singanalluru puttaswamaiah Muthuraju fondly called as Rajakumara from his first film "Bedara Kannappa" a smash hit in 1954 started his journey into kannada filmland... Also a singer he sang few bits in earlier films n gave his voice first time for a duet song in 1960 "Mahishasura Mardhini" He started his full fledged singing career from "Sampathige Saval" in 1973... Hav won state award twice n National award once for singing... Most successful in south India, He is one of the most successfull both as an actor n a singer in India... He has also rendered his voice for Kannada Poets lyrics n is more successfull in Devotional songs... Success rate is high due to selection of lyrics r good... First artist in south India to launch a music cassete in 1979 n hav won Golden Disc Award 6 times from Sangeetha Music company for record sales of his music cassetes... First Indian Actor to hav won Doctrate from Mysore University in 1977 n again from Hampi University in 1996... His awards include 9 filmfares for acting 9 state awards from Karnataka padmabhushana Dada saheb Phalke Karnataka Ratna r to be named as few... Thank u Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.