Adieu Lata! Music legend cremated with state honours

Lata’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the funeral pyre.

Military officers carry the body of singer Lata Mangeshkar wrapped in the national flag for her funeral in Mumbai, February 6, 2022.

Singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, who enthralled millions with her divine voice for eight decades, was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the luminaries from politics and entertainment industry present at her funeral at Shivaji Park in Dadar area in the evening.

Mr. Modi left the venue after offering her floral tributes. Floral tributes were also paid to her at Shivaji Park on behalf of President Ram Nath Kovind.

 

Lata’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the funeral pyre of the singing legend, who died at 92 in a hospital here on Sunday morning after multi-organ failure.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray were among those present at the funeral.

The mortal remains of Lata Mangeshkar, draped in the national flag, were taken in a truck from her residence in south Mumbai to Shivaji Park for the last rites.

A large number of people thronged the roads from where the cortege passed as the melody queen embarked on her final journey.

Singers and siblings Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle had long dominated the Hindi film industry. It was these two women, from pre-Independent India, who steered the nation with their voices.

Then President K.R. Narayanan presenting the Bharat Ratna to Lata Mangeshkar in New Delhi on March 21, 2001.

Then President K.R. Narayanan presenting the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award to Lata Mangeshkar in New Delhi.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar has had a career spanning eight decades and has sung innumerable songs in 36 languages. Here she is seen with Mohammed Rafi.

President R. Venkataraman presenting the Dada Saheb Phalke Award 1989 to singer Lata Mangeshkar in New Delhi on May 07, 1990.

Lata Mangeshkar with M.S. Subbulakshmi. Few remember that Lata Mangeshkar’s debut in Tamil was as early as in 1956. The story of Lata Mangeshkar, like that of Carnatic doyenne M.S. Subbulakshmi, is at once the story of personal victories and also of how women changed the course of performing history.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar rendering the theme song during the National Games opening ceremony in Pune on January 16, 1994. The true worth of an artiste like Lata is to be measured by her contribution to Indian history and the evolution of the genre of film music.

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