There may not be anymore songs coming from her but it has certainly not gone mute
The legend that gave voice to the finer emotions of at least three generations and ruled the Indian music industry for nearly 70 years has fallen silent. And the irreparable loss was palpable in the watery eyes and on the twisted-in-pain faces of lakhs of heartbroken people who paid their respects during the last journey of Lata Mangeshkar on Sunday evening, which incidentally was also the day of Saraswati Visarjan in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. Named Hema in her initial years and fondly called Lata didi since, she started her career in 1942 and passed away at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. She had been hospitalised for over 28 days after being diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia. The songs she so effortlessly rendered ranged from happy, peppy, playful, naughty, romantic, melancholic, downright sad, folk, religious and patriotic. It’s famously recalled that when she sang the iconic song ‘..Ae mere watan ke logon, zara aankh mein bhar lo paani…’ live in the presence of then President S Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the Republic Day in 1963 at the National Stadium in New Delhi while commemorating Indian soldiers who had died in the 1962 war with China, tears welled up in the eyes of the latter leader and it made our collective heartbeats spring an octave. Popularly called the ‘Nightingale of Bollywood’, Lata, along with her younger sister Asha Bhosle, for decades ruled the roost and hearts of music aficionados across age groups and geographical barriers.
She holds the honour of being the first Indian to perform at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London. In her long career, Lata worked with the greatest of Indian composers and music directors, though OP Nayyar remains an exception. She was so passionate about her craft being impeccable that thespian Dilip Kumar once made a mildly disapproving remark about her pronunciation while singing Hindi-Urdu songs, so for a period of time she took Urdu lessons. It is alleged that the sisters, who in their heyday were known to split between them four of every five songs recorded, discouraged film producers and music directors from using the voice of other talented, upcoming singers; else they would throw a tantrum or even boycott their songs. They shared the microphone to sing around 80 songs together and belted out several unforgettable numbers such as Kya hua, ye mujhe kya hua (Jis Desh Mein Gangta Behti Hai); Koi ayega ayega (Professor); Jab jab tumhe bhulaya tum aur yaad aaye (Jahan Ara); Paake akeli mohe chhed raha (Jail Yatra); and Mann kyun behka ri behka aadhi raat ko (Utsav). Listing her bibliography here would amount to holding a candle to the sun, but the Bharat Ratna recipient sang in over 1,000 Hindi films, and also across multiple languages. Considered one of the greatest Indian playback singers, she will live on through her melodies: Naam gum jaayega, chehra ye badal jayega; meri awaaz hi pehchan hai, ’gar yaad rahe…