Usha, Hridaynath recall anecdotes about Lata Mangeshkar

Mumbai : Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar’s sister and well-known singer Usha Mangeshkar and her brother and music director Hridaynath Mangeshkar shared some beautiful memories of Lata on the show ‘Naam Reh Jaayega’, an eight-part series to pay special tribute to the ‘Nightingale of India’.

Usha recalled: “Lata didi was very naughty and she was always up for some mischief. Lata didi loved to organise plays, where she used to sing. Lata didi always used to play the role of Tukaram Maharaj and she used to make our sisters, Asha di and Meena di her students and used to ask them to sing. I remember she used to say, ‘Ab mein jata hu Swarg mein’ (Now I am going to heaven) and then she used to jump down.”

Furthermore, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar added: “I was 5 years old so my mother took me away as our father passed away in front of me. Death, demise, and passing away, these were just some words for me, I had no idea what it all meant, I was too young for it. But yes I was devastated for sure, I felt something was not right. I remember Lata didi came and she got chiwda, sev, and other farsan for us. She took me on her lap and fed me. For others, she was Lata Mangeshkar, but for me, she was my didi”.

He shared further: “Lata Mangeshkar did not become Lata Mangeshkar just like that. She had to go through a lot, she struggled a lot. There were so many times she used to feel that she is an orphan, she has no one. And the way she stood up after being so broken is what makes her a legend.