CHENNAI: Legendary playback singer P Susheela entered the Guinness Book of World Records for singing the highest number of solo songs. The veteran had rendered 17,695 solo, duet and chorus songs in all the six languages in India. It was verified as on 28 January 2016 and she had been honoured with a Guinness Certificate.
Pulapaka Susheela 80, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, made her foray into tinsel town in 1950 at a time when top singers like P. Leela, Jikki, M.L. Vasanthakumari were dominating the scene. Yet, Susheela made a mark with her mellifluous and distinct voice.
Susheela Amma was the first playback singer to receive a national award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1969 for the song ‘Paal Polave’ from Sivaji starrer Tamil film ‘Uyarndha Manithan’ and later she won national honor four more times. She has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008.
At a press conference Susheela said, “I thank all my directors, producers and composers who gave me a chance in my career. This honor should go to them”. She added that she has sung more than 40,000 songs in multiple languages but only 17 and odd numbers have been taken in the records.
“A group of ten people who have formed Pusheela.org had sent my songs to the Guinness World Records and their efforts fetched me this honor”.
Talking about national award she said, “Those days, I never knew there was something called National Awards. When I received it for the first time for playback singing, it was a big surprise”.
When queried about the songs which she took extra effort to render, she replied. “I would say, all the songs I crooned were difficult. Those days there was no digital technology and no track singers and we ourselves rehearse with the troupe before going for recording. If anything went wrong even towards the end while recording, we had to start all over again from the beginning. Sometimes, we took even 30 takes for a song.”
But the ace singer refused to comment about present day singers. With a pun, she said, “You all know about the current crop of singers. You ask anything about me, I can answer. No comments about them”.
Singers and musicians have acted in many films, why didn’t you appear on screen, we ask her. “I was never keen on coming in front of the camera, although I got offers. I think I came once as a singer for a scene in one of Sundar C’s films (smiles)”.
