<p>"One day Anil Biswas, Yusuf bhai (Dilip Kumar) and I were travelling to work together on a train. This was in 1947 or '48. In those days, Yusuf bhai was able to travel by train as no one really recognised him! We were sitting in a compartment and Yusuf bhai asked who I was," Lata says in the book "Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice" written by Nasreen Munni Kabir and published by Niyogi Books.<br />"Anilda replied that I was a new singer who sings well. 'You'll like her voice when you hear her'," she quotes the famous composer as saying.<br />When Biswas told Kumar that Lata is Maharashtrian, the actor said "But their Urdu pronunciation isn't correct and in their singing you can smell 'daal-bhaat' (implying a Marathi accent would come through in the pronunciation of Urdu)."<br />This remark hurt Lata very much.<br />"I felt terribly hurt hearing him say such a thing," says Lata in the book that has a series of fascinating conversations between her and the London-based documentary author-filmmaker Kabir. <br /><br />"I knew the composer Mohammad Shafi. He was an assistant to Anil da and Naushad sahib and a few days later, I told him that I wanted to learn Urdu so that I could pronounce it correctly. He found me a maulana, a man called Mehboob, who taught me Urdu for a short while."<br />The stint with Mehboob worked wonders for Lata.<br />"When I speak, my Urdu isn’t very good but when I sing I make sure there are no flaws in my diction," she says.<br />Lata later got special praise for her Urdu from Nargis’ mother Jaddanbai. While Lata was recording for the "Mahal" song ‘Aayega aanewala’, Nargis happened to be in the studio in a nearby room.<br />"Her mother, the celebrated singer Jaddanbai was with her that day. When I finished recording, I went out. Jaddanbai called me and asked me my name and whether I was a Maharashtrian. Then she said my Urdu is very good.<br />"I told her I am trying. Then she said to me: 'You pronounce the word 'baghair' very well'," Lata recalls.<br />About singing in other languages she says: "I first listen to someone who speaks the language and who reads the lyrics to me. I pay great attention to pronunciation. Once I hear the words spoken, I wrote the song lines phonetically in Hindi and then sing. By the grace of god, my songs in other languages – including Bengali – have been appreciated. People say they are good and the words have been correctly pronounced." <br /><br />Since 1949, when Lata was first noticed for her singing talent in the song 'Aayega aanewala' from "Mahal," her magical voice has taken a firm hold of the Indian imagination.<br />Lata, conferred the Bharat Ratna in 2001, has recorded more songs than anyone else in the world and yet, despite her extraordinary fame, she is a deeply private person who has mostly shied away from glitz and glamour, the author says.<br />(Book: "Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice"; Author: Nasreen Munni Kabir; Publishers: Niyogi Books, Price: Rs 1,500; Pages: 268)</p>
<p>"One day Anil Biswas, Yusuf bhai (Dilip Kumar) and I were travelling to work together on a train. This was in 1947 or '48. In those days, Yusuf bhai was able to travel by train as no one really recognised him! We were sitting in a compartment and Yusuf bhai asked who I was," Lata says in the book "Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice" written by Nasreen Munni Kabir and published by Niyogi Books.<br />"Anilda replied that I was a new singer who sings well. 'You'll like her voice when you hear her'," she quotes the famous composer as saying.<br />When Biswas told Kumar that Lata is Maharashtrian, the actor said "But their Urdu pronunciation isn't correct and in their singing you can smell 'daal-bhaat' (implying a Marathi accent would come through in the pronunciation of Urdu)."<br />This remark hurt Lata very much.<br />"I felt terribly hurt hearing him say such a thing," says Lata in the book that has a series of fascinating conversations between her and the London-based documentary author-filmmaker Kabir. <br /><br />"I knew the composer Mohammad Shafi. He was an assistant to Anil da and Naushad sahib and a few days later, I told him that I wanted to learn Urdu so that I could pronounce it correctly. He found me a maulana, a man called Mehboob, who taught me Urdu for a short while."<br />The stint with Mehboob worked wonders for Lata.<br />"When I speak, my Urdu isn’t very good but when I sing I make sure there are no flaws in my diction," she says.<br />Lata later got special praise for her Urdu from Nargis’ mother Jaddanbai. While Lata was recording for the "Mahal" song ‘Aayega aanewala’, Nargis happened to be in the studio in a nearby room.<br />"Her mother, the celebrated singer Jaddanbai was with her that day. When I finished recording, I went out. Jaddanbai called me and asked me my name and whether I was a Maharashtrian. Then she said my Urdu is very good.<br />"I told her I am trying. Then she said to me: 'You pronounce the word 'baghair' very well'," Lata recalls.<br />About singing in other languages she says: "I first listen to someone who speaks the language and who reads the lyrics to me. I pay great attention to pronunciation. Once I hear the words spoken, I wrote the song lines phonetically in Hindi and then sing. By the grace of god, my songs in other languages – including Bengali – have been appreciated. People say they are good and the words have been correctly pronounced." <br /><br />Since 1949, when Lata was first noticed for her singing talent in the song 'Aayega aanewala' from "Mahal," her magical voice has taken a firm hold of the Indian imagination.<br />Lata, conferred the Bharat Ratna in 2001, has recorded more songs than anyone else in the world and yet, despite her extraordinary fame, she is a deeply private person who has mostly shied away from glitz and glamour, the author says.<br />(Book: "Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice"; Author: Nasreen Munni Kabir; Publishers: Niyogi Books, Price: Rs 1,500; Pages: 268)</p>