Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar (Marathi: लता मंगेशकर; born September 28, 1929) is a singer from India. She is one of the best-
known and most respected playback singers in India.[1][2] Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over
six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Bollywood movies and has sung songs in over
thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, but primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of Asha
Bhosle and brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar and sisters Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. She is the
second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.[3]

Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most
recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded no less than 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed
songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974 (30,000 songs between 1948 and 1987, according to the 1987
edition). Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its
veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's younger sister, Asha Bhosle, had
more song

Early life

Lata Mangeshkar was born in a Marathi family in Ushaganj, Indore, in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Her father,
Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar who belonged to a Marathi-speaking Kalavant family from Goa, was a classical
singer and theater actor. Her mother Shudhhamati, who was from Thalner, Maharashtra, was Deenanath's second
wife. The family's last name used to be Hardikar; Deenanath changed it to Mangeshkar in order to identify his
family with his native town, Mangeshi in Goa. Lata was named "Hema" at her birth. Her parents later renamed her
Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father's plays, BhaawBandhan.[4] Lata is the eldest child of her
parents. Asha, Hridayanath, Usha, and Meena are her siblings in sequence.

Mangeshkar took her first music lessons from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her
father's musical plays (sangeet naatak in Marathi). On the first day in the school, she started teaching songs to other
children. When the teacher stopped her, she was so angry that she stopped going to the school.[4] Other sources cite
that she left school because they would not allow her to bring Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger
sister with her.

Early movie career in the 1940s

Mangeshkar sang the song “Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari,” which was composed by
Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar's Marathi-language movie Kiti Hasaal (1942), but the song was dropped
from the final cut. Vinayak gave her a small role in Navyug Chitrapat's Marathi movie Pahili Mangalaa-gaur
(1942), in which she sang “Natali Chaitraachi Navalaai,” which was composed by Dada Chandekar. [4] Her first
Hindi song was Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu for the Marathi film, Gajaabhaau (1943). Mangeshkar
moved to Mumbai in 1945 when Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters there. She started taking
lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Amanat Ali Khan Bhendibazaarwale. She sang “Paa Lagoon Kar
Jori” for Vasant Joglekar's Hindi-language movie Aap Ki Seva Mein (1946),[4] which was composed by Datta
Davjekar. Mangeshkar and her sister Asha played minor roles Vinayak's first Hindi-language movie, Badi Maa
(1945). In that movie, Lata also sang a bhajan (religious song), “Maata Tere Charnon Mein.” She was introduced to
music director Vasant Desai during the recording of Vinayak's second Hindi-language movie, Subhadra (1946).
The 1950s
In the 1950s, Mangeshkar sang songs composed by various music directors of the period, including Anil Biswas (in
films such as Tarana and Heer), Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, S. D. Burman, C. Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Salil
Chowdhury, Khayyam, Ravi, Sajjad Hussain, Roshan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Hansraj
Behl, Madan Mohan, and Usha Khanna.

Mangeshkar sang many raga-based songs for Naushad in movies such as Baiju Bawra (1952), Mughal-E-Azam
(1960), and Kohinoor (1960). Ae Chorre Ki Jaat Badi Bewafa, a duet with G. M. Durrani, was her first song for
composer, Naushad. The duo, Shankar-Jaikishan, chose Mangeshkar for Aag, Aah (1953), Shree 420 (1955), and
Chori Chori (1956). Before 1957, composer Sachin Dev (S. D.) Burman chose Mangeshkar as the leading female
singer for his musical scores in Sazaa (1951), House No. 44 (1955), and Devdas (1955). However a rift developed
between Lata and Burman in 1957, and Lata did not sing Burman's compositions again until 1962.[4]

Mangeshkar won a Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for Salil Chowdhury's composition “Aaja Re Pardesi,”
from Madhumati (1958).

In the early fifties, Lata Mangeshkar's association with C. Ramchandra produced songs in movies such as Anarkali,
Albela, Asha, Pehli Jhhalak, Shin Shinkai Bublaa Boo, Azad and Amardeep. For Madan Mohan, she performed for
films like Adalat, Railway Platform, Dekh Kabira Roya and Chacha Zindabad.

Following the partition of India in 1947, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan Bhendibazaarwale migrated to newly formed Pakistan, so
Mangeshkar started to learn classical music under Amanat Khan Devaswale. Pandit Tulsidas Sharma, a pupil of Ustad Bade
Ghulam Ali Khan, also trained her.

After Vinayak's death in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored her as a singer. Haider introduced Mangeshkar to
producer Sashadhar Mukherjee, who was working then on the movie Shaheed (1948), but Mukherjee dismissed Mangeshkar's
voice as "too thin."[4] An annoyed Haider responded that in the coming years the producers and the directors would "fall at Lata's
feet" and "beg her" to sing in their movies. Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song “Dil Mera Toda,” from the
movie Majboor (1948).[4]

Initially, Mangeshkar is said to have imitated Noor Jehan, but later she developed her own style of singing.[4] Lyrics of songs in
Hindi movies are primarily composed by Urdu poets and contain a higher proportion of Urdu words, including the dialogue.
Actor Dilip Kumar once made a mildly disapproving remark about Mangeshkar's Maharashtrian accent while singing Hindi/Urdu
songs; so for a period of time, Lata took lessons in Urdu from an Urdu teacher named Shafi. [5]

“Aayega Aanewaala,” a song in the popular movie Mahal (1949) was composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and lip-
synced on screen by actress Madhubala).

Awards and recognitions

Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma
Vibhushan (1999), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997),[19] NTR
National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna (2001), ANR National Award (2009), three National Film Awards,
and 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. She has also won four Filmfare Best Female
Playback Awards. In 1969, she made the unusual gesture of giving up the Filmfare Best Female Playback
Award, in order to promote fresh talent. She was later awarded Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in
1993.
In 1984, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award in honor of Lata
Mangeshkar. The State Government of Maharashtra also instituted a Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1992.

In 1974, The Guinness Book of Records listed Lata Mangeshkar as the most recorded artist in the history, stating
that she had reportedly recorded "not less than 25,000 solo, duet and chorus backed songs in 20 Indian languages"
between 1948 and 1974. Her record was contested by Mohammed Rafi, who was claimed to have sung around
28,000 songs.[20][21] After Rafi's death, in its 1984 edition, the Guinness Book of World Records stated Lata
Mangeshkar's name for the "Most Recordings", but also stated Rafi's claim. The later editions of Guinness Book
stated that Lata Mangeshkar had sung no fewer than 30,000 songs between 1948 and 1987.[22]

Although the entry has not been printed in Guinness editions since 1991, reputable sources claim that she has
recorded thousands of songs, with estimates ranging up to figures as large as 50,000.[23][24] However, even the earliest
Guinness claim of 25,000 songs (between 1948–1974) was claimed to be exaggerated by other sources, who stated
that the number of songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu films till 1991 was found to be 5250.
[25]
Mangeshkar herself stated that she does not keep a record of the number of songs recorded by her, and that she
did not know from where Guinness Book editors got their information.[26]