When once Lata Mangeshkar declined to sing for Raj Kapoor
When once Lata Mangeshkar declined to sing for Raj Kapoor
Not many may be versed that once Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar declined to croon for veteran actor filmmaker Raj Kapoor.
Raj Kapoor had once said if no Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh there wouldn’t have been any films by R.K.Films. He wasn’t being dramatic.
From the time he started his career, Lataji played a pivotal part in his films.
Lata was not part of his first film (as director) Aag. The music for Aag was by Ram Ganguly. But she sang all 10 songs of Barsaat. Woh bhi ek iteffaq tha (that too was by chance).”
She continued that Ram Ganguly was to do the songs, but then Rajsaab suddenly changed his mind and brought Shankar-Jaikishan into the project. Every song in Barsaat was a hit and a team emerged – Rajsaab, Mukesh Bhai, Shailendraji, Harsrat Jaipuriji and Lata Mangeshkar.
Infact Raj Kapoor and Lataji met through composer Anil Biswas.
Lata had once said that Anil Biswas had accompanied her to meet Raj Kapoor.
Raj Saab had heard out and left quietly. He never would be the beginning of a professional bonding that would be so rewarding.
In both, Lataji sang some imperishable solos and duets.
Raj Kapoor believed she was the soul of his films and wanted to make Satyam Shivam Sundaram with her
Oh o f course, the film he had in mind with Lataji was entirely different from what it shaped up to be with Zeenat Aman.
He had promised that the songs would be composed by Lataji’s talented brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar. But when she was on a concert tour abroad, she heard that Hridaynath was replaced by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
To her credit, Lataji didn’t hold this against the director for too long.
A more serious rift amidst he duo occurred during the recording of the song Ang Lag Jaa Balma, in Mera Naam Joker when Lataji objected to what she thought were vulgar lyrics.
When it flopped, he attributed it to her chilling absence.
So how did he coax her lata back? Is big story. Raj Kapoor did a clever thing that he signed Laxmikant-Pyarelal, known to be very close to Lataji, for Bobby and tasked them to get her to agree to sing.
And the trick worked!
Lata said that she and Raj Kapoor used to fight a lot, but he could make her bend het rules for him.
In Sangam, Lata sang Buddha Mil Gaya which she wasn’t comfortable with and never sang for him in Mera Naam Joker, but if you listen carefully to some of the musical pieces in Satyam Shivam Sundaram, you would hear bits of Mera Naam Joker.”
That perhaps was the great film-maker’s token gesture for making up to his muse.
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News Edit K.V.Raman
