MS Subbulakshmi’s grandson opposes award named after her for TM Krishna

CHENNAI: A grandson of Carnatic music legend M S Subbulakshmi has moved Madras high court to restrain Chennai-based Music Academy from conferring an award named after her on the 2024 Sangita Kalanidhi-designate TM Krishna.

In his petition, V Shrinivasan has alleged that conferring the honour on Krishna would amount to awarding a ‘Bhakti’ prize to an atheist, considering the 'vile, vituperative, and scandalous' attacks made by him against the late Subbulakshmi.

According to Shrinivasan, after the demise of his grandmother in 2004, the academy, along with an English daily, instituted an annual award -- Sangita Kalanidhi M S Subbulakshmi Award – in 2005 to perpetuate her memory. The award, which also carries prize money of Rs 1 lakh, is awarded every year during the Music Academy’s annual concert season in Dec. On Mar 17, 2024, the academy issued a press release announcing this year’s award to T M Krishna, at the academy’s 98th annual concert season in Dec, the petitioner said.

“The announcement has come as a surprise to the family of Subbulakshmi and has drawn criticism from several respected artists in the field of Carnatic music,” he said. Over the last decade or so, Krishna has unjustifiably resorted to vile, vituperative, and scandalous attacks against Subbulakshmi in the press and on social media, he said.

“The statements of Krishna are downright disgraceful, unjustifiably questioning the credibility of the renowned singer at the altar of cheap politics. He would not have dared to throw such calumny on the late singer during her lifetime,” he added. It is obvious that Krishna is floating these canards to score brownie points through cheap publicity. The petitioner and his family, who are legal heirs of Subbulakshmi, have had a tough time grappling with such comments and innuendos. In this backdrop, the choice of the academy to confer the award on Krishna is paradoxical, he said.

"We are unable to fathom how the academy, which was dear to their matriarch and for whose cause she had actively worked all her life, is now honouring a person who had questioned her credibility in the world of Carnatic music by shaming her name," he said.

He added that as per the will executed by Subbulakshmi, there should be no memorial of any kind and that there should be no fund to perpetuate her name and memory. Therefore, the award itself is against the mandate of the late singer.

Therefore, he wanted the court to pass a permanent injunction against the academy or any other person from conferring the award on Krishna at its 98th annual conference in Dec.

In its response, the academy said it had no active role in selecting the recipient of the award and that the conferment of the award since 2005 was in full public gaze and there have been no objections from the family members of the late singer. Recording the submissions, Justice R M T Teeka Raman adjourned the hearing to Oct 21, for Krishna to file his response.


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