Movies - Lata Mangeshkar

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	Movies - Lata Mangeshkar

Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar ('लता मंगेशकर') (born September 28, 1929) is widely regarded as one of India's greatest and most popular singers of all time and has had a career that has spanned more than six decades. She is one of the only two singers (and the only playback singer) to have been awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour (the other being legendary classical vocalist M.S. Subbulakshmi). Although she mainly sings for Hindi films, Lata Mangeshkar's popularity and influence transcends all barriers of region and language.

Childhood

Lata was born as Hema Hardikar at Sikh Mohalla, Indore, Madhya Pradesh into a middle-class Maharashtrian family. She was the firstborn child and daughter of Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar and his second wife Shevanti Mangeshkar. Dinanath had married Shevanti's sister earlier and they had a baby boy who died when he was a few months old. Following this, his wife died too and later on Dinanath married Shevanti. Her father was a theater actor and classical singer. Her siblings are Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. All of the siblings, except Meena (though she has sung quite a few songs, mostly with Lata and Usha), chose music as their careers. Although she was born at Indore, Lata was raised in Maharashtra. When she was 5 years old, Lata started working as an actress in several plays in which her father was performing. Her father began giving her singing lessons when she was 5. Her inherent musical gifts meant that she could master the vocal exercises from first pass and from early on she was recognized as being highly gifted musically. Dinanath's recitals, his tutelage of various students and his practice of music all left an indelible impression on Lata. Ironically, according to Lata, her father forbade the listening to or singing of any Hindi film music, except K. L. Saigal's songs.

1940s: Early years in Bollywood

Lata Mangeshkar's first cinematic song was for the film Kiti Hasaal (1942), produced by Vasant Joglekar. However, her father disliked the idea of any of his daughters singing for movies and so the song was dropped from the film. Her talent impressed Vasant Joklegar enormously. He later commented "She is an introvert and that's why she reveals her pride in her singing." Lata's father died while she was 13 of heart disease in 1942.

Lata didn't like acting very much, but the death of her father and financial need forced her to play cameo roles in many Hindi/Urdu and Marathi films. Her first role was in Pahili Mangalagaur (1942), where she played the younger sister to actress Snehprabha Pradhan. She went on to act in many more feature films including, Maaze Baal, Chimukla Sansar (1943), Gajabhau (1944), Badi Maa (1945), Jeevan Yatra (1946), Mand (1948), and Chhatrapati Shivaji (1952). In Badi Maa, Lata acted with Noor Jehan and her younger sister Asha Bhosle. She sang for herself and did playback for Asha.

In 1945, maestro Ghulam Haider (who had earlier discovered singing star Noor Jehan) took Lata to meet producer S.Mukherji who was planning to make a movie starring actress Kamini Kaushal. He wanted the producer to give 16 year old Lata a chance to sing. The producer dismissed Lata's soft voice as too immature and girlish. Ghulam Haider was extremely annoyed and said "Let me fortell today that this girl will soon put to shame everyone else including Noor Jehan. Producers and directors will fall at her feet begging her to sing in their films." How true !

In 1947, Vasant Joglekar employed Lata to sing for his film Aapki Seva Mein. The popular songs composed by musician Datta Daavjekar established Lata as a leading playback singer in Bollywood. She reinforced her position with hits from the movie Majboor - Angrezi chhora chala gaya, Dil mera toda Haaye and, mujhe kahinka na choda tere pyaar ne.

In 1949, Lata got her big break with the song Aayega Aanewaala from the movie Mahal
. The song was for Bollywood's screen goddess Madhubala and was composed by Khemchand Prakash. The film was a hit across India and proved to be a turning point in the careers of Madhubala and Lata. The other major movie that made an impact was Raj Kapoor's "Barsaat" with music by Shankar-Jaikishan and hits such as 'Jiya beqarar hai', 'Hawa mein udta jaaye', 'Barsaat mein humse mile tum' and 'Chhod gaye baalam'. More hits followed and Lata became the most sought after playback singer, often working with composers such as Husnalal-Bhagatram, Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, C.Ramchandra, etc. and lyricists like Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Rajendra Krishna, and Majrooh Sultanpuri.

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