ICONIC INDIAN empress of song and melody and the playback angelic voice behind the romantic repertoire behind thousands of Bollywood films and soundtracks – Lata Mangeshkar – died as a true legend, aged 92 at the Breach Candy Hospital Trust in Mumbai on Sunday – as millions of fans from Delhi to Durban woke to the breaking news that ailing, ageing and award-winning national heroine had succumbed to Covid-19 pandemic complications.
India stood still for hours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi left New Delhi and flew to Mumbai to pays his personal, last respects to an extraordinary Indian national, who had touched the hearts of his country’s one billion people – and even fascinated the humble folks of Swaziland and hundreds of her fans from Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Johannesburg and Pretoria when she performed for the first time in SA’s neighbouring kingdom in the 1980s. Long before the ruling BJP leader – who swiftly declared two days of mourning and called for India’s tricolor flags to be flown half-mast – dreamt about politics, independent India spearheaded the rest of the world – particularly Non-Aligned Movement and Commonwealth countries in banning and isolating apartheid South Africa.
As a playback singer and the lilting voice behind dozens of Bollywood big-screen beauties, Mangeshkar was hugely popular in South Africa. She is credited for bringing out the faceless playback singers – male and female – out of studio closets into the limelight and sync of the biggest film and music industry in the world – only rivaled by Hollywood – America’s multi-billion dollar film, music and arts and culture industry. Pietermaritzburg had signed up Mangeshkar and her big-band orchestra of some of India’s finest musicians and back-up singers and staged weekend concerts at the Mbabane Stadium – where mainly Indian fans from SA and local Swazis were treated to a fanfare of the Queen of Melody’s amazing range of film songs and duets. The promoters took the gap in a loophole and beat the anti-apartheid sanctions. Lata Mangeshkar was becoming a legend in the making.
Her performance will always be etched in my mind. Afterwards, her presence in the casino, quietly pulling the one-armed bandit amidst the glittering lights and constant ringing and jingling of the slot-machine payouts – gave me a scoop story and a rare photograph of the gentle giant when she was not belting out the best in Hindi lyrics and tunes, though she sang in 40 languages and dialects. The article in the Sunday Tribune newspaper drew criticism and scorn from the promoters. After all, journalists have a job to do, and news is north, east, west, south – Mangeshkar’s music magic transcended cross-cultural India. Similarly, another scoop was in the concert line-up in Mbabane – Jamaican reggae music superstar and social activist Peter Tosh’s picture branding a guitar designed in the shape of an AK-47 gun – outlawed in SA as the outlawed ANC’s key weapon – another pictorial-story in the Sunday Tribune that angered apartheid agents. But, news-wise the show must go on. On the line from Overport, Durban, early on Sunday morning was veteran commercial photographer Sydney Reddy, still a cameraman, who captured the Mangeshkar concerts and sold his colour photographs to fans said: “I will always remember capturing the photographs of Lata Mangeshkar, both on and off the stage. Sadly, all my negatives and copies of photographs were destroyed in a fire at my studio and darkroom.’’ A few weeks ago, Durban-based Mauritian businessman, Raj Ramcharia, posted a photograph of Mangeshkar being wheeled into hospital by two nurses.
Closer to home – in London – where I studied in the 1980s – Mangeshkar became the first Indian artist to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, pipping sitar maestro Ravi Shankar for the highest honour – and expatriate Indians, Muslims and Asians were treated to a right royal performance. In Paris – dateline for my second foreign assignment – the French government honoured her with the highest civilian award – the Insignia of Officier de la Legion – (Officer of the Legion of Honour) in a liberal country where global Indians have also made their mark – and Lata Mangeshkar exported her brand of sweet songs and melodies to millions of non-resident Indians. The Indian government, arts and culture fraternity and the film and music industry bestowed many awards to the legendary Indore-born singer, who began her singing career at age of 13. Taught by her singer-father, she first broke onto the music scene with her 1949 rendition of Aayega Aanewaala in Mahal, said then to be one of the greatest playback singing in Indian cinema, and over seven decades she chalked up over 30 000 (some critics/ reviewers say 50 000): the highest lifetime awards were: Padma Vibhushan, Bharat Ratna and Padma Bhushan. At the weekend, several local and international fans – including prominent Gopio International official Kritilata Ram – posted glowing tributes to unstoppable Queen of Melody.
In a country where films and music are a form of escapism and pure joy of India’s poorest millions and the wealthier classes, Mangeshkar’s reputation as playback singer and music composer made her cut above the rest as one of the greatest and most influential singers. Her sisters, Asha Bhosle, Meena Khadikar, Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar also followed her colourful and illustrious career – her grieving receiving the Indian flag on Sunday was surely the pinnacle of the singer’s legend as the PM walked around her coffin bedecked with the flag and flowers earlier. Her patriotic song tribute to the fallen soldiers of the border war against China in the 1960s moved India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears – and a nation also wept – turning Lata Mangeshkar into a global nirvana as an all-time celebrity who even sang in honour of India’s World Cup cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar – among the celebrity mourners with his wife Anjali – who paid their last respect to the last of India’s music maestro, followed by Amitabh Bachchan and dozens of screen superstars. On screen, her lilting playback music from Pakeezah to Chalte Chalte continued to haunt die-hard film-goers and music lovers as the last rites got underway with thousands thronging the streets around her homestead in Megacity Mumbai – home of 20-million.
