The Golden Voice of Lata Mangeshkar

The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen! Lata Mangeshkar, one of the world’s biggest cultural icons and a singer who defined music and melody for generations of people in the Indian Subcontinent and all over the world has passed away. Her voice dominated movies, radio and television for over 70 years in India and Pakistan and made her the defining voice of many generations of the Subcontinent, rightfully called the nightingale of India. Generations of Indians and Pakistanis have grown up to enjoy and be entertained by her sweet, melodious and immortal voice. Two days of national mourning have been announced by the Indian government and the national flag will be flown at half-mast to mourn the death of this legendary singer. Together with her younger sister Asha Bhonsle, Lata reigned over the Indian music industry for more than half a century, and is now considered to be the Indian film industry’s greatest ever playback singer. Her advanced age and self-discipline enabled her to give her voice to actresses who were 50 years her junior and her voice continued to be fresh and young even in her nineties. Some of her critics even complained about her extra-long innings in the film industry and pointed out that her complete dominance left little room for newcomers to thrive, but her fan following increased with each passing day, and her voice ruled the charts and the Indian airwaves.

Very few people know that she never sang with her shoes on, and always wrote out each song by hand before recording. Music for her was like a religion and not just a vocation or career. Lata Mangashkar was showered with awards, honours and accolades throughout her life. In 2001 she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour and in 2009 received France’s Legion d’Honneur in recognition for her contribution to Indian music and cinema.

The golden voice of Lata Mangeshkar was finally silenced at the Breach Candy Hospital Mumbai in the early hours of Sunday, the 6th of February 2022. She was 92 years of age. The cause of death is said to be complications developed after contracting Covid-19 and pneumonia.

She was born in 1929 in Indore and began her musical lessons very early under the tutelage of her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, singing in his theatrical productions at the tender age of five. Her father passed away when she was only 13 years old, and she had to shoulder the responsibilities of a bread-earner for her family of four younger siblings. She moved her family to Mumbai in 1945. Due to her huge fan following, she was invited by the Indian government to sing a patriotic tribute to the soldiers killed in the 1962 disastrous war with China on India’s republic day commemorations in January 1963. The rendition of this song “Aye Meray Watan Ke Logon” was so powerful and moving that the country witnessed Prime Minister Nehru breaking down in tears publicly.

“I composed keeping Lata Mangeshkar’s range and voice quality in mind,” composer Anil Biswas said of her in an interview published in the Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema. “She had a wide range, and one could think of more complicated melodies than with the earlier untrained singers,” he added.

Her voice dominated the Indian movie scene for over five decades, and many thought that she was naturally gifted. But she herself rebutted such ideas

She recorded her first Hindi song “Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Abdel De Tu” for a Marathi feature Gajabhaau released in 1943. There was no looking back after that. She then went on to collaborate with some of the greatest names in the Indian film and music industry. Her immortal songs, composed by musicians like Anil Biswas, Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali, S. D. Burman and others still dominate the airwaves. She sang in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu, Konkani and many other regional languages of India, and is credited with lending her voice to 36 different languages and dialects, winning her numerous national and filmfare awards. She was a school dropout and never received any formal education in her place of birth Indore, but she was fluent in many languages. She graced the music of over 1,000 Indian films and sang over 30,000 songs during her life, in many languages including English, Russian, Dutch and Swahili. “Coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian Culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people,” said the Indian PM Narendra Modi in a tribute to the singing legend.

Lata’s first breakthrough came in 1949 when she sang the song “Ayega Ane Wala” for the big block buster Mahal and then another big hit of 1949 “Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam” for Andaz. Then she was on her way to fame and fortune, and she became the voice of every major leading lady of Indian cinema from Nargis and Waheeda Rehman to Madhuri Dixit and Preiti Zinta. Her voice was the main reason for the success of great movies like Mahal (1949), Barsat (1949), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). In 1991, Mangeshkar was credited with having made 30,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed song recordings in 14 Indian languages between 1948 and 1987. She won four Filmfare awards (Filmfare is a noted Indian film magazine) for her song “Aaja re pardesi” from the film Madhumati (1958), for “Kahin deep jale kahin dil” from Bees Saal Baad (1962), for “Tumhi mere mandir” from the film Khandaan (1965), and for “Aap mujhe acchhe lagne lage” from the film Jeene ki Raah (1969).

She was undoubtedly the greatest singer and music icon ever born in the world, and the Indian movie industry will never see one like her again. Her voice dominated the Indian movie scene for over five decades, and many thought that she was naturally gifted. But she herself rebutted such ideas, and said, “Natural talent is 75% and the rest of it is hard work and training. People also say you have to take care of what you eat. They say don’t eat chilies, don’t consume pickles or don’t have curd. But I don’t restrict myself. I eat everything.”