Veteran Singer Lata Mangeshkar Dies At 92
Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away at the age of 92. The funeral was attended by PM Modi.
Lata Mangeshkar was born on 28 September 1929. Mangeshkar was born in a Maharashtrian Brahmin family. Her parents were Deenanath Mangeshkar and his wife Shevanti. Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theatre actor. She was the eldest child in the family. Meena, Asha, Usha, and Hridaynath, are her siblings and all of them are accomplished singers and musicians. In 1942, when Lata was 13, her father died of heart disease. Master Vinayak, the owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped her get started in a career as a singer and actress. Vinayak gave her a small role in Navyug Chitrapat's Marathi movie in which she also sang a song. Her first Hindi song was for the Marathi film. She moved to Mumbai in 1945 when Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters there. She started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan. Lata and her sister Asha played minor roles in Vinayak's first Hindi-language movie. After Vinayak's death in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored her as a singer. He introduced Lata to producer Sashadhar Mukherjee, but Mukherjee dismissed Lata's voice as "too thin". An annoyed Haider responded that in coming years, producers and directors would "fall at Lata's feet" and "beg her" to sing in their movies. She recorded about 36000 songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages in a career spanning 7 decades.
In 2001, Mangeshkar was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, “Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour”, in 2007. In 1999, she was nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha.
According to many reports, Lata Mangeshkar was allegedly fond of the former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Raj Singh Dungarpur. It was said that Dungarpur also reportedly felt the same for the singer, but they didn't marry as Dungarpur was from a royal family and his family did not agree. During the interview, when asked about love, Lata simply replied, "There are some things only for the heart to know. Let me keep it that way." She said, "People talk about all sorts of things, so learn to ignore them. Else, it’ll be difficult to lead a happy life. Energies that are negative and depressing should be kept at bay. I have always done that. It’s important to first find happiness and a sense of fulfilment within yourself, else the dream of being fulfilled only through marriage or children loses its significance."
On 27 January 1963, after the Sino-Indian War, she sang the patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, then the Prime Minister of India. The song is said to have brought the Prime Minister to tears.
On 8 January 2022, Lata Mangeshkar tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms and was admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital's ICU. The doctors treating her had taken her off the ventilator on 28 January after her health "improved marginally";however, she was back on the ventilator on 5 February, after her health deteriorated. She died on 6 February 2022 from Multiple Organ failure. She was 92. Mangeshkar's last rites and cremation were held, with full state honours, at Mumbai's Shivaji Park. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, eminent personalities, actors, crickets etc paid their last respects.
She is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential singers in India. The nation will miss her but never forget her.
