Lata Mangeshkar: 'Queen of Melody' who redefined music in India

The history of Indian cinema cannot be written without the mention of Lata Didi in bold letters

Her voice enthralled millions for years - cutting across generations - and Lata Mangeshkar, rightly the Nightingale of India, departed on Sunday, leaving behind echoes of her music to be devoured for generations to come.

Lata Mangeshkar, 92, passed way in Mumbai at 0812 hours on Sunday due to multi-organ failure after 28 days of hospitalisation at the Breach Candy Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai.

During her career, spanning over seven decades, Lata Didi, as she was fondly known, had sung more than 30,000 songs. The history of the Indian cinema cannot be written without the mention of Lata Didi in bold letters.

The queen of melody began her career in 1942 , recording songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung for over a 1,000 films in over 36 regional Indian and foreign languages.

Also Read | India's nightingale Lata Mangeshkar passes away

Born on October 28, 1929, she was the eldest daughter of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi musician and his Gujarati wife Shevanti, and has four siblings—Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar, and Hridaynath Mangeshkar, all legendary and in the field of music.

Her father began giving Lata singing lessons from the age of five. She also studied with renowned singers Aman Ali Khan Sahib and Amanat Khan. Even at a young age she displayed her natural musical gift and could master vocal exercises the first time.

She entered the music field around the 1940s, when bass singers with heavy nasal voices, such as Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum, were in style. She was rejected for many projects because it her voice was believed to be too high-pitched and thin.

The circumstances of her entry into the industry were difficult - her father died in 1942 and the responsibility of supporting her family fell upon her. Between 1942 and 1948, she acted in as many as eight films in Hindi and Marathi to take care of economic hardships. She made her debut as a playback singer in the Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942) .
However, in 1948, she got her big break with Ghulam Haider in the film Majboor (1948), and 1949 saw the release of four of her films: Mahal (1949), Dulari (1949), Barsaat (1949), and Andaz (1949).

One of her first hit songs was "Aayega Aanewaala," a song in the movie Mahal (1949), composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and lip-synced on screen by actress Madhubala.

In the 1950s, Lata sang songs composed by various music directors of the period, including Anil Biswas (in films such as Tarana (1951) and Heer (1956)), Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali, S. D. Burman, Amarnath, Husanlal, and Bhagatram (in films like Bari Behen (1949), Meena Bazaar (1950), Aadhi Raat (1950), Chhoti Bhabi (1950), Afsana (1951), Aansoo (1953), and Adl-e-Jehangir (1955)), C. Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Salil Chowdhury, Datta Naik, Khayyam, Ravi, Sajjad Hussain, Roshan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Hansraj Behl, Madan Mohan, and Usha Khanna.

Lata's song "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" from Mughal-e-Azam (1960), composed by Naushad and pantomimed by Madhubala, still remains one of her most iconic songs.
The Hawaiian-themed number "Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh", from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960), was composed by Shankar Jaikishan and pantomimed by Meena Kumari.
In 1961, Lata recorded two popular bhajans, "Allah Tero Naam" and "Prabhu Tero Naam", for Burman's assistant, Jaidev. In 1962, she was awarded her second Filmfare Award for the song "Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil" from Bees Saal Baad, composed by Hemant Kumar.

Although all her songs were immediate hits under any composer, it was C. Ramchandra and Madan Mohan who challenged her voice like no other music director.
The 1960s also witnessed the beginning of Mangeshkar's association with Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the music directors for whom she sang the most popular songs in her career. Starting in 1963, Laxmikant-Pyarelal's association with Lata Mangeshkar grew stronger over the years. Lata Mangeshkar sang over 700 songs for the composer duo over a period of 35 years, most of which became huge hits. She sang for Parasmani (1963), Mr. X in Bombay (1964), Aaye Din Bahar Ke (1966), Milan (1967), Anita (1967), Shagird (1968), Mere Hamdam Mere Dost (1968), Intaquam (1969), Do Raaste (1969) and Jeene Ki Raah.

In 1972, Meena Kumari's last film, Pakeezah, was released. It featured popular songs including "Chalte Chalte" and "Inhi Logon Ne", sung by Lata Mangeshkar, and composed by Ghulam Mohammed. She recorded many popular songs for S. D. Burman's last films, including "Rangeela Re" from Prem Pujari (1970), "Khilte Hain Gul Yahaan" from Sharmeelee (1971), and "Piya Bina" from Abhimaan (1973). She recorded many popular songs for Madan Mohan's last films, including Dastak (1970), Heer Raanjha (1970), Dil Ki Rahen (1973), Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Mausam (1975) and Laila Majnu (1976)
The 1960s and 1970s saw her go from strength to strength, even as there were accusations that she was monopolizing the playback-singing industry. However, in the 1980s, she cut down her workload to concentrate on her shows abroad.

From the 1980s onwards, Lata Mangeshkar worked with music directors such as Shiv-Hari—in Silsila (1981), Faasle (1985), Vijay (1988), and Chandni (1989)—and Ram Laxman—in Ustadi Ustad Se (1981), Bezubaan (1982), Woh Jo Hasina (1983), Ye Kesa Farz (1985), and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). She sang in other movies, such as Karz (1980), Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), Silsila (1981), Prem Rog (1982), Hero (1983), Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), Nagina (1986), Chandni (1989), and Ram Lakhan (1989). Her song "Zu Zu Zu Yashoda" from Sanjog (1985) was a chartbuster.

During the 1990s, she recorded with music directors including Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Uttam Singh, Anu Malik, Aadesh Shrivastava and A. R. Rahman. She recorded some non-film songs, including ghazals with Jagjit Singh. She has also sung with Kumar Sanu, Amit Kumar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Suresh Wadkar, Mohammed Aziz, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Roop Kumar Rathod, Vinod Rathod, Gurdas Maan and Sonu Nigam.
Mangeshkar has sung for almost all the Yash Chopra films and films from his production house Yash Raj Films at that time, including Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), Darr (1993), Yeh Dillagi (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and later on Mohabbatein (2000), Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002) and Veer-Zaara (2004).

In 1990, Mangeshkar recorded with Raamlaxman for Patthar Ke Phool (1991), 100 Days (1991), Mehboob Mere Mehboob (1992), Saatwan Aasman (1992), I Love You (1992 film) (1992), Dil Ki Baazi (1993), Antim Nyay (1993), The Melody of Love (1993), The Law (1994), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Megha (1996), Lav Kush (1997), Manchala (1999), and Dulhan Banoo Main Teri (1999).

Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan (1969), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), Padma Vibhushan (1999), NTR National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 2001, and three National Film Awards.

In 2008, she was given "One Time Award for Lifetime Achievement" to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India's independence 1996.

Her Top 10 Songs:

Aayaga Aanewala ('Mahal')
Ichak Dana Bichak Dana ('Shri 420')
Lag Ja Gale ('Woh Kaun Thi')
Sawan Ka Mahina ('Milan')
Payar kiya toh Darna Kya ('Mughal-e-Azam')
Mehboob Mere ('Patthar Ke Sanam')
Aadmi Musafir Hai ('Apnapan')
Yeh Galiyan Yeh Chobara ('Prem Rog')
Shayad Meri Shaadi Ka Khayal ('Sautan')
Didi Tera Devar Deewana ('Hum Aapke Hain Kaun')
Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko Toh Pyar Sajna ('Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayange')
Tere Liye ('Veer-Zaara')

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