Lata Mangeshkar

Memory is a strange creature. It pulls out strange things from closets you think you have closed forever. Some are so dirty, rusty and faded that they are way beyond recognition. Today while listening to ‘Hum hi nahi the pyar ke kaabil’ (Pyaasi Aankhen), I came face to face with some such memories. Trying desperately to piece them together into recognizable facts, but failing each time.

Listing out some movies that I had seen during childhood - those which had Latadi’s song(s), and those which never seem to have been discussed in any group(s). Or even shown on TV. At least, a lesser popular channel like B4U would throw up some flop nineties movie (eg they showed Mehboob Mere Mehboob and First Love Letter sometime back)


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Latadi has sung for a wide spectrum of heroines over several decades now - for some she sang in the first film itself. Others were not as lucky. In fact, many names that later became synonymous with Lataji’s voice didnt have her singing for them - for example, Rekha (Saawan Bhadon) and Jaya Bhaduri (though she got Lata’s voice in a back-door way, since she lipsync-ed Madhumati’s song Aaja re pardesi in Guddi). Even from the older lot - like Asha Parekh and Sharmila Tagore - didnt have Latadi singing for their adult/Hindi debuts!

Here is a brief list on some debuts which I recall (in no specific order) - these are mostly post-seventies as my film knowledge is a bit stronger from that era onwards.


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Today morning, I heard Yaara seeli seeli*** for the umpteenth time - a very satisfying and fulfilling number. As the song ended with its impossibly high and collosally breathtaking crescendo, I switched off the player - seeping in the reverberations of the voice that had once again shaken, stirred and stimulated the core of my soul; a thought struck my mind that I hadn’t done any post on Lataji for a long long time now.

So here is one, a mosaic of memories from my lifetime. I am afraid the post has gone longer than intended, but I didnt have the heart to cut it out, or post it in parts.

For me, discovering songs sung by Latadidi is a passionate quest for a lifetime; and often, the results have been more often than not extremely satisfying.

As I wrote earlier, my love for Lata Mangeshkar’s voice began when I was too young to understand the feeling of love or being enthralled. I was too little to comprehend as to why I was selectively recording her songs when my dad got me a mini-diktaphone. I was too kiddish to grasp as to why my heart beat stopped when I heard her voice soar in the impossibly high-pitched Jahan pe sawera ho**! (Today, I heard the song again and I am convinced they must have invented laser beam hearing her unwavering-hitting-the-soul voice!)

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Today is Kishoreda’s Birth Anniversary. His exuberant voice was as joyful as his entire personality. A multi-faceted , multi-talented artist, Kishoreda gave voice to many hits during his long and illustrious career.

His duets with Latadi are innumerable ( I am sure someone can give the exact statistics). His meeting with Latadi was no less dramatic than the films they sang for. IIRC, both were going to the same studio, and Latadi thought the boy following her was doing so with malignant intentions. Of course, once at the studio the entire misunderstanding was cleared. This sequence was used in Manzil, in which both sang different version of that love-soaked, rain-drenched number Rimjhim gire saawan.


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Today is Madan Mohan’s Birth Anniversary. Any superlative falls short of capturing even an iota of the genius music maker that he was. His tunes have survived the onslaught of time, in more ways than one. While his recorded songs continue to regale music lovers, even his unused tunes held a life of their own. Perhaps he is the only music composer whose even leftover tunes were re-constructed in a film made thirty years after his demise.

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For many days I have wanted to write on this unique music-director duo, but never got down to do it. The prime reason being that there is so much to say that it would never fit in any one post; secondly, my appreciation for their music is so strong that ‘logic’ and ’structure’ of a post gets lost. Hence, I begin with a disclaimer, that this post is an outpour, and might seem jumbled, but believe me, it will be very tough to edit this post.

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