Madras HC restrains award in M S Subbulakshmi's name being given to T M Krishna

Madras High Court on Tuesday restrained a leading newspaper group from presenting a cash award carrying the name of Carnatic music legend M S Subbulakshmi to the winner of the Sangita Kalanidhi -- to be conferred on T M Krishna on the first day of 2025 – instituted by the prestigious The Music Academy, Chennai.  

In plain terms, Krishna can receive the Sangita Kalanidhi and Rs 1 lakh cash prize sponsored by the newspaper group but the latter cannot carry the name of Subbulakshmi. 

The verdict came on a petition filed by Subbulakshmi’s grandson, V Shrinivasan, who objected to an award in the name of the iconic singer being conferred on Krishna, considered a rebel by many Carnatic vocalists for his outspoken nature.

Justice G Jayachandran, who heard the case, held that instituting an award in Subbulakshmi’s name has gone against her wish by agreeing to Shrinivasan’s contention that the late legend had herself made it clear that no award should be named after her.  

 “His (Krishna’s opinion about M S Subbulakshmi whether good, bad or ugly will not disqualify him from getting the title Sangita Kalanidhi. Conferring this title is the prerogative of the executive committee of the Music Academy,” the judge wrote in his order. 

According to the petition, The Hindu Group has been presenting a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh to the Sangita Kalanidhi awardee in the name of Sangita Kalanidhi M S Subbulakshmi Award since 2005. 

Shrinivasan’s objection was not only to the award being presented to Krishna, whom he accused of making “vile, vituperative and scandalous attacks” on Subbulakshmi, but also instituting an award, in general, in the name of the late singer, by arguing that it is against her will. 

He contended in his plea that Subbulakshmi, in her last will and testament executed in 1997, specifically said that no trust, foundation, or a memorial of any kind should be made in her name nor any funds or donations should be collected. 

Highlighting Krishna’s past statements on Subbulakshmi, Shrinivasan had said in the petition that honouring Krishna with an award in her name would amount to bestowing a “Bhakti prize on an atheist.” 

The decision by the Music Academy in March this year to confer Sangita Kalanidhi on Krishna during the 2024 Music Festival in December triggered a major row in the conservative Carnatic music industry. 

Those who opposed Krishna being chosen for the award accused him “vilifying” the Carnatic music world and argued that it was dangerous to overlook his “glorification of a figure” like EVR Periyar who they said “openly proposed a genocide of Brahmins.” While Ranjani-Gayatri pulled out of the season, many others threatened to return their awards. 

Krishna, who started performing at the age of six, stopped performing at the annual Margazhi Festival in 2015, after making it clear that he feels “aesthetically, socially, and philosophically disconnected from the music season.” He has also been performing at unconventional spaces, including buses and metro trains, besides before fishermen.  

However, he accepted the Music Academy’s decision to confer the Sangita Kalanidhi on him, saying it is important to recognise that some things have changed (in the sabhas) in the past 10 years. 

“My choices as a musician and as an individual are there in the public domain for everybody to see. I believe in continuing to have complicated conversations and move forward musically, aesthetically, and socially to come together to realize what we all want to be as people living together,” Krishna had told DH in March.