Sangeetha Sajith, the late playback singer, who wowed Jayalalithaa

Thiruvanthapuram: Sangeetha Sajith, the playback singer who passed away on Sunday, was just 15-years-old when she performed at a musical event organised as part of the Tamil Nadu State Film awards. 

Music director Deva had organised a musical programme soon after the award distribution which was attended by the late chief minister Jayalalithaa and he had asked Sangeetha to sing K B Sundarambal’s keerthan, ‘Jnana pazhathe pizhinthu’ since her voice was similar to Sundarambal’s.

By the time she finished, the hall erupted with claps. The mesmerised chief minister immediately whispered something in her Chief Secretary's ears. He returned back with a package and handed it over to her. Jayalalithaa went on to the stage and gifted her a 10 pavan gold chain. The St Josephs High School student, who had come for the event from Kottayam accompanied by her father V G Sachith, was stunned when she saw the gift.

 

The singer who was loved by Tamilians

It was the Tamil film industry that made Sangeetha popular. Even before she started living in Chennai, she had already sung for 13 Tamil films. When she settled in Chennai, her sister Smitha, who has acted in various Tamil and Malayalam films also joined her.  

 

Gone too soon

She made her Tamil film debut as a singer in ‘Nale Theerppu.’ The music was by MM Sreelekha. An impressed AR Rahman after listening to her ‘MTV Parthuputta’ called her to sing in ‘Mr Romeo.’ The sensuous ‘Thannere kadhalikkum’ song became a super-duper hit. Her last song (theme song) was in the Prithviraj starrer ‘Kuruthi.’

 

Sang Jnanapazhathe in ICU

It was on April 26th that Sangeetha came to her sister’s house at Thirumala. She was admitted to KIMS following a kidney problem. When her health became a bit better, she only wanted to know if she could sing. The doctor encouraged her to sing. And in that ICU bed, she gently sang the Jnanapazhathe keerthana.