Iconic singer Lata Mangeshkar passes away at 92

Legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away in Mumbai at the age of 92 on Sunday after suffering a multi-organ failure. 

Earlier, Dr Pratit Samdani treating her at the Breach Candi Hospital said she was in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Mangeshkar was admitted to the hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier in January. She was on the ventilator for weeks but then on January 28, she was taken off the ventilator as she showed signs of improvement.

Mangeshkar, who had been in ICU since being admitted, was taken off ventilator support earlier this week but was once again placed on it after her health deteriorated.

She passed away after further complications and age-related issues.

I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people. pic.twitter.com/MTQ6TK1mSO

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 6, 2022

Lata Mangeshkar was one of the most celebrated and respected singers of the Indian music industry. In a singing career spanning more than eight decades, the noted singer lent her voice to more than a thousand Hindi songs and over thirty-six Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, and others.

She has been the voice of several prominent actors like Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Nargis, Sri Devi, Madhuri Dixit, Madhubala, Zeenat Aman, Saira Banu, Waheeda Rehman, and others.

Lata Mangeshkar’s soulful voice won her several prestigious accolades including India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna. She is the only second female singer to receive this honour after MS Subbulakshmi. Apart from the Bharat Ratna, the singer is the recipient of the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, three National Film Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, and others.

The singer added one more achievement to her feather in 1974 and was listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the most recorded artist in history.

Though Lata Mangeshkar has passed away, however, she will always remain one of the greatest singers of India. Her soulful voice and timeless songs will always be alive in the hearts of her fans.

When once questioned about his inspiration to make music, film folklore has it that legendary composer SD Burman had allegedly retorted, “Give me a harmonium, give me Lata (Mangeshkar) and I will make music."

She was muse to some of Indian cinema’s greatest composers and the embodiment of Indian femininity on the movie screen for over 50 years.

Born in 1929 to Marathi classical singer and theatre actor Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and his Gujarati wife Shevanti in Indore, Lata Mangeshkar has sung for over seven generations of female actors in India, with her voice often being described as ‘virginally pure’ and her playback for an actress symbolic of the latter having made it in Bollywood, particularly through the 1960s and 70s when the singer was at her peak.

The eldest child of the family with sisters Meena, Asha and Usha, and brother Hridaynath, all accomplished singers and musicians, Mangeshkar started her career at the age of 13 after her father’s death by singing for a Marathi film called Kiti Hasal (1942). Her move to Mumbai in 1945 was followed by small numbers in a few movies until the big breakthrough happened with Aayega Aanewala picturized on Madhubala in Mahal (1949).

Having worked with composers as disparate as Anil Biswas, Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali, S D. Burman, C Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Salil Chowdhury, Khayyam, Ravi, Sajjad Hussain, Roshan, Kalyanji-Anandji, , Madan Mohan, and Usha Khanna over the next several years, Mangeshkar has the unique distinction of singing for around seven different generations of female actors (Madhubala and Nimmi in the 1940s, Meena Kumari , Nargis and Nutan in the 50s, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and Sharmila Tagore in the 60s, Mumtaz, Hema Malini , Jaya Bhaduri and Zeenat Aman in the 70s, Sridevi and Rekha in the 80s, Juhi Chawla, Karisma Kapoor and Manisha Koirala in the 90s and Preity Zinta and Kareena Kapoor in the 2000s).

Together with sister Asha who was known for more sensuous songs compared to the older sister’s simple chastity, Mangeshkar was widely notorious for her monopoly over the film music industry during those years. Legend has it that composers like Hemant Kumar and Madan Mohan had waited for the singer to recover from her illness and sing for their films Bees Saal Baad (1962) and WohKaun Thi (1964) although the doctors had announced that she may not be able to sing again.

The songs after the ‘never-again’ prophecy Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil in Bees Saal Baad and Naina Barse in WohKaun Thi are considered Mangeshkerian milestones. Indeed, for singers and musicians who hadn’t been treated as stars in India until then, Mangeshkar brought a unique status and stardom during those years, aided by the growth and popularity of the radio.

Widely respected in the Indian film industry and affectionately called ‘Didi’ (elder sister) by all, Mangeshkar who has recorded songs in over a thousand Hindi films across thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, primarily in Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali, remains an enduring memory thanks to her signature white sari clad figure and her songs notching up views and streams endlessly across streaming platforms for newer generations to discover her. She has also composed music for a couple of Marathi films and produced four movies, including Gulzar’s Lekin (1991).

Among her exhaustive charitable work is a hospital in her father’s name in Pune called Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Centre.

Mangeshkar who remained unmarried, is survived by a large family, including her siblings and their children and a legion of fans across the world who would today swear by the words that poet and music director Naushad had once written for the singer, “The very heart of India throbs in your voice."