‘Daughter of the nation’ Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 and here’s taking a look at her career of 77 years

• The Indian government will honour melody queen Lata Mangeshkar with ‘Daughter Of The Nation’ award on her birthday on 28 September.
  
• Her song ‘aye mere watan ke logon’ dedicated to the martyrs of the Sino-Indian war moved the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru to tears.
  
• She was awarded with the status of most recorded artist in the history of Indian music in Guinness Record in 1974.
  
• Lata Mangeshkar was also honoured with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in 2001.

The Indian government is celebrating melody queen Lata Mangeshkar’s 90th birthday by bestowing a special honour — ‘Daughter Of The Nation’. Her birthday celebration will include the launch of the book ‘Lata’ and a day-long session of 91 Hindi-Marathi songs.

She also sang the patriotic song ‘Ae mere watan ke logon’ in 1963 during the Indo-China war, which moved India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears.

Miracle of God

The Indore-born singer hails from a family of musicians and artists, has no plans of slowing down. She has been singing for the last seven decades and famously claimed to sing until her last breath.

Popularly known as didi or sister, Mangeshkar kicked off her music career with a Marathi song ‘NaachuYaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari’ at the age of 13, five years before independence. Soon, her mellifluous voice mixed with talent brought her immense popularity also for being the singer who is “never off-key”.

Famous actor Dilip Kumar once said that Latha’s voice is as spectacular as a God’s miracle.

Her work spans across historic films like Mughal-E-Azam to popular hits like Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jaayenge, singing playback for actors from Madhubala to Kajal. She has been awarded with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in 2001. Her other achievements include Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, and Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Social media controversy

The singer who resides at Peddar Road in Mumbai, has also been a part of her share of controversies. She was heavily trolled for her comments on the video of Ranu Mondal — a poor lady who sang on a railway platform to earn her living, saying she should be “original.”

Lata who was known as a good luck for many decades in the industry, also shares a turbulent relationship with her equally famous sister, Asha Bhosle, who is also a prolific singer. For one, Bhosle broker Lata’s Guinness record as most recorded artist in the history of Indian music, which she held since 1974. In 2011, Bhosle took over the mantle.

The rift first started when Asha married Ganpatrao Bhosle, a man 15 years older to her. Lata once claimed that Bhosle stopped the two sisters from meeting. However, the marriage ended in a divorce but Lata and Asha’s relationship remained strained.

During Asha’s struggling times in the industry, Lata also disapproved of Asha’s relationship with music director O P Nayyar. So much so that Lata stopped singing for Nayyar altogether.

Movie producer

Singing is her first love, but Lata has many other talents too. She had composed music for Marathi movies but was too conscious of giving her name to it, and chose to keep it under wraps, under a pseudonym. But the secret came out when the movies she composed for won an award for Best Music, requiring her to receive the recognition on stage.

She told the story in a book called ‘Lata in her own voice’, adding that she was too busy recording that she could not focus on composing. She had also produced three Hindi films and a Marathi film.

Lata who has never married, likes to read Hindi writer Maithili Sharan Gupt in her free time.

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Lata Mangeshkar to be honoured with 'Daughter of the Nation' title as she turns 90 this month

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