Veteran music journalist decodes the magic of Lata

Memories flash by As a young inexperienced journalist I was a nervous wreck when first asked to interview Lata Mangeshkar and cover her concert This was in Jaipur 35 years ago and since she wasnrsquot giving a press conference one tried to approach her at Govindji Ka Mandir making sure her prayer wouldnrsquot be disturbedThe interview never happened though she nodded her head and smiled when asked a random question That gesture was worth a pot of gold and writing about the concert was the silver lining Even today her rendition of Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna from Guide 1965 and Yeh zindagi usi ki hai from Anarkali 1953 stay behindAn era is over Numerous incidents come to mind as one remembers the huge impact she had on millions of fans Every admirer has his or her own Lata Mangeshkar stories which they can narrate down the generations It could be about watching Nutan or Nargis on the big screen syncing her flawless voice It could be of Ameen Sayani introducing her songs on Radio Ceylon It could be of humming Pyaar hua ikraar hua for an early crush Chand phir nikla on a lonely night or Maine kaha phoolon se in a happy moodIt could be of listening to Mogara phulala in Marathi or Pa ma ga re sa in Bengali It could be of a live performance with Anil Mohile conducting the orchestra You heard her Vande mataram on Independence Day and Ae maalik tere bande hum in school prayers Antaksharis weddings festivals pujas train journeys sad moments fans knew a Lata song for every occasionMy own admiration could have begun earlier I remember as a child listening to Tera jaana Anari 1959 O Sajana Parakh 1960 and Rahe na rahe hum Mamta 1966 on the radio without knowing who sang them People around me liked them and I liked them too Growing up one heard more Lata songs in Bobby 1973 and Abhimaan 1973 besides developing other favourite singers in Kishore Kumar Mohammed Rafi and MukeshMost born in the early 1960s heard later Lata releases while simultaneously discovering the older gems Rajnigandha phool tumhare Rajnigandha 1974 Tere bina zindagi Aandhi 1975 and Aap yoon faaslon mein Shankar Hussain 1977 would simultaneously play alongside Aayega aanewala Mahal 1949 Yun hasraton ke daag Adalat 1958 or Ajeeb dastaan Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai 1960 The year never mattered The songs would appeal to 12yearolds middleaged people and senior citizens Watching the movies in theatres or on television one simply admired how her voice suited every heroineMany of us ended up becoming diehard Lata fans collecting her songs on cassettes and jotting down details of cosingers music directors and lyricists Much before the Internet arrived people would have discussions on the raags she sang or how he sounded with ShankarJaikishan Madan Mohan or RD Burman or her nonfilm projects like the 1991 ghazal album Sajda with Jagjit Singh Each nuance would be admired and analysed Her melody range diction perfection Today itrsquos a different world of instant Google knowledge WhatsApp groups YouTube links and personalised playlists where one has learnt things one could never imagine The frequency of earworms hasnrsquot changedBeing a diehard fan one was also confused while doing the job of a music journalist Whenever I was assigned to speak to her the first reaction would be of nervousness often cooking up a story that she wasnrsquot reachable Various fears came to mind mdash who was I to ask her anything how would she respond what if I said something she didnrsquot like what if I unintentionally misquoted herAfter the Jaipur concert it was only after a decade that I had the opportunity of interviewing Lataji Irsquod have loved to visit her at her Prabhu Kunj residence in Mumbai but was nervous When told she preferred a telephonic conversation it came as a minor relief The article was on the biggest musical highlights in 50 years of independence and she narrated some wonderful anecdotes specifically giving details of Ae mere watan ke logo written by Kavi Pradeep and composed by C Ramchandra after the IndoChina war of 1962I met her at length during the 2001 launch of the Saregama HMV album Meera Soor Kabira featuring her and Roopkumar Rathod and composed by her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar The nerves slowly vanished as she was very relaxed and nostalgic The organisers had insisted that I would only ask questions about the album and nothing else When I told her she laughed and said in Hindi ldquoTheyrsquore doing their job you are doing yours I shall do mine Ask me anything but it should be about musicrdquoIn 2004 I wanted to speak to her on the music of VeerZaara where unreleased music of the late Madan Mohan was revised by his son Sanjeev Kohli I hadnrsquot heard from the filmrsquos team for a week when I suddenly got a call saying Lataji was ready to speak in the next five minutes I had just left a meeting and was on the way to the bus stop On finding a bench I began interviewing her from there taking down notes in all that traffic noise A senior gentleman overheard me and waited for me to finish When I told him who it was he couldnrsquot believe it but soon started his own Lata Mangeshkar storyHe came from a different generation and was a teenager when Lata shot to fame with Barsaat and Mahal in 1949 Though he heard songs as they were released Lataji meant as much to him as it did to people of my age Her immortal voice means the same to youngsters at talent shows Clearly Lata Mangeshkar represents purity timelessness and eternity like none otherDid you knowThe 1974 edition of The Guinness Book of Records had listed Lata Mangeshkar as the most recorded artiste But the claim was contested by her peer Mohammed Rafi The book continued to list Mangeshkarrsquos name until 1991 but also mentioned Rafirsquos claimDid you knowAt the beginning of her career Lata Mangeshkarrsquos mentor Ghulam Haider introduced her to producer Sasadhar Mukherjee The producer who was making Shaheed 1948 apparently rejected her because her voice was ldquotoo thinrdquo