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Lata Mangeshkar's 95th birth anniversary is on 28th September. He died on February 6, 2022. Even though Lata is no more in this world, her voice is still immortal. To reach this point, Lata's life had gone through many ups and downs.
There are some unheard stories of her life which she herself told in her biography Lata Surgatha…
Chapter- 1: Childhood
Got angry after listening to teacher, left school
'It was wrong that I never went to school. I went to school once. There was a Marathi medium school near home where my cousin sister Basanti studied. One day when I went to school with him, the teacher asked – Who are you? I replied- I am the daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar. Hearing this he said that he is a great singer. Do you know how to sing anything?
I made him sing the song after which he admitted me to the school. I took my younger sister Asha, who was only ten months old, to the first day of school. The teacher said that such small children are not allowed to be brought to school. Hearing this, I got angry and left the class midway and came home.
After that I never saw the face of school. I studied at home with the help of people around me. Also learned Marathi, Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Urdu.
Chapter-2: Responsibility
Came into films at the age of 13 to run the house
'This is about 1942. At that time my father Dinanath Mangeshkar had passed away. At the age of 13, the responsibility of the entire family fell on my shoulders. In such a situation, I had to work in films even without wanting to. Raising four siblings besides my mother at home was a challenge, for which I felt that working in films was the right path. Master Vinayak gave me the role of the actress's younger sister in his first film Mangalagore.
During the shooting, Master Vinayak had a fight with the studio and left the film. This film was again directed by director R.S. Junnardev had completed it. From 1942 to 1947, I worked in five films which included Majhe Jhol (1943), Gajabhau (1944), Badi Maa (1945), Jeevan Yatra (1946), Subhadra (1946) and Mandir (1948).
Chapter 3: Struggle
Lata wore a saree worth Rs 12 in poverty
No one would know that during 1947-48, sarees were available at the ration shop. When I started working, my circumstances were not good. In such a situation, I used to wear the sarees which were available in the ration shop.
'These sarees were of cotton, which had a thin red border on the edges. At that time those sarees were available for Rs 12. I would buy them and wash them with my own hands and after they dry, I would sleep with them on my pillow.
Being pressed against the pillow, the sarees would become as if someone had ironed them in the morning. At that time I did not even have enough money to get the sarees ironed and wear them.
Chapter- 4: Family
Uncle said- this girl will spoil the name of the family
'At the age of 14, I went from Kolhapur to Mumbai with my aunt to sing in a show. Here I stayed at my uncle Kamalnath Mangeshkar's house. As soon as I reached home, I started practicing. My only effort was that no one should raise questions in father's name.
But uncle was angry with me. Looking at me he said, this girl will spoil the name of Bhai Dinanath Mangeshkar. Where is that good singer and where is this girl. This girl will not be able to sing properly and the name of the entire family will be ruined.
My aunt Vijay also had the same thoughts as my uncle. I was very hurt after hearing these words from those people and started crying. Then aunty explained to me that I should just concentrate on my singing without listening to anyone.
The next day I gave my performance. Actress Lalita Pawar was also present in that show as a spectator. He liked my song very much. Lalita Pawar gifted me gold earrings as a reward.
Chapter- 5: Success
When Jawahar Lal Nehru said – This girl made me cry
'During the Chinese invasion in 1962, Pt. Pradeep (poet Pradeep) wrote the patriotic song 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon'. He had requested me to sing this song on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26, 1963. When I sang this song there, Jawaharlal Nehru could not control his tears.
After the song, I was drinking coffee behind the stage when director Mehboob Khan came to me and said that Panditji is calling you.
He took it in front of Nehru and said, 'Here is our creeper. How did you like its song?'
Nehru said,
Very good. This girl brought tears to my eyes.
Saying this he hugged me.
Chapter- 6: Controversy
Said about Rafi- he had a misunderstanding
'On the fight with Mohammed Rafi over royalty, Lata had said – I see it more as a fight of principles than a dispute or quarrel. When I raised this issue, I started worrying about my future.
It seemed that if the work is going on right now, I am getting work, but what about tomorrow? That's why I told music companies that they should give some part of the profit on the sale of records to the singers in exchange for the songs. Controversy started on this.
Rafi Saheb said that once we have taken the money for the song, then what is the point of asking for more money? I argued that once we sing a song, the records of those films continue to be made and sold for years, the profits of which will go to the record companies and film producers, whereas the hard work behind is ours.
Companies will continue to earn profits and singers will be forced to live a miserable life. Mukesh, Manna Dey, Talat Mehmood and Kishore Kumar were in support of this, but Rafi Saheb, Asha ji and some singers did not agree with this. I felt that Rafi Saheb was not fully aware of the issue and he had misunderstood. The result was that Rafi Sahab and I did not sing together for years.
Raised voice at workplace, left recording
'The story is from 1949. I was recording the song 'Hey Chhore Ki Jaat Badi Bewafa' from the film Chandni Raat. Naushad was the music director of this film. The male playback singer was GM Durrani.
After singing his line, Durrani would start doing mischief. Naushad ji explained to him that this is creating hindrance in recording, don't do this.
When the recording of the song started after a break, Durrani's actions increased. He made fun of me for wearing a white saree and said, why do you come wrapped in a white sheet, why don't you wear colorful clothes?
Apart from this he also raised questions on my jewellery. I stopped the recording midway. I thought that GM Durrani would focus more on my singing than my clothes and jewellery, but it did not happen. After this I decided that I would never work with him.
Now know some interesting facts related to Lata…
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Sketch: Sandeep Pal
Graphics: Kunal Sharma
