Meena Khadikar, the second oldest of the Mangeshkar siblings after Lata Mangeshkar | Twitter screengrab | @mangeshkarlata
Meena Khadikar, the second oldest of the Mangeshkar siblings after Lata Mangeshkar | Twitter screengrab | @mangeshkarlata
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New Delhi: Birthday wishes were pouring in for versatile singer Asha Bhosle Tuesday, the day she turned 87. But not many people, even fans of film music, are aware that the previous day, 7 September, is the birthday of the least-known of the musical Mangeshkar siblings — Meena Khadikar.

Meena tai (Marathi word for older sister), also a singer and composer, who has worked in Marathi and Hindi, turned 89 Monday, with older sister Lata Mangeshkar tweeting a link to one of her songs and a video of her cutting a cake.

Who is Meena Khadikar?

Meena is the second of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar’s five children — two years younger than Lata and two years older than Asha. The other two siblings are Usha and Hridaynath Mangeshkar.

Meenatai’s work in Hindi cinema includes the songs Duniya mein hum aaye hain toh from Mother India (sung with Lata and Usha), Phagun aaya from Pilpili Saheb, the duet Aapne chheen liya dil with Mohammed Rafi in the film Farmaish, Hai mausam yeh mastaana, muskuraana, dil churaana from Aabroo and Are koi jaao ri piya ko bulao from Patrani.

But she’s best known for composing music for the Marathi industry, including a popular kids’ song Asawa sunder chocolatecha bangle, which was later recorded in Bengali and Gujarati too. Meena’s children Yogesh and Rachna sang the original song. Her song Saan saang bholanaath is also well known.

Book on Lata

Meenatai is said to be really close to older sister Lata, and even penned a biographical sketch of her called Mothi Tichi Savali. Once the Marathi book became successful, Meena launched a Hindi version titled Didi aur Main in 2019, the foreword for which was written by Amitabh Bachchan.

In the book, she covered many undiscovered aspect of Lata Mangeshkar’s life.

In an interview, asked about her favourite Lata song, Meenatai had said: “When I sleep at night, I play her songs on the phone and hear them speak to me.”

 

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