until then S. Janaki who was singing fewer songs compared to PS and VJ started to grow with the release of the movie “Annakili” and with the introduction of Illayaraja. So, by the end of the 1970’s and beginning of eighties, PS, VJ, SJ, and L.R. Eswari had the major share of songs while many upcoming singers like Jency, Sasirekha, Uma Ramanan, S.P. Sailaja etc also had their share of successes.
During the eighties, movies were produced on a huge scale with the films averaging more than 150 a year sometimes. So there was ample opportunity for all singers and music directors to contribute. There were low budget movie makers like Rama Narayan who could make a movie on low budget and recover the amount within 15 days of the movie run. This trend continued for some time during the eighties.
In the Kannada film industry, Vani Jayaram and S. Janaki took the leading spots, but the industry produced less films compared to other regions and dubbing films couldn’t be released here.
Malayalam Film industry also had Vani and Janaki in the lead until Chitra was introduced. Then opportunity was lost for all the singers with Chitra retaining the first spot from the mid-eighties.
In Tamil Illayaraja had S. Janaki has his leading singer while VJ sang for MSV and Shankar Ganesh. However from early to mid-80’s SJ took the lead and had larger hits than any other singer. Having said that, PS carved a niche for herself in the Tamil film industry. Our database has found more than 1000 numbers by PS during this period. 1980 -111 songs, 1981 – 90 songs , 1982 - 83 songs - 1983 - 80 songs, 1984- 105 songs, 1985 – 100 songs, 1986 – 110 songs, 1987- 145 songs, 1988 -116 songs, 1989 -79 songs a total of 1019 songs in Tamil ,It could be assumed that the figure might go upto a 1200 if dubbing , unlisted movies,devotional songs etc are considered. Even though she was not heard frequently, still she was singing for a few selected banners like Sathya,AVM, Mukta, S.A.C. etc and for directors K.Balachander etc. For Illyaraja, PS has rendered 325 songs (192 in Tamil and the rest in telugu)( proof ) and majority of these songs belong to the 80's. She was also heard in a lot of devotional movies for actresses like K.R.Vijaya,Sujatha, sudha chandran etc .
However in telugu film industry PS was ruling the roost until the Late 80's. She was the chosen singer for MD Chakravarthi who was the leading MD during these times. She was made to sing for all the characters be it heroine or vamp by MD's. Other singers like SJ,VJ who were leading in other film industries were heard less here. Records indicate that PS sang more than 3300 songs during this period: 1980 – 505 songs. 1981 – 275 songs, 1982 – 400 songs , 1983 - 360 songs, 1984 - 345, 1985 - 275 Songs, 1986 - 400 songs, 1987 - 315 songs, 1988 - 341, 1989 - 150 Songs. It might reach upto 3500 if private songs, devotional songs, dubbing films, etc are included.
Even though the Kings reduced the chances of PS, it was Chakravarthi who contributed to PS’s growth and success in the industry. It is estimated that PS could have sung about 2000 songs for him (whose career spanned 3 decades with approximately 800 films to his credit). Other MD’s who also gave PS her share of songs include MD’s like Satyam, KVM,,J.V.Raghavulu,Rajan Nagendra,Raj-Koti , Ramesh Naidu,Vasu Rao, Bappi Lahiri etc. She was the prominent singer for many lead banners like Suresh Productions, Taraka Prabhu films, Padmalaya etc.
She also received 2 national awards , one in 1982 and another in 1983 and also won 5 state awards (Nandi) in 1981,1982,1984,1987,1989 during this time. Even though there were some mischief mongers who tried to stop MD's from giving her chances, PS continued to forge ahead through this tough time through God's grace and with help from some impartial persons who believed in her talent and dedication rather than politics. The telugu film industry was instrumental in PS's success with her having hits in all genres be it classic, duet, masala etc during this period.
She sang most songs for the heroines of the 80's with Jayapradha topping the list with 500+ songs (including dubbing films for her), rest being jayasudha( 500+songs), Sridevi(400 songs), Radha(300), Radhika(200songs) etc. This is because telugu films had more duets than any other industry.
Among MD's Chakravarthi gave her the major share of songs. KVM had signed PS to sing for the super hit movie "Shankarabharanam", but due to some unknown reasons other singer was chosen instead of her. What a loss for her fans! But after that KVM did manage to make PS sing in almost all his films in telugu.It is believed that she could have rendered about 2000+ songs for KVM (all lanuages). For MD satyam she has sung around 800songs(all languages).
Our database has 179 songs on Malayalam and 231 songs in kannada of PS in the 80’s. Like Singhasan under the MD bappi lahari, she has sung few hindi movies like Sanjog. Kaam kala dhandav , Mohhabat ka paigham. Sanjog and kondura.
She has also rendered devotional albums in south indaian languages and Sanskrit too. All the songs sung by her in 80’s could reach upto 5000. It is not known any other female singer could have achieved this feat during this period of time. We will have to wait for proofs and statistics.
Songs are available in http://psusheela.org
Courtesy : Srividya, United states
Songs are available in http://psusheela.org
Courtesy : Srividya, United states
