"A woman with a voice, " says Melinda Gates, " is a strong woman." Well, I would like to change that quote a little. A woman with the gentlest, sweetest voice is the most powerful woman. Any guesses whom I am thus describing? Yes, it is indeed Lata Mangeshkar.
On the occasion of her third death anniversary, here is my rather different approach to understand and appreciate the phenomenon that she was. Well, we all know what a great singer she was. Any genre, the classical to the come-hither, the tragic to the devotional, was better illumined by her magical voice.
In my opinion, not only as an artist but also as a woman, she is indeed unique, absolutely special. Allow me to explain how. A chit of a girl she was when she entered the then absolutely male-dominated, patriarchal film world. She changed the rules of the game though.
Her delicate voice was considered thin in the era of Shamshad Begum, Amirbai Karnataki, Begum Akhtar, and Noor Jehan. She was literally mocked at. But she stayed put. Every song that came her way, she made it her own, and absolutely unique, indeed special. And the rest indeed was history.
When male singers were not ready to put up a fight for a singer's right to be included in the credits, she alone stood up to the whole industry, and, voilà, things indeed changed for the better, even for those singers who opposed her.
She never took insults lying down. Apparently, the mighty Raj Kapoor had promised her that Hridaynath Mangeshkar would be the music director who would design the music of 'Satyam, Shivam, Sundram'. The deal was through, and she went for a foreign tour. In the meanwhile, Raj Kapoor went back on his word. Lata Mangeshkar, who against his wishes, had convinced her brother to do the film, dropped RAJ KAPOOR like a hot brick, and for many years!
Why, she came to Hyderabad after twenty-five long years, given the ill-treatment meted out to her! As a representative of the Eenadu group, I was lucky enough to cover that tour. I was to get a chance to interview her, but 'humara Abdul' (it was his name, no reference to the social media slur, please!) was literally such a pain in the unmentionable part that she cancelled all the interviews. For a t.v. spot, he made her get up, sit down umpteen times. She got irritated. It cost lots of us her interview!
Well, in that three hour long programme, this almost seventy-five years old lady sang a huge variety of songs, was on her feet for some three hours, and yet till the end, she was her ultimate best, thoroughly professional, absolutely committed! It is such specialities (much more some time later) that make her the phenomenon that she was. No wonder, she continues to linger in our memories as an 'artiste non-paraeil'!
Pratima@"There is no limit to what a woman can achieve," asserts Michelle Obama. Indeed, yes, when that lady is a determined and committed artist.
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