HYDERABAD: Iconic actor-singer Raavi Balasaraswathi Devi, who was revered and hailed as the first playback singer of Telugu cinema, passed away at her Hyderabad residence on Wednesday. She was 97 years old.
Born in 1928 in a small town called Venkatagiri in Madras Presidency, Balasaraswathi began learning music at a very young age. At the age of 6, she lent her voice for the first solo gramophone record by HMV. In 1936, after working in two films as a child artist — Sati Anasuya and Bhakta Dhruva — with the screen name ‘Ganga’, she was discovered by renowned filmmaker K Subramaniam who cast her in Tamil films Bhaktha Kuchela (1936), Balayogini (1937) and Thiruneelakantar (1939).
However, it was the 1943 film Bhagyalaxmi that cemented her place in the history of Indian cinema.
Directed by Pullayya and produced by Chittoor Nagayya, Bhagyalaxmi was the first Telugu film that featured a playback singer giving vocals for an actor on-screen. The song was Thinne Meedha Sinnoda, picturised on Kamala Kotnis and composed by Bhimavarapu Narasimha Rao, and Balasaraswathi became the first playback singer of Telugu cinema.
A year later, Balasaraswathi got married to Raavu Pradhyumna Krishnamahipathi Surya Rao. As a playback singer, Balasaraswathi was active for over 25 years in the industry, singing for both Telugu and Tamil films.
Besides her work as an actor and singer in cinema, Balasaraswathi also achieved great fame and respect with her work in radio, where she came to be known as ‘The Light Singer’.