Remembering the ‘Voice of the Millennium’

On the first death anniversary of Lata Mangeshkar, here are some interesting anecdotes from the singer’s highly-decorated career

Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar (Photo | PTI)

BENGALURU:  Monday marked one year since Lata Mangeshkar passed away. Starting her career in the ’40s, she spanned over six decades lending her voice to numerous Indian films. Here are some interesting anecdotes from the life and times of the Nightingale of India. 

• It was 1983, and India had just won their maiden World Cup. It was a bittersweet moment for the BCCI. Back then, India wasn’t a cricketing powerhouse. When the nation lifted the cup, officials worried about giving them an appropriate welcome owing to lack of funds. At the request of the then BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, Mangeshkar did a concert at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. This helped the cricketing board raise money for the players. 
• Mangeshkar represents the development of technology used in Indian playback songs. For her song Aayega Aane Wala from the movie Mahal (1949), she took an experimental approach. In the song, late actor Ashok Kumar hears a distant melody, of a woman (played by Madhubala) singing and tries to approach her by following the song. As this was a time of no multi-tracks, Mangeshkar had to, in a way, enact Madhubala’s movements while performing the song. She started the song a few feet away from the mic, and slowly approached it to fit the song with the movie scene. 
• During the time Mangeshkar was recording for the film Ziddi (1948), she was travelling in Mumbai’s local train to reach the studio Bombay Talkies. During her commute, Mangeshkar noticed a man, who she suspected was following her. Worried, she rushed to the studio and to her shock, the man followed her there as well. She soon learnt that the man was none other than Kishore Kumar and he was called in to audition for the movie as well. Ziddi also happens to be the film that marked the first duet of Mangeshkar and Kumar in the song Yeh Kaun Aaya Re. Later, Mangeshkar had gone on to say that she had the most fun recording with Kumar. 
• Unfortunately, in her illustrious career, Mangeshkar worked little with Kannada cinema. But one of the few songs that she had recorded, Bellane Belagayithu (1967), went on to be a major hit, and many in Karnataka grew up listening to it. 
• A prodigious talent, Mangeshkar made her debut in playback singing at the age of 13. It was the song Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari, for the Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942). But the song never saw the light of day as it was deleted from the film’s soundtrack.