It has been 13 years since the song P Leela left the world without voices. She was a unique talent immortalized by singing simple songs and devotional songs along with film songs. P Leela entered the Malayalam film background singing scene by singing “Patuka Poonkuile.. Kavuthor”. A lot of songs filled with love, affection and devotion came to life in Malayalee’s poonku.
P Leela was born in 1934 as the daughter of EK Kunhanmenon and Meenakshikuttiamma couple in Chittoor Porayattu family in Palakkad. Studied music since childhood. Tripunithura Mani Bhagavatar was Leela’s teacher. He made his debut in the world of music at the age of 12 by conducting a concert in Madras.
In 1946, Leela first entered the film playback singing world by singing the song “Srivaralakshmi Divya…” in the Tamil film ‘Kanganam’ with music by HR Padmanabhashastri. Leela last sang in the 1998 film Thirakalkkappuram.
P Leela with MS Baburaj and Abhaydev
Narayaniyam, Harinama Keerthanam, Ayyappa Suprabhatam, Guruvayur Suprabhatam, Srimukambika Suprabhatam etc. made Leela the voice of devotional singing. 62 years have passed since Narayaniyam was heard in the voice of P Leela in Guruvayoorambalam.
P Leela, who has sung in languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi, has won many awards. Many honors like Ganamani, Ganakokilam, Sangeethasaraswathi, Kalaratnam, Kalaimamani, Bhaktiganathilakam, Ganavarshini, Ganasudha, Sangeetha Narayani and many other honors came to P Leela. In 1969, he won the Kerala Government’s first film award, the Kerala Music and Drama Academy Award, and in 1999, the Kamukara Award. In 2006, the nation honored him with Padma Bhushan.
He was hospitalized since September 20, 2005 after suffering a head injury after slipping in the bathroom at home. Leela, who was suffering from asthma, underwent surgery due to bleeding in her head, but died of pneumonia on October 31.
