Veteran actress and singer Rao Balasaraswati, considered as the first playback singer in Telugu cinema, passed away at her residence due to age-related ailments in Hyderabad on Wednesday (October 15, 2025). She was 97 years old.
Rao Balasaraswati made her debut as young as six years of age and sang more than 2,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, working alongside legendary music directors like S. Rajeswara Rao, C.R. Subburaman, K.V. Mahadevan, Susarla Dakshinamurthi, Ramesh Naidu, and Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. She also has the distinction for being the first ‘light music’ singer on All India Radio.
Balasaraswati was also an actress in Telugu and Tamil films during the 1930s and 1940s, balancing her acting and singing careers, before fully confining herself to music.
Condolences poured in from across the Telugu-speaking States. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said Rao Balasaraswati’s death was “an irreplaceable loss to the film industry,” lauding her as the first playback singer in the South who introduced classical music to Telugu cinema.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan remembered her as a first-generation singer and actress who made her voice heard across generations and earned a special place in classical and light music.