Nanjiamma: 62-year-old tribal who won National Award for Best Female Playback Singer

She won the hearts of millions of Malayali filmlovers with just one song: 'Kalakkatha Sandhana’ from the action entertainer ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’. The song won Nanjiamma, a tribal singer from Attapadi in Palakkad district of Kerala, the National Award for Best Female Playback Singer on Friday.

Nanjiamma, alternatively spelt Nanchamma in many reports, was handpicked by director K R Satchithanandan, popularly known as Sachy, to sing in his film. When the awards were announced, Satchithanandan won the Best Director award for 2020. It was awarded posthumously. He died in June 2020 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

For Nanjiamma, the news of the award comes tinged with sadness. "He (Sachy) is gone. I am happy to win the award, but deeply sad that he is not with us to hear this news. It was he who asked me to sing and I did it," she said.

The 62-year-old was a co-singer in three more songs in the film. But it was her title song 'Kalakkatha Sandhana’ - with its infectious beat and lyrics in a dialect unfamiliar to Malayali audiences - that catapulted her to fame in Kerala. The lyrics is credited to her.

After the song was out Nanjiamma became a household name in Kerala. She also played a role in the film as the mother of the character played by the actor Biju Menon, who in turn bagged the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 68th National Film Awards.