Remembering the voice of the Millenium Lata Mangeshkar on her death anniversary

Born on 28th September 1929 in Indore to the Marathi classical singer and theatre actor Deenanath Mangeshkar and his wife Shevanti Mangeshkar. Lata Mangeshkar was elder among her siblings followed by Meena, Asha, Usha and Hridaynath, all are accomplished singers and musicians.

“Hema” was the birth name of Lata Mangeshkar which was later renamed as Lata after a female character Latika in her father’s play. Her father was her first guru, from a very early age she started receiving music lessons. She too started working with her father in theatre (Sangeet Natak).

Her first song “naachu yaa gade, khelu saari mani haus bhari” composed by Sadashivrao Navrekar for Marathi movie Kiti Hasal (1942) was eventually dropped out in the final cut. Later on, in the movie Pahili Mangalaa- gaur (1942), she sang a song “Natali Chaitraachi Navalai” composed by Dada Chandekar. Her first hindi song “Mata ek sapoot ki duniya badal de tu” for a Marathi movie Gajaabhau 1943.

Soon, Lata Mangeshkar gained fame through her melodious voice and began to be known as Lata didi. Throughout her career, she worked with many notable music composers and producers of her day like Naushad, S.D Burman, R.D Burman and the list goes on.

Throughout her career she recorded nearly 50,000 songs in different languages including 36 Indian languages among which Mararthi, Hindi, Bengali were prime followed by foreign languages that includes English, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Nepali and Swahili. For which she got many recognitions at national as well as international levels. In 1989 Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed to her followed by India’s Highest Civilian Award Bharat Ratna in the year 2001, Lata Mangeshkar was the second female singer to receive this award after, M. S Subbulakshmi. National Order of the Legion of Honour award in the year 2007 by France and the list goes far more.

The legend has left irreplaceable imprints in the Indian Film Industry with her melodious voice. She is also known as the “Queen of Melody” and “Nightingale of India”
It was last year when we were part of a huge loss to the country, when the iconic Lataji breathed her last in Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai on 6th February 2022 at the age of 92.

Lata Mangeshkar will always remain a precious gem to the Indian film Industry. Her last song ” Saugandh Mujhe iss mitti ki” was recorded in March 2019 as a tribute to the Indian Military. The songstress’s last rites were attended by many eminent personalities.

We will always remember you as the Saraswati in flesh…