Biography Of Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar is the living legend in the history of Indian Music. Well it would be my fallacy if I kept her to the realm of India Music Industry only. She is the personality who is only once in millennium born in any country. But before I move any further let me tell you that who is Lata.

Lata is the melody queen of Bollywood and not just the Bollywood but of the India.She has such a seductress voice which if you listen to it only once it’s impossible for you remain uninfluenced by it.

She has a depth and pain in her voice right from the early age when she started singing. Once she sang a song “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon” in the backdrop of the threat from the Chinese adventurism, it had brought the tears in the eye of the then Prime Minister of India Late Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru.

He had said that Lata has magic in her voice and the way she had sung the song is more than a tribute for the brave soldier’s who had laid their life in the borders for safeguarding their motherland.

So, this kind of magic in her voice is making her a legend. She is the one who has been singing continuously from past 7 decades in the country and still she is incomparable and unparalleled in the world. Lata has been often called as “The Nightingale” of India. I hope nobody would doubt about this truly majestic title endowed on her.

Lata Mangeshkar was born in September 28, 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. During her lifetime she has focused more on Hindi and Marathi film music. But that doesn’t mean that she has not sung in other language. Lata has sung song in more than 20 major Indian Language. The epithet of “Nightingale of India” has been deemed to only other Indian’s are Sarojini Naidu and M.S. Subbulakshmi.

Lata was born to a family of classical singer and theater actor Dinanath Mangeshkar and his second wife Shudhmati Mangeshkar. Her father was a middle class Maharashtrian and belongs to the Saraswat Brahmin Caste. Lata was the firstborn child to the couple. She was followed by Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar.

At the very early age she picked up the acting skills. Since, her father was the theater artist so he prompted her daughter to take on to the stage. So, she started playing the role of the child artist from the age of five in plays known as the “sangeet nataks” means “musical plays”.

Her sweet voice was giving the soothing effect to the ear. Lata’s father as a classical singer started giving her the singing lessons.Dinanath’s chaste recitals and lessons of the music had left a strong impression the mind of this little girl and she started learning the music devotedly. K.L. Saigal was the other singer who had left a deep imprint for the music in her heart.

Her father was the devote fan of the K.L. Saigal. Lata’s first cinematic song was for the film “Kiti Hasaal” in 1942, produced by the Vasant Joglekar.

Since, she was from a traditional Indian family her father refused her daughter to sing for the movies.On the protest of her father, the song was dropped from the film. But destiny was not in favor and soon she was again come to the film music industry to earn her bread and butter so that she could earn the livelihood for her family.

In 1942 her father died because of the heart disease and this had forced this small girl of 13 years to come back to the film industry. In the film industry she played the cameo in Hindi, Marathi and Urdu films. She dislikes acting in the films but that was the only way for her to get some money. In one of the film she and Asha acted together. In that film Lata not only sang for her but also for Asha. In the year 1945 composer Ghulam Haider took Lata to meet producer S. Mukherji who was planning to make a movie starring actress Kamini Kaushal. Haider wanted the producer to give sixteen year old Lata a chance to sing in his movie. But Mukherji refused the idea of allowing a small girl to sing. This has disheartened the Lata because she was in dire need of money to take care of her family member. This was the only skill she has learnt from her father. But Haider was annoyed at the rejection of the Mukherji and told him that let me tell you this girl will soon going to be a famous artist in the Hindi Cinema

and people will fall at her feet and would beg her to sing a song in their movie.

Who had known that it would come true soon? Lata did not leave the hope of making it big in the industry. It was on account of two reasons and foremost was the poor financial condition of her family and second is the challenge in front of her to show her talent. She continuously tried in the industry and ultimately she got a chance in 1947 when she was again called by the Vasant Joglekar for singing in his new movie. This chance helped Lata to establish her feet in the Bollywood.ever, her actual turnaround came in 1949 when she got a break rather a big break with the song “Aayega Aanewala” from the film “Mahal”. This song was a big hit and since then Lata has seen back and she has been marching ahead in the Bollywood with her melodious voice.

There has been other controversy in her life regarding her rivalry with her sibling sister but Lata has been an embodiment of love and preferred not to discuss it in the glare of media. Besides the passion in Music she loves to watch cricket and especially from the Lord’s Stadium. Her favorite hobbies are Photography and cooking. She loves to sing barefoot in the studio. For her the studio is like temple so out of respect she is doing it. Lata raised some controversy in the “Filmfare” award ceremony India equivalent to “Oscar’s”. In the award ceremony in 1956 the song “Rasik Balma” from the film “Chori Chori” won the Best Song Filmfare Award. But Lata refused to sing it live in protest of absence of a Playback Singer Category. This category was finally introduced in 1958. In the year 1969, this legendary singer took another decision by refusing to take the Filmfare award so as to promote the fresh talent. All these steps have really been very courageous in her part as singer and we salute this lady of

India who is world-wide famous for her singing skills.