Sushilarani Patel, a Classical singer died at 96

Sushilarani Patel, the renowned classical singer of India died at her Bandra home on 24 July 2014 due to heart attack. She was 96. She in 2002 became a Sangeet Natak Academy laureate.

Patel, a widow of Baburao Patel was living alone in her Bandra home since his death in 1982 and was cared by her disciplines as she had no close relatives. Baburao Patel was the person, who ran India’s first Bollywood trade journal FilmIndia.

About Sushilarani Patel
• She bagged a recording assignment with the HMV music company in 1942 by the help of Patel, to whom she married later  
• Patel, in 1946 produced two movies namely Gwalan and Draupadi with Sushilarani as the heroine and singer
• She continued her singing career under gurus that included legendary Mogubai Kurdikar and Sundarabai Jadhav
• To encourage classical music among the masses and also discover new talent, the couple founded Shiv Sangeetanjali in 1961
• Some of the prestigious honours and awards bagged by her included
a) Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award
b) Sangeet Natak Akademi
c) Maharashtra Rajya Sanskritik Puraskar
• She had trained several disciples of which some where
a) Sitar maestro Ustad Alim Khan
b) Alvira Khan (sister of actor Salman Khan)
c) Kiran Rao (wife of Aamir Khan who before being married was a paying guest with her)