Veteran singer SP Balasubrahmanyam will be honoured with Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the year at the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Minister of Information and Broadcasting, M Venkaiah Naidu made the announcement yesterday at a press conference. “Balasubrahmanyam is being honoured for his talent. It's an award, not a reward. He has been working in the film industry since the past five decades. He has rendered more than 40,000 songs till date. He is a big name in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam apart from Hindi cinema. He has a melodious voice and hard working nature,” Naidu said.
Born as Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam in a Telugu Brahman family, the singer has received National Film Award for the best male playback singer six times and also holds a Guinness World Record for recording maximum number of songs. Balasubrahmanyam aged 70, is also a recipient of civilian honours; Padmashri and Padma Bhushan, from the Government of India.
Besides a successful career in the southern film industry, he was also considered to be the voice of superstar Salman Khan during '90s and was behind hit songs like 'Mere Rang Main', 'Hum Apke Hain Kaun' and 'Pehla Pehla Pyaar Hai'. Apart from singing, Balasubrahmanyam, has also acted in several films.