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Lata Mangeshkar

 
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929, in Indore. Her father, Dinanath Mangeshkar, was a trained classical singer who owned a traveling drama group. His children were part of this nomadic life, which involved camping all over Maharashtra. Dinanath tried to compensate for the lack of regular schooling of the children with music lessons. Things were fine till around 1935 when the drama company`s plays starting flopping in succession and Dinanath was forced to switch to singing at the Pune Radio Station. The sheer frustuation of failure was too much for Dinanath and he died when Lata was only barely in her teens. 
 
Poverty forced Lata to take up acting as a career at the age of 13, She acted and sung in Pahili Manglagaur, a Marathi film by Master Vinayak Rao. Lata played the heroine`s sister and had three songs. About her acting experience Lata says "I hated putting make-up, I hated standing in the glare of lights. But I was the breadwinner of the family, and there was hardly any choice left. The day I went to work in Master Vinayak`s film, there was nothing to eat in the house". 
The success of the film Mahal, with the haunting song `Ayega, ayega, ayega ... ayega aane wala, ayega, ayega...`, made Lata a famous singer. There was no looking back. 
Since the 1940`s to the millennium - Lata has sung for most leading actresses of Bollywood. From Nargis, Madhubala and Nutan to Sadhna, Asha Parekh and Sharmila Tagore to Zeenat Aman, Jaya Bahaduri to Sridevi, Madhuri and Karishma there has hardly been a Bollywood leading lady for whom Lata has not sung. 
`Ai mere watan ke logo`,`Mohe bhool gaye sanwariya`, `Aaja re pardesi`, `Kahin deep jale kahin dil`, `Jo vada kiya wo nibhana padega`, `Rasik balma`, `Ye zindqgi usi ki hai`, `Mujhe Kuchh kehna hai`, `Hum bane tum bane ek duje he liye`. 
Lata has sung her way to the record books! According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Lata has the world record of having sung in almost 20 languages for over 1,825 films and worked with 165 composers. 
Though the exact record is not available it is believed that she has been the most prolific singer in the world exceeding 8,000 recordings. 
Recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 1969 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989, Lata is the voice that haunts Indians as they carry on with their lives - in buses, trains, cinema houses, in their houses and even in their heart as they hum one of her unforgettable numbers.
 
 
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