India's beloved nightingale and the melody queen of Bollywood hits, Lata Mangeshkar, is no more

Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar breathed her last in Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital today, at the age of 92. After struggling with a Covid infection, as well as pneumonia for almost a month and recovering from both, the beloved singer, who was often dubbed as the ‘nightingale of India’ succumbed to post covid complications.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, also tweeted after Mangeshkar's demise, and said that he considers it his greatest honour that he had received immense affection from Mangeshkar. The prime minister further added that his interactions with her will remain unforgettable. He said that he grieve with his fellow Indians on the passing away of Mangeshkar.


He further said that ehe coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people.

He said that Mangeshkar leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled.

ANI in a tweet that said, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has also confirmed the unfortunate death of the 92-year-old singer.
Revered as one of India’s most loved singers, Mangeshkar’s golden run of seven decades has resulted in over 50, 000 songs in various languages. Infact, it is said that almost 25,000 of her songs were sung between the period of 1948 to 1974, which made her the most recorded artist in history according to the ‘Book of Guinness World Record’.

The singer began her career at the age of 13 in 1942 and since then there has been no looking back. While the list of popular songs sung by her are infinitely long, some of the tracks for which she is best remembered are ‘Ajeeb dastan hai yeh’ (‘Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai’), ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya’ (‘Pakeezah’), ‘Satyam shivam sundaram’ (‘Satyam shivam sundaram’), Neela aasman so gaya (‘Silsila’), ‘Dil deewana bin sajna ke’ (‘Maine Pyar Kiya’) and Tere Liye (‘Veer Zara’).

Considered as the best female recording artist in India, she received the Bharat Ratna, India”s highest civilian honour, in 2001. Mangeshkar has been the recipient of several other prestigious awards including Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, and Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

Mangeshkar has also been conferred with three National Film Awards, six Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and several other accolades. In fact, The category of best playback singer at the Filmfare Awards was introduced in 1959 after Mangeshkar’s protest. The singer has also received the coveted Officer of the Legion of Honour by France in 2007. Lata didi, as she was fondly called, was also the first-ever Indian singer to have performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London (1974).

Mangeshkar’s first music lesson was given by her father Deenanath Mangeshkar, a renowned Natya Sangeet musician and a Hindustani classical vocalist. In fact, it was one of her father’s plays, ‘Bhaaw Bandhan’, from which she was later named Lata, after a popular character from the play called, ‘Latika’. At birth, she was given the name ‘Hema’. Mangeshkar, who is the eldest of five siblings - Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Hridaynath Mangeshkar – never got married.