Veteran singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam will be felicitated with the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the upcoming 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu announced here on Tuesday.

“Balasubrahmanyam will be honoured for his talent. He has been working in the film industry since past five decades and has rendered more than 40,000 songs. He is a big name in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and also in Hindi. He has a melodious voice and hard working nature. It’s an award, not a reward,” Naidu said.

Born as Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, the six-time National Award winning-singer holds the record of singing the maximum number of songs. He is also a recipient of civilian honours — Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan — conferred by the union government.

Balasubrahmanyam, 70, has delivered many hit songs like “Om kaara nadhaanu” (“Shankarabharanam”), “Tere mere beech mein” (“Ek Duuje Ke Liye”), “Vedam Anuvanuvuna” (“Saagara Sangamam”), “Cheppaalani Undi” (“Rudraveena”), “Thanga Thamarai” (“Minsaara Kanavu”).

The IFFI 2016 will take place from November 20-28.

Sh S. P. Balasubrahmanyam,the acclaimed singer, is conferred Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of #IFFI2016 My compliments to him

— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) November 1, 2016