Rashmika Mandanna to portray MS Subbulakshmi, biopic to be launched in Chennai tomorrow

CHENNAI: Actor Rashmika Mandanna is set to portray legendary Carnatic singer and Bharat Ratna awardee MS Subbulakshmi in her upcoming biopic.

Subbulakshmi's music continues to be heard across homes, temples and concert halls, and the biopic is intended to present her life and legacy to audiences across generations, the makers said.

The biopic will be offically launched at The Music Academy, Chennai, on Subbulakshmi’s 110th birth anniversary tomorrow (September 16). Actor-producer and Rajya Sabha MP Kamal Haasan will attend the launch as the chief guest.

Anirudh Ravichander will compose the music for the film, which will be directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri of Jersey (2019) and Kingdom (2025) fame.

The Subbulakshmi biopic will be jointly produced by Allu Aravind's Geetha Arts, Rockline Venkatesh's Rockline Entertainment, and Bunny Vasu's Bunny Vas Works.

The makers said the film project has involved years of work to secure the necessary rights, permissions, literary sources and family associations required to tell Subbulakshmi's story.

Rashmika, who was last seen in Cocktail 2 with Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, is set to act against her husband Vijay Deverakonda in the period drama Ranabaali, releasing on October 16. She also has Ravindra Pulle's Mysaa lined up, in which she plays a Gond woman.

Who was MS Subbulakshmi?

Legendary Carnatic vocalist MS Subbulakshmi had a career spanning more than seven decades. Born in an Isai Vellar family in Madurai on September 16, 1916, she recorded her first song, Maragatha Vadivu, at the age of 10.

She performed concerts, recorded albums and sang playback in several languages, including Tamil, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati and Bengali. She also helped take Carnatic music to international audiences, even performing at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 1966.

Subbulakshmi acted in six films between 1938 and 1947 and is best known for her portrayal of saint-poet Meera Bai in Meera (1945). At the Delhi premiere of the Hindi version in 1947, poet-freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu reportedly relinquished her own title, 'Nightingale of India', in Subbulakshmi’s honour.

She later withdrew from cinema to focus on music. In 1998, she became the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. Affectionately known as MS Amma, she died in Chennai on December 11, 2004. Her rendition of the Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatham morning hymn composed around 1430 AD by Prativadibhayanakara Sri Anantacharya, still echoes across millions of homes every dawn.