One of India's most versatile singers, Vani Jairam, is no longer with us. The singer was found dead in her residence in Chennai. She was 77. It was her maid who discovered her death, when she told the reporters, "I rang the bell five times at Vani Jairam's residence. But she didn't open the door. Even my husband called her up but she didn't receive the call. It's only she who stays at this residence." Vani Jairam's demise will definitely be a double blow to fans of South cinema, after recent death of Telugu filmmaker K Vishwanath. Vani Jairam Found Dead at Her Chennai Residence Days After Being Awarded the Padma Bhushan.

It is even saddening that recently Vani Jairam was conferred the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government for her illustrious career. Born in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, Vani Jairam comes from a family of classically trained singers. She was trained for Carnatic singing under the tutelage of  Kadalur Srinivas Iyengar, TR Balasubramanian and RS Mani, and have her first public performance at the age of eight.

Her professional singing career in Cinema began in 1971. It was the same year that she had sung the classic "Bole Re Papihara" from the Jaya Bachchan-Dharmendra starrer Guddi. She had won a lot of awards for this song. From thereon, Vani Jairam had sung in quite a few Hindi films like Aaina, Pakeezah, Dharm Aur Qanoon, Haisiyat among others. She then pivoted to languages like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and sang many popular songs. She had also sung in Marathi, Odia, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Assamese, Tulu, Bengali and even in English. Vani Jairam Dies at 77: Khushbu Sundar, Radikaa Sarathkumar Mourn Demise of the National Award-Winning Singer.

Watch the Song From Guddi:

Vani Jairam had received three National Awards for Best Playback singer - Female. She won it first in 1975 for K Balachander's Apoorva Raagangal, that starred Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth for the songs she sung in the film. She had won the next National Award for K Vishwanath's Sankarabharanam for the songs she crooned in the film. Vani Jairam's final National Award came for the song "Anathineeyara Hara" in the 1992 film Swathi Kiranam.

Vani Jairam was married to Jairam who passed away in 2018. During the recent Padma award announcements, she was conferred the Padma Bhushan Award. May her soul rest in peace.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2023 04:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).