Fun Trivia : Mangeshkar, Lata

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Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Mangeshkar, Lata

Lata Mangeshkar’s first big hit was the song ‘Aayega Aanewala’ from ‘Mahal’. Do you know who was the music director for this song?

Lata Mangeshkar


Khemchand Prakash. Lata Mangeshkar made her musical debut at the age of 13 to help her family, after her father died. She first entered the Marathi film industry and in 1946 sang her first Hindi film song ‘Aap Ki Seva Main’, composed by Datta Davjekar. But it was the 1949 film ‘Mahal’ which catapulted Lata to fame. The song ‘Aayege Aanewala’ became a hit and with it Lata began a musical journey which would take her to the pinnacle of fame and greatness. The music director of ‘Mahal’ was Khemchand Prakash, who also introduced the other great legend Kishore Kumar.



Lata Mangeshkar has worked with almost all the famous music directors, except one. Do you know who the name of the famous music director who never worked with Lata?

Lata Mangeshkar


O P Nayyar. Lata Mangeshkar has worked with all the top music directors including Naushad, C Ramachandra, S D Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, R D Burman, Bappi Lahiri, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Raam Laxman, Jatin Lalit, Ilayaraja and A R Rahman. But she has never worked with O P Nayyar. Lata’s sister Asha Bhosle was Nayyar’s favourite and Nayyar had gone on record to state that his music did not fit Lata’s voice.



Lata ranks the song ‘Aaja Re Pardesi’ from the film ‘Madhumati’ as one of her favourites. Who was the music director of this film?

Lata Mangeshkar


Salil Choudhury. ‘Madhumati’ starred Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala and had music by Salil Choudhury. All the songs of this movie were a hit and Lata ranked the song ‘Aaja Re Pardesi’ as one her favourites. Incidentally, Lata enjoyed a special relation with thespian Dilip Kumar, whom she regards as her brother. Dilip had mocked Lata for her strong Marathi accent during the initial years of her career. This motivated her to learn Urdu and improve her accent.



Lata Mangeshkar once sang a patriotic song which brought tears in the eyes of India’s first Prime Minister Nehru. Do you know which song it was?

Lata Mangeshkar


Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo. Lata Mangeshkar has sung patriotic songs like ‘Vande Mataram’ (national song), ‘Jana Gana Mana’ (national anthem) and ‘Sare Jahan Se Accha’. But the song which moved Pandit Nehru to tears was ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’. This song, written by Pradeep with music by C Ramchandra, was sung at a public function in 1963 by Lata in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru. Pandit Nehru, who was emotionally disturbed as a result of the Indo-China war, was moved to tears after hearing this song. Since then, this song is sung by Lata in all her concerts and is one of her most popular non-film songs.



Lata is known for singing melody-based and soft songs, while her sister Asha is known for fast songs. But Lata has sung some fast numbers, a famous one being ‘Dilbar Dil Se Pyara’ from the film ‘Caravan’. Who was the music director of this film?

Lata Mangeshkar


R D Burman. ‘Caravan’ was a super-hit film of the ‘70’s which had music by Rahul Dev Burman. The song featured a fast number ‘Dilbar Dil Se Pyara’ by Lata Mangeshkar. This is one of the rare fast songs sung by Lata. Other such songs include ‘Aa Jaane Ja’ (picturised on, or lip-synched to, by Helen) and ‘Main Kya Karoon Ram Mujhe Buddha Mil Gaya’ (sung onscreen by Vyjayanthimala).