Lata Mangeshkar: Encyclopedia II - Lata Mangeshkar - 1970s: Lata is ageless diva

Lata Mangeshkar - 1970s: Lata is ageless diva

In her 40s, Lata was still the first choice of composers to sing for damsels in their 20s.

1971 saw release of much delayed movie Pakeezah, starring Meena Kumari. The film had music by Ghulam Mohammed. The Kaifi Azmi song Chalte Chalte, rendered by Lata, became an overnight superhit. Other songs such as Inhi logon ne le lina dupatta mera and Chalo dildar chalo (duet with Rafi) also became popular.

Lata also recorded many songs in the last films of S D Burman. Dev Anand's direcoral debut, Prem Pujari was not successful, but the songs penned by the poet Neeraj and sung by Lata were hits - Rangeela re and Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye. The hit songs from Sharmilee (1971), also penned by Neeraj, included Khilte hain gul yahan, Aaj madhosh hua jaaye re (duet with Kishore Kumar), and Megha chhaye aadhi raat. S D Burman got 44-year-old Lata to sing for young Jaya Bachchan in the movie Abhimaan (1973) - Piya bina, piya bina, Nadiya kinare, Teri bindiya re (duet with Rafi). All these songs were written by Majrooh.

Lata also recorded memorable songs for Salil Chaudhary in 1970s, including Raaton ke Saaye (Annadata, 1971) and the title song of Chhoti Si Baat (1974). In 1974, Lata also recorded a bhajan of Mirabai, Saanware Rang Rachi with her brother, Hridaynath Mangeshkar.

The Bollywood Music scene in 1970s was dominated by the composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal ("Laxmi-Pyare") and Rahul Dev Burman. R D Burman and Laxmi-Pyare were fans of Lata and recorded a large number of songs with her and Kishore Kumar. Most of these songs were penned by either Anand Bakshi or Majrooh Sultanpuri. Lata sang a variety of songs for R D Burman, including the intricate classical song from Amar Prem 1971, Raina Beeti Jaaye, the frothy Dilbar dil se pyaare from Caravan (1971), the sad Mere naina sawan bhadon (Mehbooba), and the sensual Bahon mein chale aao. Lata, Kishore Kumar, R D Burman and lyricist Gulzar came together in the film Aandhi (1975) to produce soulful duets such as Tere bina zindagi se, Tum aa gaye ho and Is mod se jaate hain. The team went on to record many more classics.

Lata, Anand Bakshi and Laxmi-Pyare worked together for many films, churning out hits including Mehboob ki Mehendi and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki. Laxmi-Pyare also gave music in Raj Kapoor's Satyam Shivam Sunderam (1978), in which Lata sang the title song.

In 1976, Lata recorded songs for composer Khayyam and lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanvi for the film Kabhi Kabhie (1976). The title song (also sung by Mukesh) is considered a classic. Lata and Khayyam recorded many more popular songs, including Aap yun faaslon se (Shankar Hussain, 1977).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1970s: Lata is ageless diva", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki