“The next time you hear the Hindi song: ‘Aye mere wattanke log’ (Oh people of my country) your body will automatically stiffen even if you do not understand its meaning. That is the power of Lata Mangeshkar’s golden voice.
She sang the song on January 27, 1963 against the backdrop of the Sino-Indian conflict. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who listened to the song was visibly moved,” said Nagalingam Kumarakuruparan, an Indologist based in Hyderabad, India in an interview with the Sunday Observer.
Hindi fans living all over the world will not see or hear of any other playback singer in the calibre of Lata Mangeshkar. She has sung thousands of Hindi, Marathi and Bengali songs for films. She was born as Hema Mangeshkar on September 28, 1929 as the eldest daughter of musician Pandit Deenanath and Shevani in Indore.
Her father was a classical singer and a theatre artiste. Lata has four siblings – Meena, Asha Bhosle, Usha and Hridaynath – who are also accomplished singers. Her father adopted the surname ‘Mangeshkar’ to identify with his native town Mangeshi in Goa. Eventually, Lata came to be known as Lata Mangeshkar.
Lata’s father was closely associated with India’s freedom struggle. Lata sang many of his patriotic songs on stage. However, her father died when she was 13. Vinayak Damodar, the owner of Navyug Chitrapat Movie Company, a close friend of the family, took care of them. He also helped Lata to become a singer and an actress.
She sang her first Hindi song ‘Mata ekpootkiduniya’ for the Marathi film ‘Gajabhau’ in 1943. She started taking Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan. She was introduced to music director Vasant Desai in 1946. After Vinayak’s death in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored her to become a professional singer.
When she was introduced to producer Shardar Mukherjee to sing for his film ‘Shaheed’, he dismissed Lata’s voice as “not up to the standard.”Haider was so annoyed that he said producers and music directors would fall at her feet in times to come. It was Haider who gave Lata her first major break into playback singing in his movie ‘Majboor’ in 1948. Lata later told an interviewer that Haider was her godfather.
Noor Jehan
At the initial stage, Lata tried to imitate India’s acclaimed singer Noor Jehan, but later she developed her own style of singing. Her first major hit was ‘Aayegaaanewala’ she sang for the film ‘Mahal’ in 1949. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer when she sang ‘Aaja re pardeshi’ for ‘Madhumati’ in 1958. After that she bagged many other awards regularly.
Lata has worked with almost all the well-known music directors of India. First she sang for Naushad. Later Shanker-Jaikishan paved the way for her to sing songs in many genres in the 1960s. Thereafter, she sang some of her popular songs under the direction of Laxmikant- Pyarelal. She sang over 700 songs for the composer duo over 35 years.
Then she worked with well-known music directors such as S.D. Burman and his son R.D. Burman. She also worked closely with music directors such as Kalyanji Anandji and Anand-Milind. A.R.Rahman also recorded some of her songs in the 1990s. She acted in ‘Pukar’ singing ‘Ektu hi bharosa’ composed by A.R. Rahman. She worked as a playback singer for almost all the Yash Chopa films.
In the 1990s, Lata launched her production house for Hindi films. The Gulzar-directed film ‘Lekinne’ won her the third National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. The song ‘Yaarasilisili’ was composed by her brother Hridaynath. She became extremely popular after she sang ‘Sathyam Shivam Sundaram’ for the film with the same title directed by Raj Kapoor in 1978.
Raj Kapoor has been quoted in his daughter Ritu Nanda’s book as saying, “I visualised the story of a man falling for a woman with an ordinary countenance. But she had a golden voice and I wanted to cast Lata Mangeshkar in the role.”
Numerous awards
Lata Mangeshkar has won numerous awards. In 2001, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. In 1969, she made an unusual decision not to accept the Filmfare Award to promote fresh talent.
In 1984, the Guinness Book of World Records listed Lata Mangeshmar as the most recorded artiste in history. She has recorded not less than 30,000 solos, duets and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 and 1987.
Lata Mangeshkar who made waves in Indian film music will be remembered as the greatest female singer of India. Although she has turned 93, her mellifluous voice will remain forever.