New DelhiThe parents of Lata Mangeshkar, the vocal nightingale who is known as the queen of the music world, had named her Hema. But later, inspired by a character in a play, her father Dinanath Mangeshkar named her Lata. Very few people know that he was once thrown out of a Dilip Kumar film saying that his voice was too thin.
Year 1948, the film ‘Ziddi’ came, the songs were superhit. Lata Mangeshkar sang songs for Kamini Kaushal, a renowned actress of that era. The film was liked very much. In those times, the singer’s name was not included on the discs, so Lata’s name was also not included on the disc. Name written as ‘Asha’! Was this the name of his younger sister Asha Bhosle? Lata Mangeshkar is the name of an era. For almost 70 years, he kept the Hindi cinema world captivated with his sweet voice. But the name on the disc was not of Lata Mangeshkar but of Asha. Asha means not his younger sister, Kamini Kaushal’s character in that film did not have Asha.
Lata’s name written on the disc because of Kamini Kaushal
The music company printed the name Asha only. That era was such that the names of actresses and actors were known, but singers were not given credit. Then it happened that the song was played a lot, people liked it and as a singer, Kamini Kaushal started getting a lot of love from the people. But, Kamini Kaushal was shocked by this. He felt hesitant in taking credit for Lata. Immediately, requested the recording company to replace Lata’s name. This happened and then Lata’s name was written in place of Asha. Kamini Kaushal herself had mentioned this in an interview.
Was rejected from Dilip Kumar’s film
Lata Mangeshkar was considered to be the incarnation of Saraswati and it was believed that she could make any song a hit with her magical voice. But, there was a time when Lata Mangeshkar was rejected by a famous director because of her thin voice. Meaning, a singer like Lata ji also had to go through a lot of struggles. This case is of Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Shaheed’.
Started at just 13 years old
Lata Mangeshkar has the record of singing more than 50 thousand songs in her account. He has sung so many songs in 141 different languages. He started his singing career at the age of just 13. Lata ji herself had said that she did not listen to the songs she sang because she saw hundreds of shortcomings in the songs she sang, she kept taking the name of Madan Mohan as her favorite music director.
Lata Mangeshkar’s first salary was Rs 25.
Lata Mangeshkar was honored with many awards like Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke. Our own Lata Mangeshkar is known by names like Swara Kokila, Swara Samragini, Bulbulay Hind. Today, on his 95th birth anniversary, we are telling the story of his first song which he sang on stage. Lata Mangeshkar got Rs 25 for singing on stage for the first time, she considered this as her first salary.
Tags: bollywood news, Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
FIRST PUBLISHED: September 28, 2024, 07:25 IST
