T. R. Mahalingam | |
Birth Date: | 1924 6, df=yes |
Birth Place: | Thenkarai, Sholavandan, Madurai, India |
Nationality: | Indian |
Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam (16 June 1924 – 21 April 1978)[1] born in Sholavandan Thenkarai was an Indian actor and playback singer of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his melodious songs mostly based on romantic or devotional themes.
Mahalingam's career as an actor and singer began since his childhood. He regularly appeared in stage plays popularly called special dramas. Mahalingam trained as a singer during the time when microphones and amplifiers were rarely present in performance halls. His music training, like those of singers S. G. Kittappa, Krishnan, M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and to a large extent TMS, stressed voice projection and singing loud so as to be audible in large auditoriums. So it was that in 1933, when the prominent singer Kittappa died at the early age of 28, Mahalingam got his first break in films.
In 1937, at the age of 14, Mahalingam got the chance to appear in the film Nandakumar, the third film produced by AVM. The film was based on the story of Lord Krishna wherein Mahalingam was chosen to play the lead role. The film failed at the box office in all the three languages (Tamil, Hindi and Marathi) in which it was made. Nevertheless, it received great accolades for its songs.
Mahalingam got his big break in the film Sri Valli made at the height of the Second World War, in which he played the part of Lord Murugan. The film did well at the box-office and established Mahalingam's reputation as both an actor and a singer.
Many music directors gave him memorable songs, including S. V. Venkatraman, K. V. Mahadevan, Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, G. Ramanathan, Sharma Brothers, T. A. Kalyanam, C. N. Pandurangan, Lalitha Venkatraman, T. Rajagopala Sarma, C. R. Subbaraman, T. G. Lingappa, S. Rajeswara Rao, R. Sudarsanam, and Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan.
While Mahalingam had many solo hit songs, he also sang with other singers.
He sang the most number of duets with S. Varalakshmi.
He also sang duets with other female singers: P. A. Periyanayaki, T. R. Rajakumari, P. Bhanumathi, T. V. Rathnam, A. P. Komala, Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, T. S. Bagavathi, S. Janaki, P. Leela and P. Susheela.
He was also paired to sing with male singers such as Sirkazhi Govindarajan and S. C. Krishnan.
See main article: List of songs recorded by T. R. Mahalingam.
Year | Film | Language | Banner | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1938 | AVM Productions | |||
1939 | Tamil | Salem Sankar Films | ||
1940 | Bhooloka Rambai | Tamil | Salem Shanmugha Films & Vijaya Maruthi Pictures | |
1940 | Parasuramar | Tamil | ||
1941 | Tamil | Central Studios | ||
1942 | Tamil | Modern Theatres | ||
1942 | Mayajothi | Tamil | ||
1942 | Tamil | |||
1943 | Tamil | Bhuvaneshwari Pictures | ||
1944 | Baktha Hanuman | Tamil | Raman Pictures | |
1945 | Tamil | Pragathi Studios | ||
1947 | Tamil | AVM Productions | ||
1948 | Tamil | Newton Studio | ||
1948 | Tamil | AVM Productions | ||
1948 | Tamil | Modern Theatres | ||
1949 | Tamil | Pakshiraja Studios | ||
1949 | Tamil | Ganapathy Pictures | ||
1949 | Tamil | Shyamala Pictures | ||
1950 | Tamil | Balaji Pictures | ||
1950 | Tamil | Citadel Film Corporation | ||
1950 | Tamil | Sukumar Productions | ||
1950 | Tamil | Lavanya Pictures | ||
1951 | Tamil | Sukumar Productions | ||
1952 | Tamil | Sri Valli Productions | ||
1952 | Tamil | Sukumar Productions | ||
1954 | Tamil | Sukumar Productions | ||
1958 | Tamil | Kannadasan Films | ||
1959 | Tamil | Sekhar Art Film Enterprises | ||
1959 | Tamil | Aruna Films | ||
1959 | Tamil | Jupiter Pictures | ||
1960 | Tamil | Surya Films | ||
1960 | Tamil | Majestic Studios | ||
1960 | Tamil | Sri Vinayaka Pictures | ||
1960 | Tamil | Kannadasan Productions | ||
1961 | Tamil | Pazhaniappa Productions | ||
1961 | Tamil | Narasu Studio | ||
1963 | Pannaiyar Magan (Unreleased) | Tamil | RA Pictures | |
1965 | Tamil | Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures | ||
1971 | Tamil | Shashti Pictures | ||
1971 | Tamil | NAD | ||
1972 | Tamil | Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures | ||
1972 | Tamil | Sudarkodi Films | ||
1973 | Tamil | Anand Movies | ||
1973 | Tamil | Shanthi Combines | ||
1977 | Tamil | Sree Umaiyambikai Pictures | ||