When I was younger, I use to read many articles that said Lataji was not versatile enough like Ashaji and did not sing many genres which, as time progressed, I found was not accurate. The most common example one cites is the Intaqaam Cabaret picturised on Helen – Aa Jaane Jaa which definitely was a roaring success or an intense romantic Bahon mein chale aao from Anamika. But does versatility only mean Cabarets and romance, no I don’t think so and am sure you don’t too. I honestly can’t think of a situation where there isn’t a Lataji song. She has sung for a good 70 plus years and has a huge repertoire and some of the most difficult compositions sung with ease, like the one that she cried while recording too Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko in this N Dutta composition penned by Sahir Ludhianvi from the movie Sadhana.
I am not picking on any era but randomly choosing examples. Her intensity in Madanji’s compositions like Lag ja gale or the motherly instinct in Tu Jahan Jaha chalega or another song which made her weep in the recording was a Trishul song – Tu Mere saath rahega Munne which is said to be the story of Sahir Ludhianvi which after years of not finding a right tune was recorded by Khayyam Sahab for Trishul.
Emotions so deep can never be sung without versatility. Much later in late 80’s she sung a very beautiful composition Chal Hat chal Kal fir milne ka maangna mujhse vaada for Sudha Chandran’s debut Naache Mayuri penned by Anand Bakshi saab and set to a difficult tune by Laxmikant Pyarelal which was a mixture of poetry and singing which she did perfectly.
Talking of her versatility, songs like Thoda Resham Lagta Hai (Kaliyon ka Chaman) from Jyoti, Kaanta Laga, Pardesiya, have ruled the remix charts for long not just in India but internationally too when Dr Dre used Kaliyon Ka chaman in his super hit song. Infact a lot of what made Rakhi Sawant famous were these tunes which were originally sung by Lataji. Its not just these item songs, Lataji has given ghazals a new dimension in albums like Sajda, Saadgi, Antarnaad to name a few. Her renditions of poems by our prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee or even Laadli which was one of her last few works with AR Rahman based on a poem by Shri Kapil Sibbal stands out for its fine blend of musical excellence with poetic intricacy. Her album on Ghalib set to music by Pt Hridaynath Mangeshkar shall remain one of the most sought-after albums by Ghazal lovers.
Her comfort with western music was evident in Disco 82 from Khuddar a craze of its times or the song Pyaar Zindagi Hai from Muqaddar ka Sikandar or a lesser heard song Tere pyar pe bharosa kar to loon from Hawalaat to name a few. Her bhajans have moved people and touched their souls whether irs Ae Malik tere Bande Hum or Allah Tero Naam to her appearance in the film Pukar for that AR Rahman classic Ek tu hi bharosa. When it comes to relationships her renditions like Lukka Chhupi Bahut hui, Yashoda ka nand lala, mere ghar aayi ek nanhi pari , Bada natkhat hai re etc brings out the motherly instinct to perfection.
Lataji has not only been versatile with her renditions but has teamed up with young and old, new and not so new zillions of times to promote them whether its Kamal Barot for hansta hua Noorani Chehra to Manmohan Singh in Laila, to Amit Kumar in Love story, Abhijeet in Anand aur Anand a song that’s so beautifully tuned by Rahul Dev Burman – Nasha Hai Mujhe bhi tumhara. She even sang with Udit Narayan much before his Qayamat se Qayamat Tak success in the 1983 movie Bade Dil Wala. The song was Jeevan Ke din Chhote sahi. Singers like Babla Mehta (Tere mere Hothon pe) Roop Kumar Rathod (Angaar, to Veer Zaara) Vinod Rathod (Mehbooba- Chandni and many more), Shabbir Kumar (Betaab) Mohd Aziz (Aaj Subah jab main- Aag aur Shola and many more), the list is endless. She has teamed with many female singers apart from her own sisters like Kavita Krisnamurthy (first in a Bengali film Shriman Prithviraj) Hemlata (Mehboob ki mehendi) to Pamela Chopra, Ila Arun (Batwara, Lamhe, Policewala Gunda) and many more singers too.
Her versality also came into picture when she teamed up with absolute new music directors and helped them get popularity like Nadeem Shravan much before Aashiqui in Hisaab Khoon Ka in 1989 and then years later in Bewafaa, Vijay Singh (RamLaxman) Sonik Omi, Rahul Sharma (Mujhse Dosti karoge ) Uttam Jagdish, Dilip Sen Sameer Sen, Anand Milind ( Ab Ayega Mazaa , incidentally the name Milind was given by her as Milind Madhav). The trend continued even in most recent times when she sang for new music composers like Vinay Tiwari in Strangers (2007) – Jane Thi kaise raahon Mein, the LGBTQ based movie Dunno Y and its sequel with the title track I dunno why na jaane kyon under the baton of music director Nikhil Kamat , the song also has Shaan in another version and her reported last film song was puicturised on kids in Starangee parachute – Tere Hansne se, the composer was Shamir Tandon. I mentioned of Mujhse Dosti Karoge above and one beautiful fact about that movie was that for the first time she sang for Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor but more importantly in a parody song in the movie she sang an OP Nayyar song Ude jab jab zulfein teri, the one music director who does not have a single recorded song with Lataji.
Lataji is much bigger that what anyone can fathom. What I wrote today is just a miniscule from her musical repertoire. Based on your feedback I can come up with more aspects of her musical career in the coming months. This being her birthday month (28th September’1929) I thought to pen these few thoughts for you all.
Subrangshu Chakravarty aka Shubro runs a musical organisation named Swarchhanda and work on preserving and uplifting our rich musical culture. He is also into photography and study human emotions which forms his base in clicking creative candid and portraits. Apart from this, he writes usually on human emotions, situations, reality and facts. A proud ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, he stands for inclusion and diversity and work in that sphere aiming at equality for all in all respects beyond caste, creed, gender and sexual orientations. He follows the simple policy of live and let live through his work.