Lata Mangeshkar

Best songs 1956: Wrap Up 2

The SOY Award for 1956 for the Best Solo of Lata Mangeshkar goes to?

SOY regulars are aware of the reasons why I am doing year-wise reviews of the best songs of a Vintage Era year going backwards, and a Golden Era year going forwards simultaneously. Vintage Years backwards, because of the joy of discovering the unknown, going back to when it all started in 1931. That was suggested by some SOY regulars who are no longer active now. And the Golden Era, because the new regulars suggested it and that, too, I found quite rewarding.

If you contrast with the last post on the Best Female Solos of 1939, there was no Lata Mangeshkar then; I often make my favourite quip, there was no Lata Mangeshkar before Lata Mangeshkar. In 1956 she was at the top of her vocal prowess. She defined how the leading lady is supposed to sing songs of joy and dancing, of sadness, of festivals. To be sure, the other female singers sang many more songs than her, and some of them did sing everlasting songs in the year. For statistical analysis, I depend upon our resident statistician/scholar N Venkataraman. Borrowing from him with thanks, Asha Bhosle sang 215 solos which is 1.40 times the number of songs by Lata Mangeshkar.  There were a total of 19 female voices (other than Lata Mangeshkar) who sang 371 solos in 1956. Top performers were Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, accounting for 86% of songs (of the other singers). The other ‘other singers’ accounting for a total of 14% included Mubarak Begum, Sabita Banerjee, Sudha Malhotra, Madhubala Jhaveri, Suraiya, Juthika Roy, Binota Chatterjeee etc. Thus, the other female singers sang many more songs than Lata Mangeshkar.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by RD Burman

A tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 96th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929 – d. 6 February 2006)  with her best songs by RD Burman continuing the series of tributes to him

Lata Mangeshkar’s singing-acting career started in 1942 with Marathi Nritya-Natak and Marathi films, under tragic circumstances, when RD Burman was still a toddler. Her father the famous actor-singer on Marathi stage, Dinanath Mangeshkar, passed away when she was barely 13 years. Dinanath had trained his daughters in classical music and she often performed with him on the stage. After he was no more, Lata Mangeshkar, being the eldest among four sisters and a brother, with a widowed mother, the burden of looking after the family fell on her. After about three years in Marathi films and Marathi dance-drama, she moved to Hindi films in 1945 with small acting-singing roles, but her heart was not into roles in films, her aim was to be a good singer. Within 4 years she burst upon the scene as a tornado and swept away the reigning singers of the time. She emerged as the voice of the leading ladies. RD Burman was ten, when Lata Mangeshkar established herself as the Mighty Empress of playback singing.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Usha Khanna’s best songs for Lata Mangeshkar, and other female singers

Concluding the series of tributes to Usha Khanna with her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers

Usha Khanna’s debut score in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) sounded so much OP Nayyar-ish that you may get the impression that she too would exclude Lata Mangeshkar completely and her female singer would be predominantly Asha Bhosle as she was in Dil Deke Dekho. But from her very second film Hum Hindustani (1960), just as she showed great felicity with Mukesh, she also composed a superlative Lata Mangeshkar song in the film, Chori chori tori ayi hai Radha, kadam tale haule haule. Usha Khanna showed remarkable competence for composing for most of the prominent female playback singers, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. My first post was on her best songs for Rafi, and second on Mukesh and other male playback singers. In these two posts I have also included their male-female duets. The third and last post in the series of tributes to Usha Khanna is on her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers. Since their duets with male singers are already covered this would be limited to their solos, and female-female duets.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Kalyanji-Anandji’s best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers

Kalyanji-Anandji were extremely melodious composers. But in a crowded field at the top comprising Naushad, SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan, etc. they were not among the elite at the High Table. But 70s onwards the gods were kind to them. Kalyanji-Anandji showed amazing talent to adapt themselves to the new voices (read Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle) and new kind of music. They were undisputedly part of the Big Troika with RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

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SN Tripathi Part 4 (post 50s): His best songs for Lata Mangeshkar

Continuing the series on SN Tripathi with a tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 94th birth anniversary (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022)

It is matter of satisfaction that after a reader noted the omission of SN Tripathi, I have been able to cover him in some detail, though late. I have already posted three articles on him: Part 1 about his multifaceted talent – actor, singer, music director, story and dialogue writer – in the Vintage Era (pre 50s); Part 2 (post 50s) about his best songs for Rafi, Part 3 (post-50s) about his best songs for Mukesh and other male singers. There cannot be a better way to continue the series than with his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar as a tribute to her on what would have been her 94th birth anniversary.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Vasant Desai Part 3 (post-50s): His best songs for Lata Mangeshkar

Continuing the series on Vasant Desai, his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar as a tribute to her on her 93rd birthday (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022)

Vasant Desai-Lata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar would have been 93 today. This is her first birthday after she left this mortal world and this calls for a tribute to her. Coincidentally SOY is paying a series of tributes to Vasant Desai who was a class composer but was not counted among the top by the conventional pecking order. His songs for Lata Mangeshkar were exceptionally melodious. Vasant Desai Part 1 was devoted to his multifaceted talent in the vintage era (pre-50s) as an actor, singer and music director. The part 2 onwards are devoted to the post-50s era with which we are all more familiar. Vasant Desai Part 2 was devoted to his male singers in which I also included MF duets. Lata Mangeshkar is by far his most preferred female singer (no surprise there), and quite a good number are unforgettable. It became appropriate to post a tribute to her on her 93rd birthday with her best songs by the maestro in Vasant Desai Part 3. This would also include her duets with a female singer.

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Lata Mangeshkar Lives Forever

The story of my deep romance for Lata Mangeshkar (28.9.1929 – 6.2.2022)

Lata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar is no more – her mortal body that is. She was over 92, she had been in and out of hospital in recent days, and had been on ventilator support for her last couple of days. This was bound to happen some day – जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युः. But can she ever go out of our lives? I don’t remember a time when I was not aware of her songs, nor can I think of a time when her voice would vanish from the face of the earth.

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Dattaram Part 2: Breaking out of the Banyan Tree with ‘Other’ Singers

Second and final part of tribute to Dattaram (1929 – 8 June 2007)

DattaramWe saw in Dattaram Part 1 dealing with his songs for Mukesh and Manna Dey, how his association with the Big Banyan tree, Shankar-Jaikishan, made it difficult to get out of the comfort zone of SJ. The readers Mahesh and Hans Jakhar opined that Dattaram was himself part of the Banyan Tree. We need not presume that it was a millstone around his neck. The association gave him steady work and a sense of importance. Not everyone is entrepreneurial, he was contented with his station in life.

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Ravi’s ‘other’ female playback singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Another tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her turning 90 (b. 28 September 1929)

Ravi-Lata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar turned ninety two months ago to this day. On this special day Shalan Lal wrote a comprehensive article on her, analysing the ‘conditions’ that made the Lata Mangeshkar-phenomenon possible, while acknowledging that there was something divine about her voice, something transcendental beyond any physical explanation. Many readers were also expecting a post on her songs by Ravi, who is being felicitated on SoY in the series on the leading music directors and, in fact, were somewhat disappointed that there may not be one on this combination.

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‘Would there ever be another Lata Mangeshkar?’

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 90th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with a guest article by Shalan Lal

(Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 today. This momentous occasion demanded something special befitting the milestone. However, in the year of the Ravi celebration on SoY, most readers almost took it for granted that today I would write on her songs by Ravi. As the readers are aware, in this series the spotlight has been on his main female playback singer, Asha Bhosle, to whom Hans Jakhar has paid a handsome tribute on her birth anniversary earlier this month. Lata Mangeshkar being Ravi’s ‘other’ singer, was placed in an unfavourable situation. This dilemma resolved itself when Shalan Lal sent me her comprehensive treatise on her, analysing the ‘conditions’ that made the Lata Mangeshkar phenomenon. The rhetorical question in the title implies that there would never be another one like her. While emphasising the theory of ‘conditions’, Shalan also acknowledges that her voice had a divine quality, and there was something beyond her training, upbringing, hard work, and other conditions, that was transcendental and beyond any physical explanation.

The original article Shalan sent me was too long for this blog, and I have severely reduced it, without losing the essence of what she is trying to say. I am happy that she has allowed me editorial freedom in this regard. Let us join her in wishing a very happy 90th anniversary to the legend, Lata Mangeshkar. And thank you Shalan for your significant article for this special occasion.

As the SoY regulars are by now familiar with her style, Shalan never writes a piece without saying something highly provocative and controversial. I have added my own comments on some of her observations at the end of the article.

Shalan Lal is a UK-based academic having wide interest in art, culture and literature. – AK)

The top question creates the following forbearance:

“Que será, sera. Whatever will be, will be? The future’s not ours to see
Que será, sera”

Yes, Indeed!

Today on 28 September 2019 Lata Mangeshkar completes her 90 years and there will be celebrations on the filmy planet and in the Indian social and political world. She has already won numerous awards including the highest Indian civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’. She is known as “The Queen of Melody, The Voice of the Nation, The Voice of the Millennium and The Nightingale of India etc etc.”

Mine is a rhetorical question. Some will think it as a pompous question; others may think that it is melodramatic. I do not see any harm in raising it.

The answer from the audience surely will be instantaneous and a unanimous emphatic “No, no and never”!

This I venture to say is an expression of sheer love for the icon Lata! There is a need for deeper examination of the ‘conditions’ that made Lata Mangeshkar. I had my Eureka moment to examine her on this basis when I watched a BBC series titled ‘The Planets’, presented by Brain Cox, a renowned expert on Space Science and the Solar System.

In one of his lectures, titled ‘Godfather Planet Jupiter’, Professor Cox explained that when the Big Bang happened billions of earth-years ago, and the sun and solar system came into existence to cool down to present time, it was Jupiter which is hundreds of times bigger than our earth, kept on guard and destroyed most of the asteroids or gobbled them up which were on the loose and going around destroying other planets, or whatever coming in their way, behaving like the wild west cowboys.

Jupiter helped to create an atmosphere on the earth and did not allow the water to dry up so life could be born and sustained. It was also instrumental in the occurrence of the orbit around the sun and also the larger orbit called the Solar System. Hence there are seasons on the earth, and human beings could eventually evolve and come up to what they are now. Unless what Jupiter had done occurs elsewhere in the space, it is unlikely that another earth can happen. Mere water is not enough to have a living world. Many planets have water in frozen conditions. But Jupiter took billions of earth-years to do what it did.

These are called the ‘conditions’ and did not occur anywhere else according to the present knowledge.

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