MYSORE: Reacting to the raging speculation about her health, legendary playback singer of yesteryears S Janaki asserted that she is doing ‘well and healthy’ and urged all her fans and music lovers not to give in to rumours that are currently going around in social media.

The social media was abuzz since Sunday with the rumour that S Janaki has passed away, plunging millions of her fans and music aficionados into a state of sorrow. As the rumour went viral for several hours, the renowned singer herself released a statement scotching all the speculation as mere ‘rumour-mongering’. Much before Janaki reacted to the mischievous news, her family members and industry personalities rubbished the speculation.

A minor surgery that the iconic singer of the south underwent recently appeared to have provided the spark for the mischief-makers on the social media.

Family members of Janaki have said that she is “well and healthy” after undergoing a minor operation. Sadly, this is not the first time that rumours of the singer’s death were circulated on the Internet.

Renowned singers S P Balasubrahmanyam, Mano and Manobala were among those who took to their social media accounts and dismissed the rumours about Janaki’s demise. They urged everyone to not believe rumours and stop circulating them.

“Just spoke to Janakiamma. She is in Mysuru. She is hale & healthy. Please don’t spread rumours #SJanaki,” Mano tweeted.

Manobala posted on Twitter, “No…its wrong news..she got a minor operation..she s ok now.“

S P Balasubrahmanyam, who sang thousands of songs with Janaki and whose association with her is common knowledge for all the music lovers in the south, requested everyone to be more responsible. He confirmed that he has spoken to the singer and that she is doing well.

“Since morning, I have received about twenty calls about the well-being of Janaki amma. Somebody has on social media or somehow said she is no more. What nonsense is it? I talked to her and she is doing very well. You see, what happens is, people love some artistes to the core, they may have a heart attack. Please use social media for positivity. Don’t make fun of these things. Don’t use social media for adverse things. Long live Janaki amma. She is very safe and very healthy,” SPB told Times of India.

Nicknamed 'Nightingale of South', S Janaki began her career in 1957 with the Tamil film ‘Vidhiyin Vilayattu’. She earned the reputation of being one of the all-time great singers of south, having sung thousands of songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi over a long and illustrious career. She sang more than 48,000 songs, before quietly retiring due to old age a few years back. Fondly addressed as ‘Janaki amma’, she announced her retirement in 2016.