Talent, hard work and meticulous training in Classical music made Lata Mangeshkar, the Queen of Melody. She believed, to excel in music training in the Classical genre is important.
The day I got this invitation to write about Lata Mangeshkar, I initially declined. For, one, I am sceptical of the fact if I would be able to do justice writing about her. Another, I consider myself lacking in expressing in black and white, much as I am fluent in narrating a story. So, I start by touching upon my musical journey and will attempt in the course of my narration to reminisce about how I see Lataji and the music that carried me close to her.
Music has been there in my family for long. My mother, a masters in Economics and father, a trained engineer, were great music admirers. My mother besides singing, also played sitar and guitar. As we all know, earlier, in a Bengali household, women had to take up singing. Every Bengali family had a guitar, tanpura and a Geetobitan. My parents wanted me to take up music at a very early age. Their desperation to make me learn singing ran to such an extent that for me they had placed music over academics. Their mandate was, you can do whatever you like in life but you must have the inclination for music. Not sure, if they recognised the latent musical talent in me, my mother started imparting the initial lessons.
When I was 3 years of age, my mother felt that I be put under the tutelage of a guru. I went to Smt. Dipti Mukherjee who endeared me, and taught me with great care. Later, I also learnt from Smt. Ranjana Chakraborty but that was for a short span. When I was aged 9, my parents took me to Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty who stayed as my guru for the remaining part of my life. In this story when I am talking about Lata Mangeshkar to whom music is inextricably connected, I think it necessary to mention that we, who do music, for us it is our gurus who help us to become what we finally end up being.
As I was getting trained, gradually picking up the nuances of music from my gurus, I listened avidly to songs sung by various artists, played on the radio in our house. Radio was the predominant mode of entertainment during my childhood days. The most popular programs aired were Anurodher Ashar, Binaca Geet Mala, among others. The songs were in both Bengali and Hindi. We also had cassette recorders that catered to our musical tastes on a personal note. That was how I, as a child, got introduced to various artists and their songs. Their numbers also filled the air around the Durga Puja pandals in Bengal. I came to know more about those artists from Sharad Arghya, a Durga Puja special magazine. This was around the time ’78-’79 when I was about 7/8 years old.
Through those platforms legendary singers like Hemanta Mukherjee, Arati Mukhopadhyay, K L Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Sandhya Mukherjee, Asha Bhonsle, Geeta Dutt, Mukesh, Md Rafi, Manna Dey, Kishor Kumar, Shyamal Mitra, Manabendra Mukhopadhyay were some among several others who came close to our lives and entertained us with their soulful renditions.
Portrait by Kumar Jasakiya
KUMAR JASAKIYA is a practicing artist and art educator. Presently, Assistant Professor at the Department of Painting, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan.
While I enjoyed most the songs of the Bengali singers, I started taking a special liking to Lata Mangeshkar’s work. At that tender age, although I did not know much about music, not that I know even a little of it now, the massive ocean that music is, songs of all the legends of my childhood time appealed to me in their unique ways. However, Lataji started invading my mind and soul with her mellifluous voice.
By the time my interest in Lataji’s music got bolder, she was well into a famed musical career. She had started singing from well before my father saw the light of this world. My father was born in 1942 and Lataji in 1929. The songs she sang which amused my father when he was young, enthralled me too. Lata Mangeshkar’s songs started striking a chord in my mind as I got drawn to her more. At that age it was naturally not possible for me to analyse the compositional value or the lyrical brilliance of a number. But the songs of Salil Chowdhury, Khemchand Prakash, O P Nair, Naushadji and several other noted music directors which Lataji rendered were ringing in my heart and soul, and left a distinct impression on me, not aware still how great an artist she was. That was how I got introduced to Lata Mangeshkar in a subtle way.
As my training in music advanced and I got deeply engrossed, I realised that Lata Mangeshkar saw music from a heavenly level where perfection reigned. Every aspect of her song, she rendered bore with such precision that she was like perfection personified. The perfection, that made her stand apart from the way she did her rehearsals for playbacks and the gems she delivered.
Playback recording in her days, when technology in music was in its nascent stage, had to be completely error free. This I have heard from my several musician friends that for a 5-minute song that Lataji agreed to do a playback for a film, she used to go to the studio for days just to practice. For four to five days prior to the day of recording she would assemble the musicians and rehearse with all those instruments that would finally go into the song. Her dedication was such that on the day of the recording as the red light in the studio room blinked and the music director waved his hand for a start, she could deliver another of her best.
In this context, let me tell you, a 4/5 minute playback recording in her time demanded far more perfection than singing a 1-hour raga in a concert where one has the leverage to falter and fumble yet amend the faults in the course of singing. This was in no way possible in a playback recording,. A small error made the director go for a retake all over again.
Even if I keep the technicalities of her songs aside, Lataji also concentrated deeply on the other aspects that the track would be put to use. She would be mindful of the demeanour of the heroine who would give lip to her number in the film, the scene that the track would feature in, dramatization of the entire sequence, the accent, speed and tempo of the number. Her work was so impeccable that it left no stone to turn and scoop out even a minor fault from it.
Here I wish to mention that the works of other singers during her time were also no less commendable. I have been a great admirer of Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar, Sandhya Mukherjee, Arati Mukhopadhyay and many more. That Lataji being a Bharat Ratna was superior to any, would betray my educated mindset in placing them on a weighing scale and comparing their greatness. As a lover of music I see the treasure in others’ works too. Since I am talking about Lata Mangeshkar here, I shall only share my impression about her.
As I was growing up, well into my late teens and 10 years through with my music learning, hearing Lata Mangeshkar’s songs incessantly, this realisation dawned on me then that in the field of music Lataji was an entity worth worshipping.
Lata Mangeshkar was undoubtedly a genius. But she couldn’t have been what she became without her immense dedication, perseverance, perfection and, above all, hard work.
As we all know she, from a tender age, battled her way to success that finally got her fame. Her father having passed away when she was a small girl, she had determined to take her family that consisted of her mother and four siblings, she being the elder sister, out of dire poverty with the extreme diligence in the way she trained her voice to divinity. In those days playback singers did not have their names in the films they sang. They remained in oblivion. Gradually, as those in the background started getting acknowledged and Lata Mangeshkar’s name as a playback singer began featuring in films, her struggle and perseverance paid off. Her brilliant rendition won the heart of the nation and she took little time to attain country wide fame and recognition.
The Nightingale of India that the people of this nation entitled Lataji, was due to the culmination of her talent and hard work. The more I heard Lataji, the more, as a man of music, an inner calling of meeting her and seeking her blessings began to blossom in me.
My path to reaching Lata Mangeshkar’s feet was not a long one. The year was 2015. She was in Kolkata. I was to sing at a concert in a banquet of a 5-star hotel. As I caught on to my raaga, I saw the Nightingale walk in and grace the front row of the audience seat. I sang my heart out as she listened with rapt attention. Throughout my life there has been 3 gurus to whom I went to learn music. Lataji was the guru in my mind who inspired me to sing better. In that concert my songs were as if gurudakshina to her. Concert over, she walked upto me, visibly pleased, praised my singing and showered her blessings. While leaving she expressed her wish to take us to her room where we went and chatted for a while. Before leaving she invited us to visit her at her Mumbai house.
Those few moments with her was a treasure for us. A dream of a lifetime come true. However, such dreams, even if met, still seems to remain unfulfilled. The urge to see her got the better of me. Opportunity came holding the hand of Adinath Mangeshkar. Adinath is Lataji’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s son. A very close friend of mine with whom I was introduced long back in Bombay. He wanted me to work with him in a music project which I did at his sprawling studio situated along the Pune-Solapur highway. With time our friendship got stronger and we met and spend time together several times later in Bombay, talked at length about music and both our families too went along dearly.
That was in 2016 on a cold January evening, following a concert in Mumbai Adinath broached to us the topic that had been a dream within our heart and soul. He wanted to take us to her aunt’s house. We readily agreed, as we went numb in our feet, unsure what we would say to a person of her stature. All we could think of was, visit her, see her, seek blessings and come back, which would be over in a matter of 15 minutes.
But she was also Lata Mangeshkar for her simplicity. As we, including my wife and son reached, she greeted us, sat down and chatted with us, remembered me sing at the concert in Kolkata which she had attended. I was as if interacting with my Saraswati right in front of me. She made us feel at home and requested me to sing for her. I sang. Time stood. She listened. A matter of minutes that we had thought would take at her place, stretched to hours.
In our conversation, her memories of Calcutta, singing for Bengali films and her collaboration with music stalwarts of Bengal of that time like Salil da, Manna da, Hemanta babu, Manabendra babu and Pulok babu, surfaced. How she shuttled between Bombay and Calcutta those days, she fondly recalled. In between our talks, Lataji treated us to Marathi snacks she prepared for us herself and shared with us how she loved Bengali cuisine like Postor Bora and Chingri Macher Malaikari. She was fascinated to know that I was a South Indian, my father being a South Indian married to a Bengali. She took us to the Mandir in her house and explained to us each of the god idols she had in there whom she prayed to. Following a 3-hour long rendezvous with my god of music, we left her place late night.
While returning, the hangover of spending time with Lata Mangeshkar pleasantly weighed down on us cutting us out from our other worldly thoughts. I saw my son carefully holding on to the tiny Ganesha idol Lataji gifted him. Not much that he understood the magnitude of the gifter, that it was a cherished present for him, he well realised that evening.
In the car Adinath shared with us more of Lataji’s versatility. She was a good cook, could prepare a variety of delicacies, a great foodie, an ardent traveller, adequately tech savvy, a superb hand at drawing, and a prolific photographer who edited snaps on her own and uploaded to twitter or emailed to her friends and relatives.
During my interaction with her at her house I did not spare the opportunity of asking her a plethora of questions I had saved up for long. An interesting one I asked her was, how she managed to keep the noise of her breathing insulated from her songs. Cyclic breathing, she told me that she practiced, for which, of the so many songs she sang during her lifetime, in none of those the hissing windy sound of her breath could be heard. I have always been moved by her accent too. She told me, to master pronunciation she took lessons in Urdu from a Maulvi. Even her pronunciation in the Bengali tracks can not be discriminated. Na jeo na/ Rajani ekhono baki/ Aro kichu dite baki/ Bole raat jaga pakhi/ for example, sounds so typically Bengali from a non-Bengali singer. So meticulously she groomed herself for her music.
In between, I had another opportunity of meeting Lata Mangeshkar. But that was for few moments. In Mumbai at the Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar award function. Another scope for me to meet the Nightingale and seek her blessings.
Hearing Lata Mangeshkar’s songs all along my growing up and having met her number of times, the queen of Indian playback music reigned supreme in my heart. But what surpassed all was her surprise call to my home telephone. It was my son’s birthday. I picked the call to hear a melodious voice speak, I am Lata Mangeshkar, wish to speak to your son on his birthday. I was at a loss for words. I called my son and handed over the telephone receiver. Lataji wished my son and gave him her blessings.
The aura of Lata Mangeshkar would humble anyone who came close to her. Her aura came from the skills she mastered during her lifetime. A playback singer of brilliance, Lataji’s forte also layed in Classical music. Her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a well versed Classical singer. Inspired by her father, Lataji too trained her voice in Classical music. She would say, practice Classical music, master the skill, iron out your flaws as you train yourself and you will excel in singing any song. I can tell you, Lataji’s rendition of the song Suno Sajna Papihe Ne/ Kahan sabse Pukarke/ Samhal jao Chamanwalon/ Ke aaye din Baharke/ couldn’t have been so perfect had she not trained herself meticulously in the Classical genre. She practiced with a tanpura for hours. There are recordings of Lataji singing Malkosh with utmost precision. I believe, if Lataji did not do playback and restricted herself only in Classical singing she would still have become the same iconic Lata Mangeshkar.
YouTube video courtesy: LM Music
With this, I pay my homage to Lata Mangeshkar with a heavy heart, having known her personally for a long time. No doubt, a great loss for all, I am now saddened to realise that no more am I sharing the same air she was breathing at some corner of Mumbai.
PARTHASARATHI DESIKAN has been in the music profession for the last 40 years. Been under the tutelage of Smt. Dipti Mukherjee, Smt Ranjana Chakraborty and Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. Performed all over India in all major festivals. Did western collaborations with numerous international artists and released everal albums. An ardent teacher of music training young and advanced students.
KUMAR JASAKIYA has been practicing art with a variety of mediums such as Painting, Printmaking and Photography. He is a Gold-medallist alumnus of the Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda, Gujarat. He has exhibited his works at both the National and International platforms. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Inlaks Award recognizing idiosyncratic style of his works. He has taught Painting and Philosophy of Art at the various Institutes in India such as Department of Fine Arts, VNSGU, Surat, MMK College of Visual Arts, Gulbarga, Karnataka, S.M. Pandit College, Bidar and Bangalore, Bangaluru School of Visual Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore and at Amity University, Delhi.
Opinions expressed in this article are of the author’s and do not represent the policy of The Edition. The writers are solely responsible for any claim arising out of the contents of their articles.
The Edition 
Desikan ji and Kumar Jasakiya ji. Salute to you both.
True tribute to Ma Saraswati LATA Ji
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