Didi as she is fondly called by family, fans and admirers is rarely in Mumbai on her birthday. She stays put in her Kolhapur or Pune residence.
She was last heard in Vikram Bhatt's 1920 where she shared playback credits with Pandit Jasraj and Asha Bhosale.
On her 75th birthday, Lata was in Mumbai as her nephew Adinath had organised a concert where other singers sang her classic songs. The function was attended by Sharad Pawar, L K Advani among others.
Lata's brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar organised a musical concert 'Didi ani mi' (Didi and I) at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir in Pune in her honour.
The legendary singer was introduced to intricacies of classical music by her father master Dinanath Mangeshkar.
After his demise, the entire responsibility of looking after the family fell on her young shoulders and at the age of 13 she was compelled to don the greasepaint and act.
She did a few Marathi films like 'Pahili Mangalagaur', 'Majhe Bal', 'Gaja Bhau' and even few Hindi movies like 'Badi Maa', 'Jeevan Yatra' and 'Samudra Mandir'.
Though her playback career started in 1942, she was leaving her first tentative footprints on a music scene dominated by the legendary Shamshad Begum and Noorjehan. It was in 1948 that her career graph took giant leaps with films like Mahal, Baiju bawra, Nagin, Madhumati among others.
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