Nanda Malini

Nanda Malini
නන්දා මාලනී
Malini in 2006
Born	Mirihana Arachchige Nanda Malini Perera (1943-08-23)23 August 1943 Kotahena, British Ceylon
Died	20 August 2026(2026-08-20) (aged 82) Nawala, Sri Lanka
Education	Heywood Institute of Art Bhatkhande Music Institute (1963) Sri Gunananda Vidyalaya
Occupation	Singer
Spouse	Suneth Gokula (Former)
Children	2
Parents	Mirihana Arachchige Vincent Perera (father) Liyanage Emily Perera (mother)
Awards	Doctor of Philosophy (Fine Arts) Honoris Causa (University of the Visual & Performing Arts – 2017)
Musical career
Genres	Pop soul rhythm and blues Indian classical music
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	1956–2026
Labels	Singlanka/Tharanga/Nilwala MEntertainment Ransilu
Musical artist

Mirihana Arachchige Nanda Malini Perera (Sinhala: මිරිහාන ආරච්චිගේ නන්දා මාලනී පෙරේරා; 23 August 1943 – 20 August 2026), popularly known as Nanda Malini (නන්දා මාලනී), was a Sri Lankan musician. One of the best-known and most honoured singers of Sri Lanka, Malini's choice of singing themes is based on real-life and socio-cultural situations. Her songs have intricate notional ideas of relationships, life-circumstances, and emotions that stem out of human realities.

Early life

Nanda Malini was born in Lewwanduwa in Aluthgama, Ceylon on 23 August 1943, as the fourth child to a rural family of nine. Her father, Vincent Perera, was a skilful tailor and ready-made coat maker. Her mother, Liyanage Emily Perera, was a housewife. She had four sisters and four brothers. She moved to Kotahena in Colombo as an adolescent and was admitted to Sri Gunananda Vidyalaya, where she came under the tutelage of T. N. Margaret Perera.

She was married to Suneth Gokula, and the couple had two daughters – Varuni Saroja and Ama Sarada. The elder daughter Varuni is married to Chaminda, son of popular lyricist Dharmasiri Gamage. The younger daughter Ama is married to Sanjeewa.

Career

In 1956, she contested the Padya Gayana competition held at Borella YMBA, in which she won a gold medal. After winning the poetry contest, W. D. Amaradeva, then at Radio Ceylon, invited Malini to take part in a song. She sang the song Budu Sadu written by Asoka Colombage and set to music by D. D. Danny on Karunaratne Abeysekera's popular radio programme Lama Mandapaya. In 1963, Amaradeva selected Malini as a background singer for the film Ranmuthu Duwa, the first Sinhala colour film. She sang the song Galana Gagaki Jeewithe (Sinhala: ගලන ගඟකි ජීවිතේ) with Narada Disasekara, the first song written by Chandraratne Manawasinghe for cinema. The film won all the Sarasavi awards for music that year and Malini won the award for Best Female Singer, her first major award. Later, she sang in many films and won 11 Sarasavi awards, 8 Presidential awards and was adjudged the most popular female vocalist from 1995–98.

Malini continued her training after achieving fame, learning under B. Victor Perera. She studied for a year at the Heywood Institute of Art and moved on to Bhatkhande Music Institute in Lucknow, India in 1963. She would later return to the University to obtain a Visharada degree in 1984 with a First Division Distinction.

Upon her return to Sri Lanka, Malini appeared on Amaradeva's programme Madhuvanthi singing the songs Sannaliyane and Ran Dahadiya Bindu Binds. Malini had a string of successful releases. Her lyrics depict realistic life situations, love, relationships, and emotions. The songs Pipunu Male Ruwa, Sudu Hamine, and Kada Mandiye attest to her effort to expose the hearts of women. Some of Malini's popular songs, such as Manda Nawa Karanawa, show a humorous and sensitive account of a young woman's experience of loneliness.

In 1971, Malini collaborated with Amaradewa in the Srawana Aradhana concert. In 1973, she started her first solo concert series, and after having 530 shows the series ended on 22 May 1979. In August 1981 she started another concert series Sathyaye Geethaya. She played 500 shows and ended in August 1984. She conducted her next solo musical concert series Pavana in June 1987 which ran for 18 months with 205 shows. Her songs in Pavana were banned in SLBC and SLRC where the concert was also banned. After 22 years her newest solo musical concert titled Shwetha Rathriya was held with the collaboration of Sirasa FM in 2010.

In 1984, she established a music academy Nanda Malini Ashram.

She produced 25 cassettes such as Malata Renu, Saadu Naada and Sari Podiththak. On 8 September 2007, she launched her CD Etha Kandu Yaye comprising a collection of 16 award-winning songs. The launching ceremony was held at the BMICH Open Air Theatre at 7.30 p.m. In 1993, she composed a CD Kunkuma Pottu which has songs sung in Tamil. Another of her CD's titled Andaharaya is made up of music composed of computer software.

In 2017, the honorary degree Darshana Shuri, Doctor of Philosophy of Fine Arts, was conferred on her by the University of Visual and Performing Arts. It was the first time that a female artist was recognized by a university in Sri Lanka.

Death and legacy

Malini died on 20 August 2026, three days before her 83rd birthday.

In 2004, a hybrid orchid was named "Nanda Malini Ascosanda" in honour of Nanda Malini.

Albums

Discography

Awards

Malini won numerous awards in Sri Lanka including National Awards, popular awards and awards in film and television backgrounds singing.

References

External links

• Nanda Malini's Songs
• Milestones in the evolution of Sinhala film music
• තාත්තා කිව්වා උඹට පිස්සුද
• Nanda Malini at IMDb
• Nanda Malini discography at Discogs
• Nanda Malini's Lyrics