Lata's Golden Voice Enthrals Music Lovers

The best of all, singing sensation Lata Mangeshkar.

- K. V. Venugopal

The renowned playback singer Lata Mangeshkar has become a nonagenarian recently. The nightingale’s 90th birth anniversary went off as a simple ceremony with a large number of people from various walks of life wishing her a happy and prosperous life. The topmost caller was none other than our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke to her and complimented her for her stupendous achievements and wished her a long and healthy life in advance as he was proceeding to the airport to board a flight to the U.S. for a meeting with the American president Donald Trump. Lata reciprocated his gesture heartily and also said that she finds some spark and ability in Modi that she could not trace with other Prime Ministers. Fair enough, as both are entitled to their views. Interestingly, Lata’s mother was a Gujarati and Modi, being a Gujarati by birth, must have been doubly delighted that she is also the daughter of his state’s soil.

The critics, however, look at the Prime Minister’s volley of appreciation for Lata as a gimmick, since the assembly election for Maharashtra is round-the-corner. It is one way of appeasing the sentiments of the local people and their pride for the Marathi language, as the well-known singer is the prized-possession of the State. Moreover, the immortal singer is revered all over India, if not in the entire world.

WHEN LATA MOVED NEHRU TO TEARS

Coming back to Lata. She was initially spotted by the prolific composer Naushad Ali in the late 1940s. She made the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru cry, as tears started rolling down on his cheeks when she rendered the patriotic song, Aye Meri Waton Ki Logon during the Indo-China war in 1962, similar to Rafi’s