About this Gallery
The legend playback singer and music director, Lata Mangeshkar was born to Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi musician and his Gujarati w… Read More
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Lata Mangeshkar is Hindi cinema’s greatest playback singer with 25,000 songs in over seven decades. When she was 13, her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar died of heart disease. It was Master Vinayak (Vinayak Damodar Karnataki), an Indian actor and film director and a close friend to the Mangeshkar family, who took care of them and helped Lata start her music career. Lata moved to Mumbai in 1945 and started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhendibazaar Gharana. She sang ‘Paa Lagoon Kar Jori’ for the film 1946 film ‘Aap Ki Seva Mein.’
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After Master Vinayak died in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored Lata as a singer. He gave her the first major break with the song ‘Dil Mera Toda, Mujhe Kahin Ka Na Chhora,’ in the 1948 movie ‘Majboor,’ which became her first breakthrough film hit. In the 1950s, Lata sang songs composed by various music directors. She sang in every genre through the 1950s and 1960s.
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Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar had earlier shared a throwback picture with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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Lata Mangeshkar posed for a picture with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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Take a look at this candid picture of Lata Mangeshkar, RD Burman and Rajesh Khanna.
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India’s playback singer Lata Mangeshkar is presented Dada Saheb Phalke award by President R Venkataraman in New Delhi on May 7, 1990. (BCCL)
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B’wood singers Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar during a dress rehearsal of the song ‘Accha To Hum Chalte Hain’ in Mumbai on April 19, 1970. (BCCL)
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Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar presented cheque of Rs 20 lakhs to GT Menon (left), UNICEF representative as theatre personality Mohan Wagh (right) looks on, in Mumbai on May 31, 2000. (BCCL)
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Playback singer Lata Mangeshkar being interviewed by character actor David Abraham of Bollywood at the 17th Filmfare Award function at Shanmukhanada Hall in Bombay on April 19, 1970. (BCCL)
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Melody queen and Indian cinema’s iconic female playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, who has featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for singing the maximum number of songs in nearly 20 Indian languages and won herself international acclaim, in Mumbai during her musical heyday. (BCCL)