Raavu Balasaraswathi


R. Balasaraswathi, Raavu Balasaraswathi or Rao Balasaraswathi Devi is a singer and actress who performed from 1930 to the 1960s in Telugu and Tamil cinema.
She was the first light music singer on All India Radio and the first playback singer of the Telugu cinema industry.

Early life

Balasaraswathi was born in Venkatagiri in 1928. She learned music from Allathuru Subbayya and lent her voice for the first solo gramophone by HMV recording company at the age of six.

Career

She acted as child actor Ganga and also sang in the films Sati Anasuya and Bhakta Dhruva, both directed by C. Pullaiah in 1936. Observing her talent, director K. Subramaniam invited her to act in Tamil films. In the following years, she acted in Tamil films like Bhaktha Kuchela, Balayogini, and Thiruneelakantar. She played the role of Tukaram's daughter in Tukaram. The Tukaram role was portrayed by Musiri Subramania Iyer in the Tamil version and by C. S. R. Anjaneyulu in the Telugu version. In 1940, she acted with S. Rajeswara Rao in Illalu, directed by Gudavalli Ramabrahmam.
In Bhagya Lakshmi of Sri Renuka Films of Chittor V. Nagaiah, she sang for Kamala Kotnis on screen, this being the first instance of playback singing in Telugu cinema. The song Thinne Meedha Sinnoda was composed by Bhimavarapu Narasimha Rao.
She lived for some years in Mysore, and then shifted to Hyderabad. After her husband's death, she has lived with her son in her grandson's house in Secunderabad.

Music composers she sang for

She worked with G. Ramanathan, K. V. Mahadevan, C. R. Subburaman, S. V. Venkatraman, Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy, Bhimavarapu Narasimha Rao, R. Chinnaiah, S. Hanumantha Rao, S. Rajeswara Rao, P. Adinarayana Rao, G. Aswathama, Ogirala Ramachandra Rao, Balantrapu Rajanikanta Rao, Adepalli Rama Rao, C. N. Pandurangan, Chittor V. Nagaiah, T. V. Raju, Ghantasala, Naushad, L. Malleswara Rao, S. Dakshinamurthi, Vedha, M. Ranga Rao, Master Venu, R. Sudharsanam, Pamarti Krishna Murty, G. Govindarajulu Naidu and M. B. Sreenivasan.

With playback singers

She sang duets mostly with Ghantasala and A. M. Rajah. She sang with T. M. Soundararajan, T. A. Mothi, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, S. Rajam, M. S. Ramarao, Pithapuram Nageswara Rao and Subramanyam.
She also sang duets with A. P. Komala, M. S. Rajeswari, K. Rani, Jikki and P. S. Vaidehi.

Filmography

Playback singer

Actress

  1. Sati Anasuya Telugu
  2. Bhakta Dhruva Telugu
  3. Kuchela Tamil
  4. Balayogini Tamil
  5. Tukaram Telugu & Tamil
  6. Thiruneelakantar Tamil
  7. Illalu Telugu
  8. Apavadu Telugu
  9. Chandrahasa Telugu
  10. Dhaasippen Tamil
  11. Radhika Telugu
  12. Bilhana Telugu & Tamil
  13. Shanthi Nivasam Telugu
  14. Sabhash Raja Telugu

    Awards