Lata Mangeshkar, the one and only nightingale of India, who has charmed people all over the globe by singing over 50,000 songs as playback singer and singing in films in almost 14 different languages. She might just have been one of the most recorded voices in the history of Bollywood and an icon at that.
Lata Mangeshkar was born into a family of artists and her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer and theatre actor, respected and acclaimed in the society. He discovered her singing talent at a very young age. At five, Lata started to work as an actress in her father’s Marathi musical plays, also known as ‘Sangeet Natak’.
Did you know that she made her singing debut in a studio at the mere age of 13? Apart from her father, Lataji learned music from stalwarts like Aman Ali Khan Sahib and Amanat Khan. She recorded her first song in 1942 for the Marathi film, Kiti Hasaal and her career rocketed from that moment on.
After her father’s death in the year 1942, she tried her hand at acting until 1948 and acted in eight films too; multi-talented for sure wouldn’t you say so? When Lataji sang Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon to salute the martyrs of war, PM Nehru told her she had got him to tears, and we think that in itself is the biggest compliment any singer could have ever received.
The evidence of this phenomenal singer’s contribution comes from the various trophies and ample of awards that she has received over decades of singing and doing playback. Lata Mangeshkar has no regrets for not having married and is a proud Indian who we very well like to call a living legend.