The legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away in the wee hours of Sunday (February 6). The Bharat Ratna recipient was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) on January 8 after she tested positive for COVID-19.
On Saturday evening, Lata Mangeshkar’s siblings Asha Bhosle and Hridaynath Mangeshkar visited the hospital to meet her. Apart from family members, VVIP personalities like Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi, MNS President Raj Thackeray, Bollywood director Madhur Bhandarkar, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP leader M.P. Lodha, and others had also visited the hospital to enquire about Mangeshkar’s health.
While earlier the doctors had said that her health was marginally improving, she was put on a ventilator after her condition deteriorated. Talking to reporters, Asha Bhosle had said that everyone is “praying for Lata Didi” and her condition was “stable”. However, Mangeshkar’s health took a turn and the 92-year-old breathed her last earlier today, leaving the country mourning.
Lata Mangeshkar, who was popularly known as the “Nightingale of India”, was a recipient of the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. In her glorious career of over six decades, Lata Mangeshkar bagged several awards, including three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards and Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
She was also conferred by France its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007. Besides this, she was a recipient of honorary doctorates from the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1989, Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, and Shivaji University in Kolhapur.
Mangeshkar had crooned over 30,000 songs in different Indian languages. Her popular tracks include Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein, Tere Bina Zindagi Se, Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor Aa Gaya, Kora Kagaz, Naina Barse Rim Jhim, Tu Jahan Jahan Chalega, Inhi Logon Ne, Lag Ja Gale Se Phir, Dekha Ek Khwab, Tere Liye and many others.
She worked with composers like Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad Ali, S. D. Burman, Sardul Singh Kwatra, Amarnath, Husanlal, C. Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Salil Chowdhury, Datta Naik, Khayyam, Ravi, Sajjad Hussain, Roshan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Hansraj Behl, Madan Mohan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, AR Rahman and others.
There are so many stories associated with her. It is said that when great music director C. Ramachandran was on his death bed, he desired to listen to this song. Lata was in London and she sang it over telephone.
