India is currently in national mourning following the death of legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Mangeshkar, fondly known as “the nightingale of India”, died yesterday morning (February 6), following a COVID-19 infection that she’d been battling for almost a month.
As per the Associated Press, the 92-year-old was hospitalised with the virus on January 11, where she was put on a ventilator. She was taken off life support as her condition improved, however, she deteriorated again on the weekend.
As CNN reports, her doctor, Dr. Pratit Samdani, told reporters outside Breach Candy Hospital where she’d been treated: “Lata Di died at 8:12 a.m. due to multi-organ failure after over 28 days of Covid-19 diagnosis.”
Mangeshkar received a state funeral in Mumbai, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flying in from New Delhi for the event. CNN reports that other Bollywood stars including Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan attended the wake, as well as cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Two days of national mourning were declared by the Indian Government, and the country’s flags lowered to half-mast through Sunday and Monday.
âI am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us,â Modi wrote on Twitter. “She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerize people.”
I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people. pic.twitter.com/MTQ6TK1mSO
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 6, 2022
Mangeshkar lent her voice to Indian movies for more than 70 years as a playback singer, singing songs that would later be lip-synced by actors in Bollywood films. Over her career, her voice appeared in more than 1,300 movies, and she sang over 25,000 songs.
Born in Indore in 1929, she originally sang at religious gatherings with her father, who was also a trained singer, before moving to Mumbai.
It was here that she entered the world of Bollywood. Mangeshkar recorded her first song at just 13-years-old, catapulting her into the spotlight. She went on to become an Indian music icon and sang playback for early Bollywood stars Madhubala and Meena Kumari, as well as modern actresses, such as Priyanka Chopra.
She won her first Filmfare award in 1958 for the song ‘Aaja Re Pardesi’, from the film Madhumati, and her first national film award in 1973, for ‘Beeti Na Bitai’ from Parichay.
In 2001, she was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, and in 2007 was also conferred with France’s highest civilian award, the Officier de la Legion dâHonneur.
Mangeshkar worked with a number of legendary Indian music directors throughout her celebrated career, including Madan Mohan, Naushad, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal and A.R. Rahman, selling tens of millions of records.
Speaking of the late singer in a tribute for Rolling Stone India, Rahman wrote: “Itâs a very, very sad day for all of us.”
“When people live, we all take it for granted, and somebody like Lata Ji is not just a singer and not just an icon, I think part of her soulâs consciousness is India. India is Hindustani music, Urdu poetry, Hindi poetry, Bengali and so many other languages, and this void is going to remain forever for all of us.”
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