Legendary Singer Lata Mangeshkar Passes Away

Mumbai, 6th February 2022: Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar (92) passed away today while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mumbai. She was admitted in January after being diagnosed with pneumonia. She had tested positive for COVID19.

Around January 28, the singer was taken off the ventilator, after she showed slight signs of improvement. However, on February 5, her condition deteriorated and she was back on ventilator support. Since her condition was critical, the veteran singer was put under aggressive therapy and was tolerating the procedures before her unfortunate demise. She passed away at 8.12 am today at Breach Candy Hospital.

Lata Mangeshkar was born in 1929, the eldest daughter of Deenanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi and Konkani musician and his wife Shevanti in Indore (in present-day Madhya Pradesh and then the capital of the princely state of Indore which was part of the Central India Agency in British India). Her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer and theatre actor. Her mother, Shevanti (later renamed Shudhamati), a Gujarati woman from Thalner, Bombay Presidency (now in northwest Maharashtra), was Deenanath’s second wife; his first wife Narmada, who had died, was Shevanti’s older sister.

Lata’s paternal grandfather, Ganesh Bhatt Navathe Hardikar (Abhisheki), was a Karhade Brahmin priest who performed the abhishekam of the Shiva lingam at the Mangueshi Temple in Goa, and her paternal grandmother, Yesubai Rane, belonged to the Gomantak Maratha Samaj community of Goa and Lata’s maternal grandfather was the Gujarati businessman Seth Haridas Ramdas Lad, a prosperous businessman and landlord of Thalner; and Mangeshkar learnt Gujarati folk songs such as garbas of Pavagadh from her maternal grandmother.

Deenanath adopted the surname Mangeshkar in order to identify his family with his native town of Mangeshi, Goa. Lata was named “Hema” at her birth. Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father’s plays, BhaawBandhan.

Lata is the eldest child of the family. Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosale, Usha Mangeshkar, and Hridaynath Mangeshkar, in birth order, are her siblings; all are accomplished singers and musicians.

In 1942, when Lata was 13, her father died of heart disease. Master Vinayak (Vinayak Damodar Karnataki), the owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped Lata get started in a career as a singer and actress.

Lata Mangeshkar recorded songs in over 36 Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi and Marathi. She has received several accolades and honors throughout her career. In 1989, The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour and is only the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007. 

She is the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, London.