Lata Mangeshkar: The Nightingale once blessed Lucknow with her presence

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Loved by one and all, in India and abroad, Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar had a date with Lucknow on April 9, 1995 when she came here to receive the Awadh Ratna Samman, conferred on her by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.

Incidentally, this proved to be her first and last visit to the city of nawabs but was enough for her to win the hearts of Lucknowites.

Gracing the award function, along with the Nightingale of India, were stalwarts like music composer Naushad and lyricist Hasan Kamal.

Governor Motilal Vohra honoured the Melody Queen with the Awadh Ratna at a grand function at Begum Hazrat Mahal Park in presence of the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Athar Nabi, a literary personality of the city, who organized the programme then, said, “Everyone had decided to honour Lata Mangeshkar with award. The responsibility of inviting her was given to me. I had no direct contact with Lataji so I contacted Naushad ji to take me to her place. He arranged a meeting at her Pedder Road, Bombay (now Mumbai) residence. I was amazed to see her dressed in a simple white sari and, without any tantrums, she agreed to visit Lucknow with a condition that she would not sing because then she would have to bring along her music troupe. I accepted her condition because our aim was just to honour her.”

Interestingly, when she reached Mumbai airport to board the flight for Lucknow, she was told that due to a strike by technical staff of airlines all flights were cancelled. She returned to her house and informed us on phone about the strike and her inability to come to Lucknow.

Anis Ansari, a retired bureaucrat, said, “All the arrangements were in place at Begum Hazrat Mahal Park here. People had been informed about the programme, the media had build a hype about it and in such conditions, cancelling the programme would have hurt the image of the state. So, governor Moti Lala Vohra informed chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who immediately directed officials to send a state plane to bring her from Mumbai to Lucknow.

Eventually, Lata Mangeshkar came to Lucknow after facing some hurdles.”

Athar Nabi, who played an important role in bringing Lata Mangeshkar to Lucknow, said, “The huge crowd present at Begum Hazrat Mahal Park wanted a song from her and respecting the sentiments of crowd she sang some lines of a song of the movie Maine Pyar Kiya — Kabootar Ja Ja Ja. After the function, the crowd left the park with unforgettable memories.”

Later, a dinner was hosted by Mulayam Singh and despite her reluctance to visit any politician she agreed to attend the dinner. She also praised the Lucknow food served to her.

She also visited the monuments of Lucknow and travelled in a special car provided by the state government. However, she didn’t step out of the car to avoid any sort of crowd, noted poet Sarvesh Asthana, who was present during that programme, said.


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