Sujatha Mohan (credited as Sujatha) is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

movies. She has also sung for

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, Badaga,

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and Marathi movies. In a career spanning 48 years, she has recorded more than 7,000 songs to date. Sujatha mohan on stage

Personal life

Sujatha Mohan is the granddaughter of

Parur T. K. Narayana Pillai Paravoor Thazhathuveettil Krishnan Kartha Narayana Pillai (25 March 1890 – 23 June 1971) was an Indian freedom fighter during the British Raj in India and was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) which fought against the Britis ...

, the first Chief Minister of the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin State after India gained

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

. Her father, the late Dr. Vijayendran died when she was two years old. She completed her graduation in Economics from the St. Teresa's College,

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

. She married Dr. V. Krishna Mohan on 9 May 1981. Her only daughter, Shweta Mohan, is also a singer. Radhika Thilak and

G. Venugopal Gopinathan Nair Venugopal (born 10 December 1960), popularly known as G. Venugopal, is an Indian playback singer known for his works in Malayalam films. He started his singing career in the film '' Odaruthammava Aalariyam'' (1984). Since then he ...

are her cousins.

Career

Sujatha shot to fame in the seventies as ''Baby Sujatha'', the schoolgirl who regularly used to sing with K. J. Yesudas in his stage shows all over the world. She recorded her first song, "Kannezhuthy Pottuthottu" when she was in the sixth standard. The song was composed by

M. K. Arjunan M. K. Arjunan ( ml, എം.കെ. അർജുനൻ; 1 March 1936 – 6 April 2020) was an Indian film and theatre composer, known for his works in Malayalam cinema and the theatre of Kerala. He was fondly referred to as ''Arjunan Master''. E ...

for the 1975 Malayalam movie ''Tourist Bungalow''. She recorded songs for Shyam in ''Kamam Krodham Moham'' and

Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This ...

in ''Aparadhi''. Around this time, composer

M. G. Radhakrishnan Malabar Gopalan Radhakrishnan (29 July 1940 – 2 July 2010) was an Indian music director and Carnatic vocalist from Kerala. Personal life M. G. Radhakrishnan was born on 29 July 1940 at Haripad, in Alappuzha district, Kerala as the eldes ...

got her to record many non-film songs; the biggest hit among them was "Odakkuzhal Vili". She debuted in Tamil through the song "Kaadhal Oviyam Kandein" from ''

Kavikuyil ''Kavikkuyil'' is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Devaraj–Mohan. The film stars Sivakumar, Sridevi and Fatafat Jayalaxmi, with S. V. Subbaiah, Rajinikanth and Senthamarai in supporting roles. It was released on 29 July 1977. ...

'' (1977), tuned in ''Hameer Kalyani'' raga by Illayaraja, but it was not included in the film. Her first released song in Tamil was "Kalai Paniyil" from the Tamil film ''

Gaayathri ''Gayathri'' is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language film directed by R. Pattabhiraman and written by Panchu Arunachalam. It stars Jaishankar, Rajinikanth and Sridevi. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Sujatha. It was released on 7 Oc ...

'' (1977), starring

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Fem ...

and Rajinikanth with music by Ilaiyaraja. She sang for Ilaiyaraaja in ''

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

'', ''Kavikuyil'' and ''Ilamai Kolangal''. After her marriage in 1981, she took a sabbatical from playback singing. She made a successful comeback in 1988 through ''Kadathanadan Ambadi'', followed by the hit '' Chithram''. She used to sing ad jingles in the late 1980s for

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

(such as the Premiere Cooker ad and the Tilda Rice ad). Then Rahman got her to sing " Pudhu Vellai Mazhai" from

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...

's 1992 film '' Roja'', which became one of the biggest hit songs in India. The backing vocals for the song " Kadhal Roja" were also performed by Sujatha. She has had other hit songs, most of them with Rahman from films including ''

Pudhiya Mugam ''Pudhiya Mugam'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by Suresh Chandra Menon. It stars Revathi, Suresh Chandra Menon, Vineeth and Kasthuri. The film featured music by A. R. Rahman. ''Pudhiya Mugam'' is an adaptation ...

'' (1992), ''

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the r ...

'' (1993), ''

Jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and pa ...

'' and '' Minsaara Kanavu'' (1997). She has also recorded some songs in

, including "Dil Hai Sanam" (the Hindi version of "Thee Thee") from '' Chor Chor'' (''Thiruda Thiruda''), "Ishq Bina" from '' Taal'', "Hai Jaana" from '' Pukar'' and "Ishwar Allah" from ''

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

'', and provided backing vocals for the song "Tum Ho Meri Nigahom" from ''

Kabhi Na Kabhi ''Kabhi Na Kabhi'' () is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language action film co-written and directed by Priyadarshan. It stars Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Pooja Bhatt. The film was produced by R. Mohan (aka GoodKnight Mohan) in the banner of a Malayalam ...

'', all of them composed by

. She has had many of her notable and successful songs under the musical direction of A. R. Rahman. Her husky voice has given her huge number of fans across. She made a strong comeback in the Malayalam film industry in the mid-1990s and most of her notable Malayalam songs were composed by

Vidyasagar Vidyasagar or Vidya Sagar may refer to: People *Acharya Vidyasagar (born 1946), prominent Digambar Jain Acharya (1946-) * Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Bengali scholar *Vidyasagar (composer) (born 1963), South Indian music director * ...

. Most of her hit songs from Telugu are composed by Mani Sharma. She was also a judge in munch star singer junior, IDEA star singer, AIRTEL super singer (VIJAY TV).

Discography

Awards

Sujatha has received several awards and recognitions for her work in the South Indian film musical world. She has been awarded the

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government o ...

award by the Government of Indian state Tamil Nadu in 2021. She was also awarded Kerala, Tamil Nadu state awards.

Kerala State Film Awards The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Ch ...

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

Kerala Film Critics Award The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were insti ...

South Indian International Movie Awards South Indian International Movie Awards, also known as the SIIMA Awards, rewards the artistic and technical achievements of the South Indian film industry. It was launched in 2012 by Vishnu Vardhan Induri and Brinda Prasad Adusimilli to apprec ...

Asianet Film Awards

Other prominent awards & nominations

* 1997 - Dinakaran Cinema Awards for Best Female Playback Singer - ''Surya Vamsam'' * 1997 - Cinema Express Awards for Best Female Playback Singer - ''Surya Vamsam'' * 1998 - Dinakaran Cinema Awards for Best Female Playback Singer - '' Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen'' * 2015 – Asiavision Awards for Best Female Playback Singer – ''Ottamandaram'' * 2014 – Thikkurishi Award (shared with Shewta) for movie Ottamandaram * 2013 – JFW magazine Women Achievers Award. * 2009 – Swaralaya Yesudas Award * 2008 – Best female singer award in GMMA (Gulf Malayalam Music Awards) * The Film Critics award 11 times * * * Vanitha award for 'Kallai Kadavathu' in 'Perumazhakkalam' * Mathrubhoomi Award for 'Kallai Kadavathu' in 'Perumazhakkalam' * Raju Pilakkad Film Award * Lifetime Achievement Award from Zee Tamil saregamapa little champs she got the award from her mother * South Indian Bank women's achiever's award 2017 * Mirchi Music Awards 2018: Lifetime achievement *

Kamukara Purushothaman Kamukara Purushothaman (4 December 1930 – 26 May 1995) was an Indian singer. He was a noted playback singer in Malayalam cinema during its early years. He has recorded over 170 songs in 68 movies in various South Indian languages. Early l ...

Kamukara Award 2019: Lifetime achievement (Award from

P. Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

) * Kalaimamani 2021

Malayalam album songs

* "Ilamyel Kondu Njaan" – ''Ithal'' (2016) * "Maayumee thaazvarayooram" – ''Album'' (2015) * "Vaadyaghosham" – ''Kerala Piravi Day'' (2014) * "Kanna Neeyengupoi" – ''Nandagopalam'' (2013) * "Kayalthirakalil Kanneeralakalil" – ''Kulirmazhayai'' (2011) * "Athramel Athramel" – ''Danaha'' (2011) * "Ravereyayittum" – ''Pranayamarmaram'' (2009) * "Ee Manjil" – ''Spandanam'' (2010) * "Ennennum" – (2010) * "Manju Peyyume" – ''Purple'' (2009)

TV shows

She has Judged several popular reality shows over South Indian television across Malayalam and Tamil languages. ;As Judge

References

External links

*
Sujatha's official website

Sujatha's Instagram Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohan, Sujatha Living people Indian women playback singers Kerala State Film Award winners Telugu playback singers Tamil playback singers Malayalam playback singers Kannada playback singers Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Bollywood playback singers Film musicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian singers Singers from Thiruvananthapuram 21st-century Indian singers Women musicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian women singers 1963 births St. Teresa's College alumni