I YEARN FOR A BREAK FROM
PLAYBACK SINGING : LATA

Lata further revealed that by singing less these days, she was actually taking a much-needed rest. “I have been singing for the last 50 years, you know, so I deserve a break. Besides, there are talented singers around who can do justice to their work. I have decided that I won’t take up assignments that don’t interest me. I’d rather devote myself to non-film songs, which is why I’ve asked my brother, Hridaynath, to compose more such songs for me,” she disclosed.

She said her style of singing was no longer suited to the type of songs that are being written and composed for films. Among today’s producers, she singled out Yash Chopra as the only filmmaker who understands which songs suit her voice the most. She added that for Dil To Pagal Hai he had asked her to sing Le gayee, le gayee at first, and changed his mind when he realised it did not suit her voice.

In the same vein, she picked up Majrooh Sultanpuri from the lyricists, and commended him for striving hard to keep poetry alive in film songs, without succumbing to the temptation of writing trash in the name of lyrics. “I say so only to point out that there still are a few good people who can stem the rot from setting in deep,” she disclosed.

Renowned singer Sudhir Phadke, the Dada Saheb Phalke winner Majrooh Sultanpuri, veteran actress Sulochana, social reformer Pandurang Shastri Athavale, social activist Nirmala Purandare and theatre personality Prabhakar Pansh-ikar are the winners of the Dinanath Smruti Pratisthan Awards for 1998 which will be given away at a function to be held at Dombivili, near Mumbai, on April 24.