Singers pay tribute to melody queen

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice has crafted a myriad of emotions in the hearts of millions for half-a-century across the subconti...

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice has crafted a myriad of emotions in the hearts of millions for half-a-century across the subcontinent, turned 75 on Sunday. Her birthday celebrations went public with a concert at Andheri’s Shahjiraje Sports Complex, a break from the tradition of intense privacy.

Nothing surpassed the moment when Lata rendered Jyoti Kalash, one of her favourite songs from the film Bhabhi Ki Chudiyaan, on Deputy PM L.K. Advani’s request. Host for the evening Sonu Nigam kicked off the celebrations with the song Tum Jeeyo Hazaaron Saal and the crowd joined in.

The Andheri Sports Complex was a melange of the best melodies delivered by Lataji in the voices of other famous singers — Chitra, Suresh Wadekar, Hariharan and Vasundhara Das.

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Political dignitaries L.K. Advani, CM Sushilkumar Shinde, Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Congress leader Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, filmmaker Yash Chopra and lyricist Javed Akhtar shared the stage by paying tributes to the melody queen.

Singer Shankar Mahadevan said, ‘‘Please accept our songs as a humble offering to Goddess Saraswati,’’ and then rendered Teri Bindiya Re from the film Abhimaan. Ace drummer Ranjit Bharot who rearranged the music for the evening also expressed his respect to the legend and joined Mahadevan on the drums for this song. Other singers for the evening included Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sukhwinder Singh, Sadhana Sargam, Hans Raaj Hans and Sonu Nigam himself.

The surprise element of the evening came in the form of five-member Band of Boys who performed the song Tere Bin Nahi Jeena set to score by late Ustaad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Singer Usha Uthup with her version of Bindiya Chamkegi won many smiles and claps from Lata. The night also saw celebrities like Padmini Kolhapure, Ira Arun, Prem Chopra and Amrish Puri partaking in the celebrations.

While the evening was spent with her fans at the sports complex, her morning was spent with family and friends at her South Mumbai residence, but there was no cake-cutting.

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When asked why weren’t the candles blown and the cake cut, Lata’s sister Meena said: ‘‘We don’t follow these formalities at home.’’