Lata Mangeshkar and classical music

For the November 2022 issue of NCPA’s On Stage magazine, I was commissioned to write an article on the classical melodies of Lata Mangeshkar ahead of a tribute concert that was planned for her at the Mumbai-based venue. Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar was no doubt the greatest singer of her time. Among many of her achievements, she was known for singing complex compositions based on ragas. Hindi film music demands a lot from a playback singer. The songs are recorded before filming and singers are required to bring emotions into their singing based on the song situation. Some singers go to great lengths to deliver a voice quality that matches that of the actor who will lip-sync to the song on screen. A third level of challenge occurs when the song is based on a classical raga and has to be sung in the parameters of the specific notes while bearing the emotional quality in mind. Lata Mangeshkar was a rare singer who excelled at all three and gave us gems that listeners cherish and recreate to this day. As always it was a rewarding experience to research and write about the several influences that shaped her classical style and the various anecdotes that I came across about her genius. Read the full piece below.

An Impeccable Voice

In India, Hindustani classical music and film music have shared a difficult relationship. Stories of the two worlds overlapping are rife with unhappy gurus and ustads scorning their well-trained shishyas for squandering their musical gift for a medium considered frivolous by them. Yet, if there was one name that straddled both worlds with ease, as well as garnered praise from staunch purists of classical music, it was that of Lata Mangeshkar. Most telling among many such anecdotes of praise is one that involves Allauddin Khan, the great musical genius and guru. According to Atul Merchant Jataayu’s book on Annapurna Devi, Khan was furious when he learned that his son, Ali Akbar Khan, had composed music for the 1952 film, Aandhiyan. The former went to the theatre, but refused to take a seat as a mark of his disapproval, bluntly stating, “I didn’t waste all those years teaching him music so that he would stoop down to pedestrian-level entertainment.” The film opened with the song ‘Hai Kahin Par Shadmani’ sung by Mangeshkar. The maestro’s contempt was replaced by a contented smile and he walked away saying, “If such is the quality of film music, I have no objection.” Khan was extremely fond of Mangeshkar’s singing and called her ‘Aasman se aayi hui pari’ (An angel who has descended from heavens). He wasn’t the only ustad enamoured by the perfection of her sur. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan once remarked while listening to ‘Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai’ from the film Anarkali (1953): ‘Kambakht kabhi besuri hoti hi nahi.’ (The darned girl is never out of tune.)

Among the many factors that contributed to the ‘Lata Phenomenon’ was her early training in Indian classical music from her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar. It was the North star that guided Mangeshkar’s musical path. She could move effortlessly from one raga to another, often within a five-minute song, a feat that even well-trained classical vocalists would attempt with caution. “Mangeshkar was not only a great vocalist, but she also lent a certain classicism to Indian film music. In a way, she spoiled the audience. There is a difference between a mere listener and a rasik [music lover]. Just like the paras patthar [philosopher’s stone] makes gold out of iron, Lataji made rasiks out of regular listeners,” says composer Kaushal Inamdar. He, along with Kamlesh Bhadkamkar, will be presenting a tribute to Mangeshkar titled Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchan Hein at the NCPA this month. The concert will examine Mangeshkar’s influence on Hindi lm music from the classical standpoint.

ROOTED IN SUR

Mangeshkar was about five years old when classical music entered her life in a formal way. Her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a renowned classical vocalist and often gave lessons to aspiring students at his home. “Throughout my childhood, I listened to Baba sing and could remember every note, but didn’t have the courage to sing in front of him,” she once said in an interview with Nasreen Munni Kabir for a series of conversations which lent themselves to the book Lata Mangeshkar…In Her Own Voice. One day, her father was teaching Raga Puriya Dhanashree to a student and he left the room momentarily as the pupil continued practising. Mangeshkar, who was playing outside, heard the boy sing and felt something wasn’t right. She went in to correct him and started to demonstrate the notes when her father walked in. Amazed at her talent, he sat little Lata down with a tanpura at six the next morning and began teaching her the nuances of classical music. “What I liked best was learning how to sing a bandish— and I learned as many as I could. I didn’t pay as much attention to sargam or alaaps. I would ask Baba to explain the personality of a raga to me…By God’s grace and His blessings, my voice could handle taans and I sang them well.”

Deenanath Mangeshkar had a touring drama company that performed natyasangeet, and he often enthralled audiences with his vocal prowess. At one such event, nine-year-old Mangeshkar insisted on giving a performance and sang a bandish in Raga Khambavati. However, her aspiration to study classical music was cut short when at 13, following the sudden death of her father, she had to take on the earning responsibility of their household of six. Following a brief but unsatisfactory stint as an actress for Marathi films, she sought solace in the recording studio as playback singer. Though this put a pause on her lessons in classical music, she continued practising on her own. On the insistence of a family friend, Vinayak Karnataki (Master Vinayak), Mangeshkar met Aman Ali Khan, maestro of the Bhendi Bazaar gharana. Following a formal gandabandhan ceremony, she was initiated into classical music once again. “The first raga he taught me was Hamsadhwani. It is an evening raga and still my favourite. Many years later, Salil Chowdhury based the duet ‘Jaa Tose Nahin Boloon Kanhaiyya’, on the same raga. I sang this duet with Manna Dey for Parivar,” recalled Mangeshkar in the same interview.

Composer Tushar Bhatia, who was a producer at HMV during the ’80s, has worked a great deal with Mangeshkar on her album recordings. He recalls in an exclusive interview for this article, “She was always interested in what I was working on and our conversations were always about classical music because I play the sitar. She was deeply interested in classical music. To me, Lataji was riyaaz personified. As a musician, a composer and a student of music, I can only bow down to her and her riyaaz. It would be complete blasphemy to give any opinion on what she did. You can only look at her, get inspired and do your bit.”

THE MUSE AND THE MUSIC MAKERS

It is hard to say whether Mangeshkar’s ability to render ragas inspired music directors to create complex classical melodies or if their elevated expectations inspired her to deliver more each time. One thing is certain: the tuning between Mangeshkar and her composers gave music lovers songs to cherish for a lifetime. “Lataji was so perfect in her pitch that we used to get uncomfortable with anybody who fell short of the mark. I think when Lataji was active, especially during the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, she made composers think beyond the scope of their genius as well. If she wasn’t there, many compositions would not have been imagined at all,” observes Inamdar. Chowdhury, the musical genius credited with creating some of the most intricate melodic structures, once said in an interview, “If I knew Lata was going to sing my composition, I would go on to make it as complex as possible. It was like a challenge, a game between us, but she never failed.” Composer S.D. Burman had once declared, “Give me a harmonium, give me Lata and I will make music.”

During a career that spanned decades, Mangeshkar worked with a number of music directors. Some of the best raga-based compositions came out of her associations with Chowdhury, Madan Mohan, Roshan, Anil Biswas, Naushad, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, and her brother, Hridayanath Mangeshkar. She was especially fond of his compositions due to the heavy influence of ragas on them. The latter said about her singing, “Few singers can sing in four octaves as Didi can. In Hindustani music the octaves are: kharaj (low), the middle, upper and uppermost, a range of 28 notes. Didi can sing the entire range…In the song, ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’, Didi touches the seventh note in the fourth octave—the highest a human voice can reach.”

TRIBUTE TO THE LEGEND

Inamdar and his team of musicians have taken on the onerous task of showcasing Mangeshkar’s vast body of raga-based songs within 100 minutes for Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchan Hein. The performing artistes include classically trained singers Sharayu Date, Madhura Kumbhar and Susmirata Dawalkar. Apart from identifying the nature of the raga in a song, the programme will include the stories behind the making of some of the songs in addition to Inamdar’s observations and analyses. For example, the way in which the song ‘Raina Beeti Jaaye’ from Amar Prem (1971) composed by R.D. Burman switches from Raga Todi to Raga Khamaj is a remarkable feat that Mangeshkar pulls off.

In her final interview with film critic Subhash K. Jha, 91-year-old Mangeshkar said, “Nowadays, the young people’s attention span is very limited. They do not live in the past at all. It is the era of instant gratification. I doubt my legacy will mean as much to future generations as they do to people like you.” From the outpouring of grief on her death to the universal and undying love for her voice, it is clear that the world would beg to differ.