She sang with KL Saigal, she sang with Mohd Rafi, she sang with Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and many many more legendary playback singers long on. She was the scion of Indian music - a gifted singer in all forms for all occasions.
Born in a Maharastrian family, she as well her other sister Asha and Usha (to a lesser extent) took up singing from early childhood. As they grew they met with more and more success. And I grew up with listening to her many songs, almost on daily basis on radio and later on television.
Many urban legends or what we call GULLIS were associated to her as well. Listening to her sweet voice (she was called India's Nightingale) an ultra rich foreigner fell in love with him (A Foreigner technically can be from Nepal or Bangladesh, but in Odisha it alludes to Westerners). He came to India to fully prepared to propose her. After seeing her he changed his mind dissuaded by her plain looks. I believed this tale until I was old enough not to believe it. Lata Mangeskar remained a spinster all her life.
Dilil Kumar once said about Lata about her Urdu accent (many Bollywood songs are rich in Urdu) - "UNKI AWAZ MEIN DAAL AUR CHAWAL KI KHUSBOO AATI HAI (From her voice Urdu smells like Rice and Lentil). This comment by Dilip Kumar was in poor taste. When the Maharastrians took up cudgel against Yusuf Khan (Dillip Kumar was his screen name) and the controversy was painted as an insipid remark by a Muslim actor against a Hindu singer, Dillip Kumar was forced to tender an apology.
Lata Mangeskar sang thousands of song in many languages, but don't think she ever sang in Odia (please correct me if I am wrong). She won a long list of awards including BHARAT RATNA (Jewel of India), India's highest civilian award.
With popularity came controversies too. There were accusations of her using her influence to scuttle the career of many talented, upcoming singers from her time, e.g. Chandrani Mukherjee, Hemlata, Sushma Shreshta etc to protect the Manjrekar sisters (her sisters Asha and Usha) turf. Not sure if they were true, but she had an insecure childhood for which she was very protective of her family. For that she never married and probably it was her insecurities which led to going an extra yard to prevent any competition to the her and her sisters.
Though Lata-Kishore songs we arguably the biggest hits in the 1970s and 1980s, few years before Kishore Kumar died they had egotistical issues. Kishore Kumar refused to sing with her and even made it clear that he won't come to sing in any stage show where the Mangeskar sisters were invited. Nevertheless Lata Mangeskar produced a SHRADDHANALI (tribute) cassette (no CDs were there) for the legends Saigal, Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore and Hemant Kumar. The voice of India died at the age of 92 today. RIP the Great singer. Om Shanti.
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