S Janaki brings curtain down on six-decade career; here are some of her best renditions

After a splendid six decades career in playback singing, popular South Indian singer S Janaki, has decided it is time to call it quits. The 78-year-old will be signing off with a lullaby for the Malayalam film 10 Kalpanakal. With four national awards and numerous other awards, the singer has reached a zenith that very few manage to. She has sung over 48,000 songs in close to 20 Indian and foreign languages. As we bid her goodbye from our music industry we list out some of the most iconic songs she has lent her voice to. ‘Shiva shiva ennada naaligeyeke’

The singer has named this song from the 1977 Kannada film Hemavathi to be her toughest song. Composed by music directer L Vaidyanathan, it has two ragas — Thodi and Abogi. ‘Senthoora Poove’

Janaki received her first National Award for this song from the 1977 Tamil film 16 Vayathinile. The song was composed by the music legend Ilaiyaraaja and was picturised on a young and effervescent Sridevi. ‘Ettumanoorambalathil’

Another National Award winning song, the melodious number is from the 1981 Malayalam film Oppol. Composed by MB Sreenivasan, the lyrics were written by P. Bhaskaran. ‘Vennello Godari Andham’

This song from the 1984 Telugu film Sitaara brought Janakiamma, as she is fondly called, her fourth National Award. Another Ilaiyaraaja composition, the song has Bhanupriya rendering a beautiful semi-classical dance performance. ‘Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re’

The Nightingale of the South has also rendered some beautiful songs for Bollywood. This 1985 song from the film Saaheb gave her her only Filmfare nomination for Best Female Playback Singer. Composed by Bappi Lahiri, he also accompanied her in this song that was picturised on Anil Kapoor and Amrita Singh. The song went on to become one of the biggest party numbers of the 80s.