India's Nightingale Celebrates Her 83rd Birthday


Bangalore: Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar, celebrates her birthday every year on September 28 and this year she turned 83.

The singing diva Lataji left Mumbai to an undisclosed location to celebrate her birthday quietly.

Lataji is a music legend and in her 70 years of film career, she has mesmerized millions of music lovers with her countless hits songs.

In 2001, Lata received the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India.

Lataji is the only Asian to have received the platinum disc of EMI music, a British multinational music company based in London.

Lataji has a great love for classical music. And she received classical music training from Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Amanat Khan Devaswale, and Pandit Tulsidas Sharma, in the early years of her singing career.

When Lata was 13, she got her first major break in Bollywood by composer Ghulam Haider. And Haider asked her to sing 'Dil mera toda' in 1948 film 'Majboor'.

But it was the song 'Aayega Aanewaala' from 1949 'Mahal' which catapulted lataji to success. Music Director Khemchand Prakash composed this song, while it was lip-synced on screen by the the Bollywood Actress Madhubala, the song defined the beginning of the Mangeshkarian magic. With this song she outshined the singing talent of the existing female singers. And with her singing legacy she continued singing for generations of Bollywood actresses from Madhubala to Kajol.