Happy Birthday Lata Mangeshkar

Today 28 September (2013) the Nightingale of India has turned 84 years ‘young’. We really can’t call her old, even though she’s undoubtedly gold. Her voice remains a national treasure that every filmmaker, young or old, wants to be part of his creative vision. When I compliment this empress of all melodious things for her achingly sweet renditions she laughs, “Sab Bhagwan ki kripa hai. I’ve sung some of the toughest songs of my career for my brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar. That really took a lot out of me. But I enjoy such challenges. Hridayanath never hesitates in ticking me off if I make a mistake in my singing. An artiste never stops growing and improving. I feel there’s still a lot that I’ve got to learn.” After the Bharat Ratna, the Melody Queen seemed to have reached the acme of her achievements. But ask Lataji if she’s content and she softly confesses, “How can I be satisfied as long as I live? Gana to mere saath hi rahega. There were filmmakers like Yashji (Yash Chopra) who insisted that I sing in all their films. I could never say no to him. In fact I recorded songs for Yashji’s production Mujhse Dosti Karoge composed by Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s son Rahul.” This isn’t the first father-son pair that’s been blessed with Lataji’s voice. Chitragupta and his sons Anand-Milind, Roshan and his son Rajesh Roshan, Sardar Malik and his son Anu and of course Sachin Dev and Rahul Dev Burman are some other over-the-generation bridges that this amazing singer has crossed effortlessly. In an interview in the US Yash Chopra was asked to name the one individual who has impressed and influenced him the most. The filmmaker unhesitatingly named Lata Mangeshkar. Yashji's birthday falls a day before Lataji's, on 27 September. Lataji recalls, “Yashji was family. I remember how ill I was during Chandni. If it was any other director I would have declined to sing. Not Yashji. He insisted on waiting for me until I could manage to sing. Who would have imagined that Mere haathon mein nau-nau chudiyan which I sang when I could barely stand, would become such a craze?!” 25 years earlier Hemant Kumar and Madan Mohan had waited for the Nightingale to recover from her illness and sing for their films Bees Saal Baad and Who Kaun Thi although the doctors had announced that she may not be able to sing again. The songs after the ‘never-again’ prophecy Kahin deep jale kahin dil in Bees Saal Baad and Naina barse in Wo Kaun Thi are considered Mangeshkerian milestones. Laughs Lataji, “Main bahut ziddi kism ki aurat hoon. If you want to make me do something all you have to do is tell me I can’t do it.” The Nightingale has exceeded all human definitions of success by singing for four generations of heroines, from Meena Kumari and Madhubala, to Waheeda Rehman and Nutan, to Sharmila Tagore and Asha Parekh, Dimple and her daughter Twinkle. Karisma and now her sister Kareena as well. Lataji laughs her lilting laughter, “You know the earlier generation of heroines was the same age as me. Meena Kumari and Nargis were my close friends. They used to state in their contracts that only I must be their ghost voice. Now….” She stops to ponder at the passage of time, as automobiles swish by rapidly outside her window in Peddar Road. “It’s a different era, a different generation of listeners, and composers. Today there’s too heavy a Western influence on our film music. But it’s a cycle. I’m sure everyone is soon going to get tired of aping the West. I’m grateful that in spite of singing for so many decades people still like my voice. But I’m singing very selectively now. Composers approach me only when they think they have something suitable for me. So in a sense the songs are choosing me, instead of the other way around.”