Paying tribute to a legendary singer with an 80-year career spanning nearly 45,000 songs is no easy task. Yet, that is precisely what Shreya Ghoshal achieved at her concert Letters To Lata Didi held at Jio World Garden on Saturday night. The evening was unlike the typical large-scale concert spectacle. There were no confetti bursts, fireworks or pyrotechnics; only pure music, delivered straight from the heart. With no costume changes and no breaks, she sang non-stop through more than 50 songs, each unfolding like a musical letter to the timeless legacy of Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice defined generations of Indian cinema and music.

She opened with a traditional Ganesh vandana, followed by the classic Aayega Aanewala. Setting the emotional tone for the evening, Ghoshal addressed the audience

“Aaj ki yeh shaam mere liye sabse khaas, most important, sentimental and emotionally close to my heart evening hai. And main shayad kitni bhi tayaari kar loon, aaj ke din ki tayaari poori nahi hai. I think you will sense my vulnerability my emotion today. We are all here celebrating the legacy of Maa Saraswati, hamari pyari Lata Didi. This tribute is from all of us fans, from me and the musicians and isko sametne ke liye humne yeh ek zariya apnaya hai. Didi ko hum itna upar rakhte hain, unka jo sthan bhagwanon ke jagah hai. Hum sab fans ke taraf se hai yeh show and iss legacy ko celebrate karne ke liye aap sab saath mein gaiyega zaroor. I am sure Didi is smiling upon us from the heavens.”

The evening’s narrative unfolded through music interspersed with audio-visual segments featuring messages and memories from people who knew and worked closely with Lata Mangeshkar. Tributes from Nitin Mukesh, Anandji Shah (Kalyanji-Anandji), Prasoon Joshi, Sachin Tendulkar and Prakash Peters added a deeply personal dimension to the concert. Shreya also shared memories of how Lata Mangeshkar’s voice shaped her own musical journey since childhood.

“Uss choti si ladki ko zara bhi andaza nahi tha ke yehi woh awaaz hai jo uska haath thaamkar usse uske aane wale kal ki oor le jayegi. I was too young but Lata Ji ke awaaz ne mujhe iss tarah khincha ki maine music se pyaar karna shuru kar diya. We formed a spiritual bond, that’s the asar of her voice. Karodo Bharatiyon ki tarah maine unhe sunne se zyada mehsoos kiya. Aur inn jazbaaton ko hum sabne jiya hai, lekin shayad unhe poori tarah jata nahi sakein. Toh aaj ki yeh shaam unhi unkahi baaton ko inn khaton ke zariye aapko samarpit karte hain.”

The singer also recalled her first meeting with Lata Mangeshkar in 2005. “I was recording in her studio and she came there. I ran down to meet her and when she saw me, unhone mujhse kaha, ‘Tum Shreya ho na?’ Main unhe kuch bhi nahi bol payi. I was so stunned, meri bolti bandh ho gayi. Uss din main unse mil nahi rahi thi, mujhe uss din Lata Didi ke darshan ho gaye the. Uss waqt kuch nahi sujha, main thank you bhi nahi bol payi. Aaj mujhe Didi ko thank you bolna hai, for the soul, music you were for me.”

Selecting songs from Lata Mangeshkar’s vast repertoire proved to be one of the biggest challenges confessed Shreya. “Today, we are trying to cover all the eras of Lata Didi’s blockbusters,” she said. 

“There are songs with so many composers including S D Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and so many hit duets with the likes of Mohamad Rafi, Kishore Kumar. She worked with Laxmikant-Pyarelal for around 35 years and sang around 700 songs with just them. There are so many eras of her songs, her repertoire is simply massive. Ek se ek behtareen gaane hain unke. Main kya chunu? Finally, we just had to pick chits of which ones to sing!”

Introducing the song Aa Jaan-E-Jaan, she noted with a smile, “This was probably the only cabaret that Lata Didi ever sang. If you listen to this song you will realize that even in a cabaret there can be so much divinity, spirituality and itna apnapan and pyaar, even though it is a seduction song.” The evening featured several Lata Mangeshkar duets performed with singers Javed Ali and Kinjal Chatterjee.

Speaking on the eve of International Women’s Day, Shreya highlighted Lata Mangeshkar’s enduring influence beyond music. “Lata Didi has always inspired us. Woh sabse badi feminist hain and tomorrow we are celebrating Women's Day. She has inspired us not just as a musician but also as a human being, living by her own terms. She gave us a sense of purpose. Aisi kitni auratein thi 40s, 50s and 60s ke daur mein jinhone kitna kuch iconic kiya.”

More than 40 musicians performed live on stage, including the UAE Philharmonic Orchestra and a choir, recreating the grand orchestral feel of the golden era of film music. Praising the ensemble, Ghoshal said, “Aaj lag raha jaise Lata Didi ke recording studio mein sab kuch live hota tha, waise hi hum conductor ke haath pe tike hue hain. I feel all this energy is very much missing in today’s film music.”

Among the distinguished guests present were members of the Mangeshkar family, Nitin Mukesh, Anandji Shah and Shantaben, Sonu Nigam, Prasoon Joshi, Kumarmangalam Birla, Dr Neerja Birla, Virender Sehwag and Anjali Tendulkar.

After the concert, Usha Mangeshkar was invited on stage and blessed the singer. “Aaj mere samne sirf Didi dikh rahi hai aur uski awaaz aa rahi hai mere kaon mein. Bachpan se main Didi ke saath recordings mein jaati thi, aakhri gaane tak. Ek ek cheez yaad aa raha hai. Bahut accha gaya Shreya. Bhagwan aapko hamesha Didi ka ashirwad zaroor denge!”

As the evening drew to a close, Ghoshal performed songs such as Lukka Chuppi, Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon, Naam Gum Jayega and Rahein Na Rahein Hum.

For the final song — which she described as “a hug from all of us to Lata Didi” — the audience switched on their phone flashlights as she sang the immortal Lag Jaa Gale. Overcome with emotion, Ghoshal teared up on stage as the crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation.

New Delhi: Some actors, who later became filmmakers, displayed a keen ear for good music and it reflected in the movies they acted in and made. Irrespective of the film’s box-office fate, the music was invariably chartbusting. Raj Kapoor was one such filmmaker. Manoj Kumar belonged to the same select bunch.

Most of the films Kumar made in the 1960s and 1970s were not only box-office biggies but embellished with platinum music albums. Songs weren’t an appendage in his films, rather integral to the narrative. Kumar, like Kapoor, made special efforts to film his songs in an off-beat manner as evident in Ek pyaar ka nagma hai (film: Shor) and Main na bhoolonga (film: Roti Kapada Aur Makaan). Both have a dream-like quality.

Kumar’s Roti Kapada Aur Makaan was a rare film which ended up capturing the top two spots in the annual show of Binaca Geetmala, the hit radio countdown parade. The songs being: Mehangai maar gayee (No 1) and Hai hai yeh majboori (No 2). Even the Nitin Mukesh-Lata duet, Zindagi ki na toote ladi (film: Kranti) was a chart-topper and finished second in the annual rankings. Laxmikant-Pyarelal were the music directors of these films.

Composer duo Kalyanji-Anandji provided the score for some of his early hits such as Himalay Ki God Mein, and the initial films produced and directed by him such as Upkar and Poorab Aur Paschim. Upkar’s Mere desh ki dharti remains mandatory in schools for special days. Suspense flicks such as Woh Kaun Thi (music: Madan Mohan) and Gumnam (music: Shankar-Jaikishan) and the romantic tragedy Do Badan (music: Ravi) also had unforgettable music.

Santosh Anand, a popular lyricist of the 1970s and 1980s, debuted in ‘Purab Aur Pacchim’ (1970). The film’s opening credit said, ‘Introducing Santosh Anand’, an honour generally reserved for heroes and heroines.

Anand, a librarian then, had become a popular poet in Delhi. The actor-director met him at the city’s Oberoi Hotel and listened to his poems. The long soiree, said Anand, was the actor’s way of establishing a poetic bond. A few days later, Kumar sent him an air ticket for Bombay. “I wrote about 50 stanzas for my first song, 'Purva suhani aayee re'. He chose the parts he needed,” Anand told TOI in 2018.

Later Anand also penned the chartbusting number, ‘Ek pyaar ka nagma hai' (film: Shor), for Kumar. The number scorched the web after an impoverished platform singer was videographed singing it.

In his career spanning almost four decades, Kumar Sanu has sung around 22,000 songs in 26 languages. And recently, he also recorded an English number, 9 to 5, with his daughter Shannon K. In a conversation with us, the Aashiqui singer spoke about his initial struggles, the challenges he overcame in the music world, and the joy in collaborating with his daughter.

I didn’t dream of becoming a singer. I was a tabla player and a good painter. However, circumstances changed my decision. I was around 16 years old when I started doing stage shows in Kolkata. My desire to become a singer grew, and I began singing in hotels there. When I came to Mumbai, I sang in hotels and saved money to make a demo cassette that I’d play for music directors. Jagjit Singh ji discovered me and introduced me to Kalyanji-Anandji. I would do covers of Kishore Kumar’s songs. Later, for Jaadugar, they made Amitabh Bachchan listen to my songs, and he agreed to have me as the playback singer. That’s how it all began. I struggled for around 18 years in Mumbai before I became a name.

After Aashiqui became a hit, things changed. Mere upar ilzaam tha ki main Kishore da ka nakalchi tha, but Aashiqui gave me the opportunity to get rid of that. Uss picture ke gaano ko log tees saalon ke baad bhi bhule nahin. After Aashiqui, I kept getting offers. It went from, ‘theek hai, gawa le isse’, to ‘Sir, please mera gaana gaa dijiye’. I’ve seen it all.

Films flop miserably despite makers spending crores on them. They should understand that they have to pay close attention to the story and the music and give a free hand to the music director. I believe that music logon ko theatre tak kheench ke laata hai.

Yeh politics hamaare legendary singers ne bhi jheli hai, hum bhi jhel rahe hain, aur future singers bhi jhelenge. It’s not new, but the industry wasn’t as cruel earlier. People were kind-hearted. But I believe you can’t stop talent. With the help of politics, you may get fame temporarily, but only real talent will last for years. I also feel songs have changed. Earlier, there were more melodies, great lyrics and Urdu shayari, but abhi halkapan hai. It may change again in the future.

Recently, Kumar Sanu and his daughter Shannon, an independent singer who began her Bollywood career with Happy Hardy and Heer recorded an English song.

Ask him about the experience, and he says, “Initially, I didn’t want to sing the song because there was a portion in English. Shannon ki accent ke wajah se main darr raha tha (laughs). My younger daughter Annabelle is a songwriter and she insisted that I sing this song. Now, I am glad I did it.”

Talking about collaborating with her dad, Shannon shares, “He was very concerned about the diction. He wanted to make sure that he justified the language and would keep asking me how to pronounce certain words. It was fun for me, I’m not sure about him!”

The young singer says that her father is her inspiration in every way. “I admire his positive attitude towards life. It is so easy to fall prey to negativity around, but dad’s positive spirit, way of looking at life, and attitude are things that I really admire and hope to emulate,” she says.