Immortal Lataji

 It is not an exaggeration when I say that vishnava temple which doesn’t play the ‘Suprabhatam’ by MS Subbulakshmi, no shiva temple which doesn’t play the Lingashtakam by SPB, there won’t be an independence day or a republic day celebrated anywhere in India without the melodious ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’ and ‘Vandemataram’ by the ‘Sakshat Saraswati’, the Nightingale of India, Lata. When I grow old I can proudly tell the toddlers that I lived in the time of The Lata and had the privilege of watching her in blood perform. You were music personified. The image that comes to mind when one thinks of Lataji is the short lady with perfectly combed hair into two plaits, always in white sarees and diamond earrings, and of course the impeccable smile with a humble body language. The humbleness hides behind itself the fact that you sang in over 37 languages in a career spanning around 80 years. You held the Guinness world record of being the most recorded artist in history with over 30,000 songs and were the first Indian to have performed at the famed Royal Albert Hall. There are many things that one can read about you all over. But here is my journey of listening and understanding music. I have understood and have grown up listening to the musical sister duo of Lata-Asha. My first memory of a song by Lataji must be ‘Mai to Kab Se Khadi’ which was sung at my school day function way back when. The next song that I could remember of her was the ‘Aayega Aane Wala’ from Mahal, her first superhit song. Later on, I was educated by my parents that Lataji also sang a couple of songs in Telugu – ‘Nidura po ra tammuda’ and ‘Tella Cheera ku’ among them. My all-time favorite movies – Guide, DDLJ and of course Mughal-e-Azam have all the songs sung by you (except for one by Asha in DDLJ and one duet with Shamshad Begum in MeA).

As a kid I always used to think that when any heroine is lip synching a song, she was singing! And I used to wonder how everyone were singing so great. Never did I know that it was the Maa Saraswati who was singing and hence the voice matched. Be it a simple lullaby or an aalap, it sounded so simple when heard in your voice, but I am pretty sure it is not at all easy. Even now when I see those songs, if Madhubala is acting, it seems like she is also singing. If Sridevi is acting, it seems that she is singing. If Kajol is acting, it looks like she is singing too. That I feel is the hallmark of a great playback singer and you are the hallmark. People relate you with serious, romantic or bhajan or classical songs. But I need to admit that though Asha is the peppy cabaret queen, my all-time favorite cabaret happens to be Aa Jaan-e-Jaan. When you sang, ‘Kahi Deep Jale Kahi Dil’, it was haunting. There was a Hyderabadi movie – Bazaar, a critically acclaimed one which not many people are aware of, and it had a song ‘Dikhayi Diye Yun, Ke Bekhud Ki Yaad Hamein’ which I like. Then how can I miss the ‘Aaj Kal Paon Zameen Par Nahi Padte Mere’ from Ghar which was marvelous and is the best song when someone is ecstatic. In another of my fav movies, when you sang ‘Yeh Kaha Aa Gaye Hum’, the up-and-down/sing-song tone you made at one point was mesmerizing. When you collaborated with another of my favourates – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan when you sang ‘Tere Bin Nahi Jeena’, it was as soul-stirring as Nusrat’s Punjabi version. I saw one of your old interviews that in your initial days you weren’t preferred to sing songs filled with Urdu words because you didn’t have the diction. And you took it as a challenge and learnt Urdu to perfection. When I heard your tribute to Ghalib and my favorite ghazal of his – ‘Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi’, I bet no one can point out any diction issues in your Urdu. When I was at my lowest low, it was the ‘Lukka Chuppi’ which I used to play in full volume in my car while driving back home and scream my lungs out. If I keep recollecting the songs, it would never end… after all who can count the number of drops in an ocean?

I had the fortune of watching you live at your last performance in Hyderabad and that was in 2002. It was so magical and spellbinding that I still have the ticket for that concert with me and it shall always remain with me as a treasure. The concert itself was based on a line by Gulzar and sung by you which said, ‘Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai’ based on the song whose lines go… ‘Naam Gum Jaayega, Chehra Yeh Badal Jayega, Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai, Gar Yaad Rahe’. It was the magic of Gulzar, Pancham and you which immortalized that song. You, I remember, did mention about your liking of the bangles of Hyderabad and sang the ‘Mere Haathon Mein’ song for a mesmerized audience.

I saw an old interview of yours where you said that if you had another life, you wouldn’t want to be Lata Mangeshkar because you have been through a lot and no one knows the pain that you have gone through. And there is an entire world where people will die to become even a 0.1% Lata. Maybe that’s called irony. But despite of all the pain you might have gone through all your life, you never let that smile, that chuckle go off your face, probably just like what you said in one of your own songs ‘Tujh se Naaraaz Nahi Zindagi’. You always, for eternity to come, will be remembered as that smiling nightingale in white saree. Political affiliations aside, you will remain the Bharat Ratna who left an indelible mark on world of music.

Thank you for your music Lataji, you are eternal.