Golden Era of Bollywood: Happy Birthday LATA MANGESHKAR on 87th Birthday

The nightingale of India turns 87
Legendary singer and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar was born on 28th September 1929 at the princely state of Indore, part of the Central India Agency (now part of Madhya Pradesh). Her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theater actor.She 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.
At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father's musical plays (Sangeet Natak 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.

Lata Mangeshkar was 13 when her father died of heart disease. She being the eldest among brother and sisters, the responsibility of earning bread and butter came to her shoulder. The owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped Lata get started in a career as a singer and actress.

first song sung by Lata Mangeshkar

She sang the song "Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari" which was composed by Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar's Marathi 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. Her first Hindi song was "Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu" for the Marathi film,Gajaabhaau (1943).
When Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters to Bombay in 1945 Lata also moved to Mumbai with her family.She started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from UstadAmanat Ali Khan . Lata and her sister Asha played minor roles in Vinayak's first Hindi-language movie, Badi Maa (1945). In that movie, Lata also sang a bhajan, "Maata Tere Charnon Mein." She was introduced to music director Vasant Desai during the recording of Vinayak's second Hindi-language movie, Subhadra (1946).She sang “Paa Lagoon Kar Jori” for Vasant Joglekar's Hindi-language movie Aap Ki Seva Mein (1946),which was composed by Datta Davjekar.

Dil Mera Toda, Mujhe Kahin Ka Na Chhora from Majboor 1948

Once again Lata got another setback in 1948 when Master Vinayak died.She was once again jobless.But this time music director Ghulam Haider mentored her as a singer. Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song "Dil Mera Toda, Mujhe Kahin Ka Na Chhora"—lyrics by Nazim Panipati—from the movie Majboor (1948), which became her first big breakthrough film hit. In an interview on her 84th birthday, in September 2013, Lata herself declared, "Ghulam Haider is truly my Godfather. He was the first music director who showed complete faith in my talent

Aayega Aanewaala from Mahal 1949

She became the Star from the song "Aayega Aanewaala," from the movie Mahal (1949), composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and lip-synced on screen by actress Madhubala.After this song she was the leading voice of all heroines and ruled bollywood with her Sweet voice.

Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honours, including Bharat Ratna (India's Highest Civilian Award), Padma Bhushan(1969),Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), 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.

Lata with her Brother & Sisters

Some Un Known Facts of Lata Ji

-Initially, Lata Mangeshkar is said to have imitated the acclaimed singer Noor Jehan, but later she developed her own style of singing.

-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.

-.Music Director Ghulam 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".An annoyed Haider responded that in coming years producers and directors would "fall at Lata's feet" and "beg her" to sing in their movies.

-In the early 1962 she was given slow poison. The doctor was called. He came with an x-ray machine to check her, and gave her an injection to render her unconscious, because She was in pain. For three days, She had a close brush with death. After ten days, she began to recover. The doctor told her that somebody gave her slow poison. The slow poison incident rendered her very weak. She was bed-ridden for nearly 3 months. The most surprising thing was that soon after the incident, the cook who used to work at Lataji's home, suddenly vanished without taking his wages. The cook had earlier worked with some Bollywood people. Bollywood lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri used to regularly visit Lataji at her home daily at 6 pm. Majrooh used to first taste the food and then allow Lata to eat. He used to recite poems and stories to keep Lata in good humour.

-Lata Mangeshkar composed music for the first time in 1955 for Marathi movie Ram Ram Pavhane. Later in the 1960s, she composed music for 5 Marathi movies under the pseudonym of Anand Ghan.

The Song Sung and Composed by Lata

-Lata Mangeshkar has produced four films:,One was in Marathi "Vaadal" in 1953,Jhaanjhar (Hindi),1953,Kanchan (Hindi)1955 and Lekin(Hindi)1990.
-The Guinness Book of Records—in 1991—listed her as the most recorded artist in the world with not less than 30,000 solo, duet and chorus-backed songs recorded in 20 Indian languages between 1948 and 1987. Today the number might have crossed 50,000.

Song from Lekin

She is the blessed one - she is blessed by God,I wish her a very long life and many more years to bless us with her wonderful songs.

RARE & UNRELEASED FILM SONGS OF LATA JI