P Jayachandran, the veteran playback singer has been selected for the JC Daniel Award, the highest award in Malayalam cinema presented by the Kerala government. The singer has sung over 10,000 songs in various languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu in a career spanning over five decades. He has been the recipient of one national award, five Kerala State Film Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards among several others.
The award that the singer is set to receive comprises a Rs 5 Lakh cash, a citation and a plaque, Kerala’s Cultural Minister Saji Cheriyan said in a press meet. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will present the award on December 23.
Jayachandran was selected by a jury panel headed by legendary filmmaker and former JC Daniel Award-winner Adoor Gopalakrishnan. The jury committee also consists of director and actor Renji Panicker; actor Seema; Chalachithra Academy chairman and filmmaker Kamal and principal secretary (culture) Rani George.
Speaking to Silverscreen India, the National Award-winning filmmaker and jury member Kamal, said that Jayachandran is famously known as ‘Bhava Gayakan’ among the music and film fraternity. He noted that even at 77 years of age, Jayachandran continued to sing his songs with a his voice that still sounded young.
“I am glad to have worked with Jayachandran in a few films. A few years before 2000, he was very busy working in Tamil and Telugu film industries. He did not sing for Malayalam films at that time. And in 1999, when I directed a film titled Niram, I invited him to sing a song (Prayam Nammil) composed by Vidyasagar. The song was a super-duper hit. It gave a big break for the singer and from then on there was no looking back,” Kamal added.
Recommended
He further said that Jayachandran is one of the legendary singers in the industry and is the only other singer to win the JC Daniel award after Yesudas. “Manjilayil Mungi Thurthi (1966) and Karumugil kaatile are a couple of my favourite songs sung by Jayachandran. Besides that, I like the Kallayo Kadavathu song that he sang for my film Perumazhakkalam (2004). He has made an immense contribution to the industry and he is a deserving artist. We are happy to have unanimously chosen him for this prestigious award,” Kamal said.
JC Daniel Award is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. The award ceremonies began in 1992 to commemorate the contribution of the ‘father of Malayalam Cinema’ JC Daniel. Actor Madhu was the first recipient of the award. Since its inception, the award has been given to 27 individuals and Jayachandran will be the 28th artist to receive this honour. In 2020, the award was given to the Malayalam filmmaker Hariharan.