By Dhiren Shah
When it comes to singing, there is one name in the world that stands out: Lata Mangeshkar. She is known as Latadidi (Didi means elder sister). I would count top two singers in the world who had such a global impact; one is Michael Jackson, and the other Lata Mangeshkar.
Her father had played roles in the Marathi Broadway shows. Since childhood, she was singing. She struggled sometimes at a very early age, but once she started singing for the Bollywood film industry, she held her own. When she was 13, her father passed away. The owner of the drama company gave her the chance to sing, as well as to be an actress. She had a God-given gift. Almost immediately, she shined, and since 1942, she had been the melody queen of India’s film industry.
When visiting the U.S., Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, called her and wished her “Happy Birthday,” even before her 90th birthday, as Modi was not going to be back in India in time. Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, and the majority of film tycoons, from producers to directors, from music directors to singers, from actors to industrialists, stood in line to pay their last tributes to the icon of music.
In the 1960s she was telling producers and music directors to let upcoming singers perform, but all of them, including the fans, only wanted to hear the voice of Lata Mangeshkar. A.R. Rahman, who won and Academy Award for “Slumdog Millionaire,” paid a visit to her house and sat on the floor as a sign of respect. Even Modi bowed down to her to give respect.
At the end, she caught COVID-19 from one of the workers in the house, and spent the last month in the hospital. She was on a ventilator for about 28 days and on Feb. 6, finally departed from her family (her sister is another singing icon, Asha Bhosle), friends and a billion fans, all over the world. Her legacy will live on by her music for decades or centuries to come. Her songs will be in our hearts with one of the 50,000 plus she sung.
