On Lata Mangeshkar’s 95th Birth Anniversary, Revisiting Her Best Songs

While all of us have our favorite playlist of Lata Mangeshkar‘s songs, let us see some songs that have an interesting story or milestone behind them. Tune in below.

1. “Aayega Aanewala”

Lata Mangeshkar’s first big hit was “Aayega Aanewala” from Mahal (1949). Interestingly, she wasn’t Khemchand Prakash’s first choice. Uma Devi was approached for the song but she was bound by a contract with Kardar Productions under the then-powerful producer A.R. Kardar. The contract permitted her to sing only for Kardar productions.

In walked the twenty-year-old quiet and understated Lata Mangeshkar. She sang into the heart of the nation with lyrics that also foreshadowed the era of her gilded voice. 

2. “Dil Mera Toda”

In 1948, Mangeshkar was recording a number of Hindi songs — it totaled over 50 songs in that year and a decent number as solo tracks. Composer Ghulam Haidar is the one she credits for having pushed her forward in the industry. At that time, the industry had biggies like Noor Jehan, Amirbai Karnataki, Samshad Begum, Zohrabai Ambalawali, Uma Devi, all with a throaty voice and a nasal style. Mangeshkar’s thin voice was not appealing to many producers, who outrightly rejected her. Ghulam Haider predicted Lata will, in the coming decades, make all these producers and music directors line up for her to sing. He was correct. 

With partition, Ghulam Haider was lost to Pakistan but he helped India find her nightingale. He made Mangeshkar sing for Majboor in 1948 and the song “Dil Mera Toda” was well received. She was noticed by other music directors like Naushad, Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash, Husanlal and Bhagatram and work started coming in. Though Mangeshkar had conquered recording studios in 1949, the tumultuous year of 1948, post-partition, is when she set up camp for her ultimate victory.

3. “Hawa Mein Udta Jaye”

Composed in 1949, Mangehkar’s song “Hawa Mein Udta Jaye” is as fresh as if it was recorded yesterday. Raj Kapoor marked his debut with Aag in 1948 but the film and the music failed to set the box office on fire. The music composer was Ram Ganguly and Raj Kapoor had serious differences with him. Ram Ganguly’s assistants, Shankar-Jaikishan were in touch with Kapoor as they had worked with Prithvi Theatre. A year later, Raj Kapoor made his career’s first hit movie, Barsaat (1950) which poured success. For the film, Kapoor had handed over the music baton to Shankar who co-opted Jaikishan as well and thus formed the legendary combination of SJ and RK. 

Shankar insisted on a new singer Lata Mangeshkar, and the lady with the two ponytails and a voice which was a clear departure from prevailing industry norms walked into the recording studio of SJ and remained their number one choice till Jaikishan’s death.

Mangeshkar sang seven solos for the Barsaat soundtrack and two duets with Mukesh. With numero uno Noor Jehan migrating to Pakistan and Samshad Begum not finding herself in SJ’s favor, this was a big turning point in Lata’s career. The most succesful composing duo in the history of Hindi films had rolled the dice in her favor. With songs like “Hawa Mein Udta Jaye,” “Jiya Beqarar Hai,” “Barsaat Mein Humse Mile” and “Patli Kamar Hai,” the soundtrack was a superhit. 

4. “Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam”

While in 1949, Mangeshkar planted her flag in the SJ camp, she made a quieter but impactful entry into the recording studio of then-number one composer Naushad Ali. Mehboob Khan’s film Andaz (1949) starred Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Naushad made Mangeshkar sing four solos and Samshad Begum was relegated to just one duet with her. The song “Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam” remains one of the classic compositions and one of the best sung by Mangeshkar that year. 

5. “Ajib Dastan Hai Yeh”

The 1960 film Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai beat Naushad’s magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam for the best music director category in the 1961 Filmfare Awards. Mughal-e-Azam had 11 nominations but won only three. Mangeshkar lost the best playback singer to Rafi but her song remains one of the favorite tunes which is sung at every picnic, every game of antakshari, at many karaoke parties and is a part of every other playlist. The song has interludes that are seemingly Latin jazz-inspired, though I have read it is based on Jim Reeves’ song “My Lips Are Sealed.” I really cannot endorse that statement. There is a guitar refrain which sounds similar and vaguely familiar but I will still give full credit to SJ for the lucid composition.

6. “Sanware Kahe Mose Karo Jorajori”

Anuradha (1960) brought the genius of Ravi Shankar to compose some gems. Songs like “Jaane Kaise Sapnon Mein Kho Gayi” and “Haye Re Woh Din Kyon Na Aaye.” This was Lata in one of her best forms but the stand-out performance is reserved for the fast paced composition “Sanware Kahe Mose Karo Jorajori,” supported by Punditji’s galloping notes on the sitar in Raag Bhairavi. 

7. “O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi”

One of my all-time favorite songs of Lata Mangeshkar begins gently with her voice before Abdul Halim Jaffar Khan’s magnificent sitar playing begins a melodious journey with the most beautiful words by poet Shailendra. Salil Choudhury composed this song in Bengali first and Bimal Roy used it subsequently in Parakh (1960). “O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi” is painfully melodius and the words could have been written only by a magician like Shailendra.

8. “Mora Gora Ang Laile”

Lata Mangeshkar was Sachin Dev Burman’s favorite. He had famously said, “Give me Lata and a harmonium and I will compose a tune.” For about four or five years they had a falling out and didn’t work together. Finally, son Rahul Dev Burman brought the cold war to an end and the song that reunited the duo was one of the most memorable tunes from Bimal Roy’s Bandini (1963) and it also gave the industry one of the finest lyricist and filmmaker, Gulzar.

9. “Ami Nei Ami Nei”

In 1974, Kishore Kumar threw a surprise for his listeners in his Puja special release when he got Mangeshkar to compose two songs for him and he composed two for her to sing. The songs composed by her are “Tare Aami Choke Dekhini” and one that is very close to my heart, “Ami Nei Ami Nei.” While the first is a romantic ditty, the latter is a sentimental brooding song and is a brilliant composition by Mangeshkar. 

10. “Yara Seeli Seeli”

Based on a short story Kshudhit Pashaan by Rabindranath Tagore, Lekin in 1990 marked a milestone for Hindi film music. Lata Mangeshkar wanted to produce a film with good music and her discussions with Gulzar led to him directing her venture Lekin. Hridaynath Mangeshkar stamped his class with a career best score for the film and Gulzar in the midst of cringeworthy lyrics on the charts wrote “Yara Seeli Seeli.” A hauntingly melodius song that won her the National Award as well.