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She has mesmerized millions of fans over several decades recording more than 30,000 songs. From Ghazals to pop and rap, she has done it all. Considered a living legend in India, her career has spanned six and a half decades and still counting.
Lata is the second vocalist ever (after MS Subbulakshmi) to have received the highest civilian honour in India — Bharat Ratna for her immortal and soulful singing as a playback singer in films. She has charmed her fans all over the world with songs in Hindi and other languages. She has worked with almost all music composers and singers in the industry. She is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in the world with over 30,000 songs.
Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929 to a family of musicians in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. She started her career as a playback singer in her early teens to look after her family. Her father Dinanath Mangeshkar, a classical singer and theatre actor, died when she was only 13 years of age. Being the eldest child in the family, the onus of being the breadwinner of the family fell on Lata. She fulfilled her duty diligently and supported the family of six members single-handedly until her siblings grew up to share her burdens
In her early days, Lata even acted in some Hindi and Marathi films apart from lending her voice as a playback singer. Between 1942 and 1948, she acted in as many as eight films. The first Hindi film in which she did playback singing was Aapki Sewa Mein (1947), but she went unnoticed. In 1949, Lata’s four films got released, which were all runaway hits and stabilized her career in Bollywood. Her soulful rendering of the song ’Aaega aane walaa’ from Mahal made Lata a household name and there was no looking back.
Such was the dominance of Lata Mangeshkar in Hindi film music industry that no other female singer was able to get the Filmfare award from the year 1958 to 1966. In a gesture to allow the new talents come up and receive awards, Lata decided that she would not accept any award after 1969. However, Filmfare conferred upon her a special award in 1995 for her illustrious career in singing, which she accepted.
Lata pioneered many constructive changes in Bollywood, which proved to be beneficial for singers in the long run. She was the one who introduced the royalty system for singers in the industry. She also insisted that the singer’s name be published with the songs instead of actors.
Music director Shamir Tandon described Lata as “a genuine human being”.
“The reason why she has ruled the industry and is still around is that she has always paid attention to the art of singing, always kept on upgrading herself, besides adopting herself to the changing times,” said Tandon.
