Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on February 6. She was 92. 

Considered one of the greatest playback singers in Indian cinema, Mangeshkar, a Bharat Ratna awardee, received several film awards and honours like Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Dada Saheb Phalke Award, and multiple National Film Awards.

Her last rites were held in an open ground in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, with full state honours, in the presence of a bevy of dignitaries and celebrities.

The government has announced a two-day national mourning on February 6 and 7. The National Flag will be flown at half-mast both days throughout India.

Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929, to a Marathi and Konkani musician Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar. Originally named Hema, she was the eldest of five siblings — Asha Bhosle, Meena Khadikar, Usha Mangeshkar and Hridaynath. Her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theatre actor.

Lata Mangeshkar recorded her first playback song for a Marathi film, ‘Kiti Hasaal’, at the age of 13, and even acted in a Marathi film, ‘Pahili Mangalagaur’ in the year 1942. In 1946, she recorded her first Hindi film playback song for ‘Aap Ki Seva Mein’, directed by Vasant Jogalekar.

In 1972, Lata Mangeshkar won the first National Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the film ‘Parichay’. 

Over the years, the veteran singer won numerous national and international awards. In 1984, the government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award. The government of Maharashtra also instituted a Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1992 to promote singing talent.

Mangeshkar was popularly known as “Nightingale of India” and “Melody Queen”.

She had a prodigious almost eight-decade career in which she sang an estimated 25,000 songs in as many as 36 Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada, and across classical and other genres.

Awards and honours:

2001 - Bharat Ratna

1999 - Padma Vibhushan

1969 - Padma Bhushan

1989 - Dadasaheb Phalke Award

1972, 1974, 1990- National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer

2009 - France's highest civilian award, the Insignia of ‘Officier de la Legion d’Honneur’ (Officer of the Legion of Honour).

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