S.P. Balasubrahmanyam honoured with posthumous Padma Vibhushan

Legendary singer S P Balasubrahmanyam was on Tuesday posthumously honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the country, at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Balasubrahmanyam’s son S P Charan received the award on his father’s behalf from President Ram Nath Kovind.

Also read: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam (1946 – 2020)

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.

Also read: The best of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam

Veteran playback singer Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, or simply 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 Padma Shri award at the ceremony.

As a lyricist in Malayalam cinema, Namboothiri made his debut with the hit song “Devadundubhi Sandralayam” in 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.