Sulochana Chavan

Sulochana started her career at a very early age.^[1] At age six or seven, she took part in local dramas as Krishna in garbas. She then started acting in Gujarati theatre. She took lessons in Urdu language and also worked in Hindi-Urdu plays. She also worked in some Punjabi and Tamil films. She was introduced to the music director Shyambabu Pathak by makeup artist Shubam Dandekar. She then started going to V. Shantaram's Rajkamal Studios with her mother to take lessons in singing. At the age of 11, Chavan started singing professionally and sang in the movie Krishna Sudama (1947).^[2] She was credited as K. Sulochana after her maiden surname Kadam.^[3]

Her first lavani was "Naav Gaav Kashyala Pustat? Aaho Me Aahe Kolhapurchi, Mala Ho Mhantat Lavangi Mirchi" for the 1962 film Rangalya Raatri Asha where the music was composed by Vasant Pawar and the lyrics were penned by Jagdish Khebudkar. Chavan later went on to sing many lavanis through Marathi and Hindi films as well as doing stage performances.^[3][4]

Sulochana Kadam was born on 13 March 1933 in Fanas Wadi, Mumbai to Mahadev and Radhabai Kadam.^[5][6] She married Shamrao Chavan, director of the film Kalgitura (1955) whereupon she came to be known as Sulochana Chavan.^{[citation needed]} She credited her husband with teaching her basics of pronunciation and stress.^[5][3]

Chavan published an autobiography 'Maaze Gaane Maaze Jagane' (lit. 'My Singing My Life').^[7]

Chavan died on 10 December 2022, at the age of 89.^[2][8][9]

Chavan was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in March 2022.^[10] She has also been conferred the title of Lavani Samradhni (lit. 'Lavani Queen') for her singing contribution to the art genre. The title is conferred by the notable Marathi littérateur Pralhad Keshav Atre in 1952.^[1][3] She was honoured with the Lata Mangeshkar Award for the year 2010 instituted by Government of Maharashtra.^[11] In 2012, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award was conferred on her.^[12]