Janaki, who is fondly called "The Nightingale of South India", has won four National Film Awards and 33 different State Film Awards. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore, the Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Rajyotsava award from Government of Karnataka In 2013, she refused to accept Padma Bhushan, and pointed that it is too little and had come "too late" and that South Indian artists were not given their due recognition.