Lata Mangeshkar: A Tribute to Nightingale of India
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This article is a tribute to the most wonderful singer of Bollywood, Lata Mangeshkar. She was an Indian playback singer and the most wonderful person.
She worked with many artists throughout her life and has never been disliked by any artist. On the contrary, she was very respectful and loved by everyone in her whole life. She worked for 5-6 decades constantly, and many of her songs are popular in India and all over the world.
There were times when not a single movie was created without a song by Lata Mangeshkar. She was the favorite person in bollywood, and she became the nightingale of India.
Today, we will know about her life and how much she inspires many women to pursue their careers as playback singers in the music industry. So read it till last.
Early Childhood of Lata Mangeshkar:
Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929, in Indore. Her father’s name was Deenanath Mangeshkar, and her mother’s name was Shevanti.
Her father was a classical singer and theatre actor, and her mother was from Gujarat and the second wife of her father. His father’s first wife’s name was Narmada, who had died, and after that, Shevanti became his wife.
Very few people know that Mangeshkar is not the original surname of Lata Mangeshkar. Her father, Deenanath, adapted this surname because his paternal are from Mangushi, Goa.
Lata Mangeshkar was the eldest sister of all her siblings, Usha, Asha, Meena, and Hridaynath, and all the siblings are accomplished musicians and singers.
Also, she received her singing lessons from her father at the age of 5. She also used to work as an actor on her father’s musical play in Marathi.
She never went to school because she didn’t take Asha with herself. Apart from never going to school, she knows 6 six languages. She can read, write, and sing in 6 languages in her whole career.
Lata had to begin her career very early because her father died due to heart disease when she was just 13. After the death of Dennanath, his friend Vinayak Damodar Karnataki (Master Vinayak) came forward for the help of this family and to help Lata pursue her career in singing and acting.
In 1942, she sang the song “Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari,” composed by Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar’s Marathi movie Kiti Halaal. She also worked in a Marathi movie “Pahili Mangalaa-gaur”, by Navyug Chatrapati.
Lata Mangeshkar Carrer:
After that, she came to Mumbai in 1945 and took the lessons from the Hindustani Classical Music Academy from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhindibazaar Gharana.
In 1946, She sang “Paa Lagoon Kar Jori” for Vasant Joglekar’s Hindi-language movie, composed by Datta Davjekar. After the demise of Vinayak in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider became her mentor and helped her to pursue her career.
He introduced Lata to director Shashidhar Mukherjee, who rejected her by claiming that her voice was too thin and not good at singing.
On that day, Ghulam Haider challenged the director that only directors will beg her to sing in their movies in a few years, and the rest is history.
Also, Haider helped Lata, and she got her first breakthrough in 1948 with the song “Dil Mera Toda, Mujhe Kahin Ka Na Chhora”—lyrics by Nazim Panipati—in the movie Majboor.
In the early years, she adapted the singing style of Noor Jahan, but after that, she developed her style, which was unique and became an inspiration for many upcoming new singers.
Her singing style was fit for every movie, and her voice was suitable for every actress. However, there was a time when most of the songs were written by Urdu poets, and due to which Lata had to face some pronunciation difficulties. So she also took Urdu lessons to make her singing better and give her whole dedication to her singing career.
Lata Mangeshkar Popularity:
She got her breakthrough in 1949 from “Aayega Aanewaala,” a song in the movie Mahal. As the song got hit, she got many contracts from other directors.
We can say that Lata Mangeshkar’s actual career began in 1950, and then she never stopped. She worked with many music directors such as Anil Biswas, Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali, S.D. Burman, Sardul Singh Kwatra, Amarnath, Husanlal, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Bhagatram.
She made her debut in Tamil playback, singing with “Vanaradham” in 1956. After that, she gave many hit songs such as “Lag Ja Gale,” “Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya,” “Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh,” “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo,” and so on. There are several songs, and no one in this world has ever listened to a single song of Lata Mangeshkar.
She also worked with many Marathi music composers such as Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Vasant Prabhu, Srinivas Khale, Sudhir Phadke, and herself, under the pseudonym Anandghan.
Lata Mangeshkar also sang several Bengali songs composed by music directors like Salil Chowdhury and Hemant Kumar. She made her Kannada debut in 1967 for the film Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna.
In her whole career, she sang many songs and reached new heights of her singing career. She also fought for the female playback singer royalty to create a new platform for an upcoming female singer.
Although, we can say that Lata Mangeshkar was the first female singer who knew the worth of work and wanted something more and actual credit for it.
Collaboration With Other Singers:
She has worked with so many other singers and given an impeccable performance with them in her whole life. We still love to listen to so many songs and definitely on our playlists. Here is the list of the singers and composers she worked with and gave us lovely duet songs.
Asha Bhosle, Suraiya, Shamshad Begum, Usha Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, G. M. Durrani, Mahendra Kapoor, Shailendra Singh, Shabbir Kumar, Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh’s son), Manhar Udhas, Amit Kumar (Kishore Kumar’s son), Mohammed Aziz, Suresh Wadkar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vinod Rathod, Roop Kumar Rathod, Hariharan, Pankaj Udhas, Abhijeet, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, A.R. Rehman, Jagjit Singh, Gurdas Mann and Sonu Nigam.
List of Awards & Recognition:
Lata Mangeshkar won several awards in her whole career, listed below.
- Filmfare Award,1959
- Filmfare Award, 1963
- The Filmfare Award,1966
- Bharat Ratna, 1969
- Padma Bhushan, 1969
- National Award, 1973
- National Award, 1975
- Dadasaheb Phalke Award, 1989
- National Award, 1991
- Filmfare Award, 1994
- Filmfare Award, 1995
- Maharashtra Bhushan Award, 1997
- Padma Vibhushan, 1999
- NTR National Award, 1999
- Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievements, 1999
- Bharat Ratna, 2001
- Filmfare Award, 2005
- National Award, 2006
- Legion of Honour, 2007
- ANR National Award, 2009
There is a long list of Lata Mangeshkar’s songs. In an interview, she explained that she never keeps a count of her songs. She works and enjoys her work with other people.
Death of Lata Mangeshkar:
On January 8, 2022, Lata Mangeshkar was tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms and was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital’s intensive care unit in Mumbai.
After a few weeks, the doctors removed her from a ventilator and shifted her to the normal room as her health improved. But suddenly, after a few weeks, on February 5, 2022, she was again admitted to ICU due to her health reasons.
After battling for a long period, she died on February 6 at 8:12 AM at the age of 92 from Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome after undergoing 28 days of treatment for COVID-19.
The Indian Government announces two-day national mourning and that the national flag will fly at half-mast from 6 to February 7 throughout India in her respect.
President Ramnath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackery, and many other Ministers also came to her funeral.
Many Bollywood celebrities came forward to Lata Mangeshkar’s funeral and paid their last tribute to her. The Indian Cricket team also pays tribute to Lata Mangeshkar while wearing a black band on their hands. We can say that she was the most loved and adored by everyone in this country.
You can check out Lata Mangeshkar’s last rites and cremation were held with full state honors at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on the same day.
Her sister Asha Bhosle, Devendra Fadnavis, Sharad Pawar, Shah Rukh Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Sachin Tendulkar, and several dignitaries and family members were also in attendance.
In Conclusion:
We always miss Lata Mangeshkar in our hearts, and her songs will never allow us to forget her. Her immense contribution to the music industry will never forget, and she marked her presence in the irreplaceable music industry.
Diksha Jani is a blogger, writer and SEO expert. likes to read books on various topics such as philosophy, history, crime, mythology, psychology, and so on.
