Happy birthday to melody-queen Lata Mangeshkar.

Happy birthday to melody-queen Lata Mangeshkar.

The listeners of music in India and abroad wish happy birthday to Lata Mangeshkar, the melody queen on 27th September, 2009. She had turned 80 years of age.

Starting her journey from the early 40s, Lataji created an impression with the songs “ayega anewala” in the film Mahal, composed by Khemchand Prakash. The songs of the horror film were picturised on Madhubala who later became a legendary star of bollywood films. Lata faced the competition from eminent singers Noorjahan, Suraiya, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Rajkumari, and others and emerged victorious in the 50s and 60s.

Her sweetness of voice compelled composers to give the best tunes ever created in Indian film history. Along with Rafi, Lata had the record of singing songs of almost all the composers of the golden age. Everlasting gems of Lata include “tu jaha jahan chalega” composed by Madanmohan, “duniya kare sawal” composed by Roshan, “hume tum mil gaye humdum” composed by Shankar Jaikishan, “phir teri kahani yaad aye” composed by Naushad, “ajare pardesi” composed by Salil Choudhury, “allah tero naam” composed by Jaidev, “piya tose naina lage re” composed by SD Burman, to name a few.

Lata had sung more than 30000 songs during her singing career which was more than 65 years long. She had sung for Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Wahida Rehman, on one hand, and did sing for the new actresses of the 90s namely Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, etc. Her patriotic songs “aye mere watan ke logon” brought tears even in the eyes of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Lata Mangeshkar sung songs in more than 15 regional languages including Marathi, Bengali and others. She played a very significant role in Bengali film industry in the world of playback singing. Some of her hit songs included “jago” in Raj Kapoor’s film Ekdin Ratre, composed by Salil Choudhury, “aaj mon cheyeche ami hariye jabo” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta in Uttam Kumar’s film Shankhabela, to name a few.
Singers of the present age consider Lataji as their idol and try to emulate her style. The listeners of music all over the world expect Lataji to continue the great work that she started 70 years ago. Her works should be restored.

Lata and Madanmohan.

Lata and Madanmohan.

Madanmohan, the king of ghazals gave a separate dimension to the sweet voice of Lata. Most of his compositions had ghazal andaz and Lata could use her classical base with her expression to provide life in the compositions. In Anpadh, “aap ke nazro ne samkha”, picturised on Mala Sinha became a big hit due to Lata’s melodious presentation.

In Woh Kaun Thi, in 1964, all the songs sung by Lata including “naina barse”, “lagja gale”, had a serene dimension. Viewers were confused about the identity of Sadhna who was presented as a ghost at times by Raj Khosla, and the composition of Madanmohan had enhanced the suspense in the film. Similarly Lata’s song “tu jaha jaha chalega” in the film Mera Saya, picturised on Sadhna had an everlasting appeal.


In films related patriotic subject matters, like Haqeeqat, Madanmohan had created tunes which had softened the complexity existing in the film like the song “zarah si aahat hoti hai” written by Kaifi Azmi, picturised on Priya Rajbangsh and sung by Lata. Lata was even sublime in the song “teri aankho ke siva duniya me rakha kya hai”, picturised on Asha Parekh in the film Chirag, which was sung brilliantly by Rafi as well.

In Mausam, in 1975, also Madanmohan had created immortal compositions for Lata, which were picturised on Sharmila Tagore and Sanjeev Kumar, including “dil dhoondta hai phir wohi” which was sung with Bhupinder Singh and “chari re chari” which was sung with Rafi. The songs sung by Lata also in the film Heer Ranjha and Hanste Zakhm, composed by Madanmohan had everlasting appeal.

Even during the black and white era, Madanmohan had provided tunes for Lata which brought tears in the eyes of the listeners like the song in the film Adalat, picturised on Nargis, titled “tumko jo shikayat haito”. Nargis was found in a kotha after Pradeep Kumar who had an affair with her in the past saw him at an old age. The other song in the film sung by Rafi and Lata and composed by Madanmohan, titled “zameen se hume asmaa par” was also very successful.

In a span of 25 years Lata created an everlasting combination with Madanmohan and most of the songs composed by Madanmohan had not lost their appeal even today. The immortal songs should be preserved and restored.

Related Reading

• Lata Mangeshkar – the uncrowned queen of Indian playback singing
• Lata’s combination with RD Burman
• Lata and Shankar Jaikishan
• Lata and Naushad
• Lata and Madanmohan
• Lata and SD Burman
• Laxmikant Pyarelal and Lata
• Salil Chowdhury and Lata
• Lata and Roshan