Unpublished Interview with Late Lata Mangeshkar
India's melody Queen, Late Lata Mangeshkar, is no more with us. I recall my 29 November 2002 meeting with
her when I was on the same Sahara Airlines flight to Mumbai that night. Lata ji
had come to Kolkata on an invitation from Dona Ganguly for her
Diksha Manjari School. In fact it was Lata ji who had introduced me to
Dona.
I saw Lata ji entering the airport lounge
with her niece Rachna. In those days I used to write articles for a Hindi
weekly magazine called Sabrang. I had done quite a few interviews with known
personalities as hobby and had few bylines to my credit.
While on flight, Instead of asking
verbally I mustered up the courage to write a note to Lata ji
requesting to ask her few questions knowing very well that she was a very
private person and usually kept to herself - away from the media and crowds.
But who can stop a lucky young man.
“Why don’t you swap seats with
her sundeep ,” Lata ji said to me pointing to her lady companion seated next to
her.
The interview went off very well and I
kept the precious sheets on which I had scribbled notes in a folder. By a
strange quirk of fate that interview was never published and the notes, fondly
tucked away in an almirah, remained there all these years. I had written about
these notes and unpublished interview in my 9th August 2011 blog posting and
again mentioned it in my blog on 27th September 2013 when we did an exhibition
on Lata Mangeshkar at the ICCR, Kolkata.
- Sundeep Bhutoria
Q: From where do you get your inspiration for music?
Lata ji: The inspiration was from my father. I used to watch
the drama of Balwant Sangeet Mandali and used to listen to K L
Saigal. I was nine when I sang a song in a play Sangeet Soubhadra with
my father. I had also played the role of Narad muni.
Q: Your favourite songs?
Lata
ji: Chala bahi desh which was composed by my brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar. The bhajans of
Meera touches my heart.
Q: What about your film career?
Lata ji: When I was 13, I acted in a film Pahili
Mangalaagaur as a child and sang the son “Natali Chaitraachi
Navalaai”. It was a Marathi film with actress Nanda in the lead and Master
Vinayak (Vinayak Damodar Karnataki) was the producer. I hated makeup and lights
and always used to pray to God that I would be a playback singer.
Q: Who has gave you the break to sing in films?
Lata ji: Music
Director Ghulam Haider gave me the first chance and after that Khemchand
Prakash and Anil Biswas and so on. But my career took off and never looked back
with the song Aayega Aanewala Aayega from the film Mahal. I
learnt Urdu at that time and did many songs with Naushad.
Q: Tell me something about your childhood?
Lata
ji: My life
has been a saga of one responsibility after another. First, to look after the
family as I lost my father when I was very young. After that came my singing
career and then the responsibility of building a hospital in my father’s name.
Life has been a struggle from a very tender age and I have passed through many
different stages. Honestly, ever since, there has been no turning back. Unlike
other artists, I have never thought about old age catching up.
Q. What is the most unforgettable incident in your
life?
Lata ji: My father’s death was a big shock which I can
never get over. One of my happiest moments in life was when I performed at the
Albert Hall in London in 1974. I did three shows.
Q. Are there any regrets?
Lata ji: One thing that I lost to my singing is photography.
I was very passionate about photography. Also, I miss the satisfaction that you
get from singing classical songs. This you don’t get by singing filmy songs.
Q. Why didn't you marry?
Lata ji. Because of my work and career, I was never able to
think about it. But I have no regrets.
Q: There are allegations that you being a Rajya
Sabha member you hardly attended the House?
Lata ji: I was never interested in politics but I could not
say no to the person who requested me to be a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Q: Apart from music what else are you currently involved
with?
Lata ji: I have started a hospital project in June in my
father’s name in Pune.
Q: I read somewhere that you have insured your throat?
Lata ji: Totally baseless. After I depart from this world
nothing will remain. My voice is God's gift to me and at this point of my life
(73 years) I think God has given me enough.
Q: How do you pass your time?
Lata
ji: I loved
going to family picnics but now I am mostly at home watching cricket, tennis
and football.
Q: What do you think about remix?
Lata ji: I don’t understand why the society is destroying
timeless songs, including songs sung by Rafi Sahab, by making a tamasha of
it. I just want to say to today’s generation - If you cannot construct
something new don’t destroy the old.
Q: Besides your father, who else has inspired you to
sing?
Lata
ji: After my father, Ustad Aman Ali
Khan and Ustad Amanat Khan taught me. I have great respect for them as far as
classical music is concerned. I also learnt a lot from Pandit Narendra Sharma -
a very intelligent and talented person. He used to say, “If any body does wrong
to you, do not do any wrong to him, he will be okay with you on his own.”
Q: Do you like reading?
Lata ji: Yes! I love reading Hindi poetry, Urdu shayari and
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay a lot. After photography, reading is my hobby. I am
also very religious. I worship Krishna Bhagwan.
Q: What do you want to say about your life?
Lata ji: I will say it in words of Ghalib’s shayari
Bazicha-e-atfal hai duniya mere
aage
(The world is a child’s game before me)
bāzīcha-e-atfāl hai duniyā mire aage
hotā hai shab-o-roz tamāshā mire aage
(The world is a child’s game before me
Night and day is a spectacle before me)
ik khel hai aurañg-e-sulaimāñ mire nazdīk
ik baat hai ejāz-e-masīhā mire aage
(The throne of Solomon is a plaything, in
my view
The miracle of the Messiah is nothing
much, before me)
juz naam nahīñ sūrat-e-ālam mujhe manzūr
juz vahm nahīñ hastī-e-ashiyā mire aage
(The aspect of the world is only a name,
to my mind,
The existence of things is only an
illusion, before me)
hotā hai nihāñ gard meñ sahrā mire hote
ghistā hai jabīñ ḳhaak pe
dariyāmire aage…..
(The desert hides itself in the dust, when
I'm around.
The river rubs its forehead in the dirt,
before me…..)
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