Watching her larger-than-life 3D figure at Rahman sir’s show gave me goosebumps: Benny Dayal

My favourite Lata Mangeshkar story is one that traces back to 2010. I was working with [AR] Rahman sir, and he was, at that time, working on the concept of 3D mapping. He was singing Luka chuppi on stage, live, with Lataji appearing on screen. She had shot the portions and re-sung the song at home against a white background, and we replicated a gigantic 3D [model] of her in a white saree to appear as though she was standing there, on stage. The visual was so powerful that I still get goosebumps thinking about it. At the time, YouTube was still picking up, so you don’t find those visuals today. It appeared like she was singing to her own son, which was impactful because it aligned with the story. It was called Jai Ho Journey Home, and was about a little kid who travels and [navigates obstacles] to get to his family. There was a mother-son story in between with Rahman sir standing in one corner and Lataji’s figure appearing at the other end, to sing the song together.