T. R. Mahalingam (actor)

Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam (1923–1978) was a Tamil film actor, singer and music composer of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his melodious songs mostly based on romantic or devotional themes.

Early days

From his childhood, Mahalingam used to act and sing in the stage dramas popularly called special dramas. During those days, his closest companion was the famous singer S. C. Krishnan. During that time, when microphones and amplifiers were rarely available, performers had to sing very loudly to make themselves heard. This was how the early singers like Mahalingam, S. G. Kittappa, Krishnan, M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and to a large extent TMS trained their voices. In 1933, when prominent singer Kittappa died at the early age of 28, Mahalingam got his first chance at film.

Acting

In 1937, at the age of 14, Mahalingam got the chance to appear in the film called Nandakumar (which was 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. However, the film flopped at the box office in all the three languages (Tamil, Hindi and Marathi) in which it was made. Nevertheless, the film was praised 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 singer.

Music composers he sang for

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. Subburaman, T. G. Lingappa, S. Rajeswara Rao, R. Sudharsanam, and Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan.

Playback singers he sang with

He had many solo songs but also sang with other singers.

He sang immemorable the most number of duets with S. Varalakshmi.

He also sang duets with female singers with P. A. Periyanayaki, T. R. Rajakumari, P. Bhanumathi, T. V. Rathinam, A. P. Komala, Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, T. S. Bagavathi, S. Janaki, P. Leela and P. Suseela.

He also sang with other male singers such as Seerkazhi Govindarajan and S. C. Krishnan.

Filmography

• Nandanaar
• Thanthaikku Pin Thamaiyan
• Pannaiyar Magal

References

• Detailed biography of actor T. R. Mahalingam
• Article on T. R. Mahalingam by Shaji
• T. R. Mahalingam on IMDb
• T. R. Mahalingam,the Actor Singer in My Movie Minutes