When Lata Mangeshkar’s voice was rejected for being ‘too thin’

Mangeshkar knocked the doors of film studios, auditioned with the help of popular songs of then established artistes like Noorjehan, Khurshid Bano, Amirbai Karnatki and others. She had even perfected star-singer Noorjehan’s Bulbulon mat ro yahan from Zeenat (1945) to the tee with the latter’s trademark nasal twang. By mid-40s, music directors Datta Davjekar and Vasant Desai had tested her singing talent and recommended her to fellow music makers. But she was yet to make a strong impression.

In 1948, Master Ghulam Haider, who has composed music of Khazanchi (1941) and Khandan (1942), realised the immense potential of thin-voiced Mangeshkar. But she failed to impress Haider’s rigid boss producer Sashadhar Mukherjee, founder of Filmistan Studio. That stopped Haidar from using her voice in Filmistan’s Shaheed (1948). It’s only when he happened to shift his loyalty from Filmistan to then troubled Bombay Talkies that he had the opportunity to showcase the talent of his new-find. Haider took Lata under his wings and trained her in the art of playback singing. She gave playback for six out seven songs in Majboor (released in March 1948). Her songs Dil mera toda, mujhe kahin ka na chhoda and Angrezi chhora chala gaya got noticed.

Soon after, Anil Biswas, the successful freelance music director, confident of the supremely talented teenager, recorded nine female playback tracks in her voice for disc records of HMV for Anokha Pyar, which released in May 1948. Lilting compositions Yaad rakhna chand taaron is suhani raat ko and Mere liye wo ghame intezaar chhod gaye in her sweet-sharp voice won appreciation.

The competition, at that time, was tough for girly-voiced Mangeshkar. Gifted with well-rounded feminine voices, playback artistes Shamshad Begum, Amirbai Karnatki, Geeta Roy (Dutt), Zohrabai Ambalewali and Rajkumari dominated the scene. That, however, was going to change soon.

Most film stars, artistes, music directors and technicians used to be on the payroll of film production companies in the 40s. Music composer Khemchand Prakash was working for the then market leader Shree Ranjit Movietone. The production company was owned by Seth Chandulal Shah and his wife Gohar Mamajiwala. With musical blockbusters like Tansen (1943) and Bharthuhari (1944), Prakash had greatly contributed to Ranjit’s fortunes. Speaking to me in 2007, Prakash’s assistant, music director Daan Singh, recounted that one day Prakash excitedly took the teenage artiste in two plaits to Shah and introduced her as “the voice of the future”.

After the mandatory voice testing, Shah rejected Lata’s voice on the grounds that it was “too thin and, hence, unsuitable” (Yes, we heard music composer Omkar Prasad Nayyar make a similar statement a few years later). Prakash reasoned: “Seth, the voice you are throwing out will become the voice of the future. You may want to capitalise on that.” But Shah, the confident punter, did not budge. He argued that the epitome of feminine voices which were ringing-in the Ranjit fortunes were that of Amirbai Karnatki (she sang Mora dheere se ghunghat hataye and Chanda desh piya ke ja of 1944-movie Bharthari and Khurshid Bano (sang Moray balapan ke saathi, Ghata ghanghor ghor and Barso re from 1943-movie Tansen). Mangeshkar’s voice, according to him, was not up to the mark.

Without conceding defeat, the risk-taking Rajasthani music maker resigned from Ranjit Movietone after this incident. It was a bold decision for Prakash to chuck a plum post at the then top production house following a disagreement over a newcomer. Soon after this, Prakash signed a contract with Bombay Talkies, by then a spent force. He composed six lovely tunes for Ziddi, which released in March 1949, and Mangeshkar gave voice to his melodious compositions. Her songs were credited to Ziddi’s female lead ‘Asha’, played by Kamini Kaushal, on HMV’s records (numbering N 35658-35661). Similarly, Kishore Kumar’s were credited as ‘Pooran’, the male lead character played by Dev Anand.

Classically-trained Mangeshkar with her ability to learn new songs with detailed nuances at super speed had caught the attention of the sought-after music director Naushad Ali. With a string of musical hits like Ratan (1944), Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Shahjehan (1946), Naushad was associated with big producers such as Abdul Rashid Kardar and Mehboob Khan. In Khan’s love triangle Andaz, Naushad gave Mangeshkar the chance to sing six beautiful songs, which were picturised on Nargis.

This time though Mangeshkar got due credit on HMV’s disc records of super hit film Andaz (released in March 1949). Songs like Uthaye ja unke situm and Tod diya dil mera became hugely popular.

Interestingly, music composer duo Shankar-Jaikishan, who debuted with Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat, got Mangeshkar to lend her arresting vocals for all the female songs. When the film released in May 1949, nine out of its ten songs were recorded in Mangeshkar’s voice and picturised on three different characters — Nargis, Nimmi and Bimla Kumari — in the film! Her songs, Hawa mein udta jaye mora laal dupatta, Jiya bekaraar hai and Tak dhina din barsat mein humse mile, touched new heights of popularity. The disc records by HMV gave Mangeshkar her due credit on the label and the singer too basked in the success of her songs. Her struggle to find her foothold, however, was not over yet.

Bombay Talkies was making the unusual reincarnation drama Mahal, starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. Prakash was given the task of creating the right musical ambience for it. The unique two-tiered Aayega aanewala was a masterstroke by him. Not only did it resound well with the desired spookiness, it became the only song in music history to have the same word (aayega) repeating five times in its verse (mukhda) and the song with the shortest verse.

At 20, Mangeshkar heralded her arrival to the world with Aayega aanewala when Mahal released in October 1949. Prakash used her immense talent with dexterity in three sonorous songs of the movie. He proved to the world why he had reposed such strong belief in her. Of the three, Aayega aanewala remains an all-time favourite.

The voice of Mangeshkar coming from the gramophone records of Mahal greatly impressed the listeners but they initially failed to recognise that in spite of her hit songs in Andaaz and Barsaat. The main reason being ‘Kamini’ — the name of Mahal’s female lead — printed on its gramophone record as the singer. Crediting the character on the record label instead of the singer was customary of the record giant HMV. On the insistence of Mangeshkar, the subsequent re-issues of the path-breaking record disc of Aayega aanewala credited the playback artiste and this practice of crediting the characters stopped.

However, Mangeshkar never forgot the rebuff by Shah. After she became popular, she firmly refused to sing for the Ranjit banner. As an extreme exception, she obliged then struggling music director Roshan and beautifully rendered the songs of Ranjit-produced Humlog (1951) such as Chali ja chali ja and Chhun chhun baaje paayal. She sang for the banner once more in 1963 when her favourite Madan Mohan composed music for Akeli Mat Jaiyo in 1963. Ironically, that’s the last movie Ranjit Movietone produced.

The author is a Mumbai-based musicologist and film historian.