 She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards.Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film songs across South Indian languages.The song "Paal Polave" from Tamil film "Uyarndha Manidhan" brought her the first ever award at the 16th National Film Awards, by winning her the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1969.