Telugu cinema’s first playback singer R Balasaraswathi Devi passes away at 97

Veteran actress and pioneering playback singer Rao Balasaraswathi Devi, the first playback singer in Telugu cinema, passed away at her residence in Hyderabad on Wednesday (October 15) due to age-related ailments. She was 97.

Family members said the legendary artiste had been unwell for the past few days and died peacefully around 8 am. A trailblazer in South Indian cinema, Balasaraswathi Devi holds the distinction of being Telugu film industry’s first credited playback singer.

Born in Venkatagiri in 1928, Balasaraswathi’s musical journey began early under the tutelage of Allathuru Subbayya. At the age of six, she recorded her first solo gramophone record for His Master’s Voice (HMV) — becoming the first woman to do so — and soon lent her voice to the song 'Namaste Prananadha' in the 1936 film

Sati Anasuya.

In 1943, she achieved a historic milestone with the film Bhagyalakshmi, directed by C. Pullayya and produced by Chittoor Nagayya, which became the first Telugu talkie to officially credit a playback singer for songs rendered for actress Kamala Kotnis. The film was also the 100th talkie in Telugu cinema history.

Over her illustrious career, Balasaraswathi sang more than 2,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, and other languages, working alongside legends such as Ghantasala, K.V. Mahadevan, S. Rajeswara Rao, Ramesh Naidu, Susarla Dakshinamurthi, and Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. She also popularised light classical music through performances on All India Radio, where she was among the first to sing light music at the age of 12.

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Balasaraswathi was also an actress in Telugu and Tamil films during the 1930s and 1940s, balancing her acting and singing careers before devoting herself fully to music.

In 1944, she married Raavu Pradhyumna Krishnamahipathi Surya Rao, and the couple had two sons, Gopalakrishna and Venkatakrishna.

Condolences poured in from across the Telugu-speaking states. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said Balasaraswathi Devi’s death was "an irreplaceable loss to the film industry," lauding her as the first playback singer in the South who introduced classical music to Telugu cinema.

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan remembered her as a "first-generation singer and actress" who "made her voice heard across generations" and earned a "special place in classical and light music."

Balasaraswathi continued to be celebrated well into her later years — notably being felicitated by the Seetha Ramaiah Sangeetha Seva Trust in 2014, where she sang her own classic number 'Ee Challani Rayi' after a hiatus of 45 years.

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