Watch: S. Janaki after rejecting the Padma Bhushan award: ‘I should have been given the Bharat Ratna’

For nearly five decades, S. Janaki’s voice defined Indian cinema. She sang tens of thousands of songs across multiple languages and became one of the most celebrated playback singers in the country. But in 2013, when the Government of India announced the Padma awards, something unexpected happened. S. Janaki was selected for the Padma Bhushan. Instead of accepting it, she turned it down.