Issue with vocal cords had once forced Lata Mangeshkar to take break from singing

PTI, Feb 6, 2022, 4:20 PM IST

Not many music lovers perhaps know that legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who lent her mellifluous voice to thousands of film songs, had taken a break from singing for a few months during 1960s on the advice of renowned classical vocalist Ustad Amir Khan after she faced some problem with her vocal cords. She had observed ‘maun vrat’ (silence) during the break before she returned to the microphone and continued her musical journey. This was revealed by the melody queen’s younger brother and music composer-singer Hridaynath Mangeshkar on February 21, 2010 during a programme titled ”Mai aur Didi” (My elder sister and I) in Indore, recalls Sanjay Patel, who had compered that event. Lata Mangeshkar (92), born in Indore on September 28, 1929, died at a hospital in Mumbai on Sunday.

According to Patel, during the programme, Hridaynath Mangeshkar had said that some time around 1960, his sister noticed that her voice was breaking to some issues with vocal cords when she sang high notes. He said it had happened for the first time in her life and she shared her problem with Indore’s famous maestro Ustad Amir Khan, who advised her to observe silence for some time by taking a break from singing. She followed Ustad’s advice despite the fact that her career was at its peak at that time, Patel recalled Hridaynath Mangeshkar as saying. The legendary singer later returned to the world of Bollywood music in 1962 with the movie ”Bees Saal Baad”, the music of which was composed by Hemant Kumar.

She sang the song ‘Kahin deep jale, kahin dil’ in the film for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, Hridaynath Mangeshkar had said.