Lata Mangeshkar’s battle for royalty and famous tiffs reflect her strength and self-belief

India’s voice and an artiste whose accolades are difficult to encompass in words has passed away. Lata Mangeshkar is a singer, a national icon, and a self-made success story. But she was also a path breaker in her battles for singers and musicians in Indian cinema.   Singers getting the royalty for their songs is still a matter of contention for music companies and singers in Hindi cinema. This battle- which seems weighed against the singers- was first fought by Lata Mangeshkar in the sixties. Mangeshkar had become very successful and popular by this time. Having begun to sing a little before 1950 for films, she had consistently delivered super hit songs and had displayed adaptability in music. She was the top choice for duets by established singers like Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, and Kishore Kumar.   Touring for music and performing on stage had begun to grow for Hindi film music across India and in some parts of the world. While music companies would pay a royalty to musicians, singers would get none. Film producers didn’t even consider paying singers royalty as a factor in budgets. She asked for royalty from film producers at this stage, urging the singers association (an ineffective body of playback artistes) to take a stand. In this era women in cinema, in any form, were pliant, often hesitant to take a stand as it would mean losing work. But Lata stood her ground. And this compounded her differences with two powerful men and professional allies to her meteoric rise. [caption id=“attachment_10352921” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Lata Mangeshkar with Mohammed Rafi[/caption] First Lata had a fall out with Mohammed Rafi. The veteran singer believed in art over money. Battling over royalties to him was disgraceful. He scolded Lata and told her that he wouldn’t ever sing another duet with her. Both had delivered super hit numbers like Sun Mera Sajna Re, Do Sitaron Ke Zameen Par, Dheere Dheere Chal… Rafi refused to support Lata on this matter, and Asha Bhosle seemed to side with Rafi. Both sent out a clear message to music composers, we won’t work together anymore. While Rafi’s lack of support turned some veteran filmmakers and producers against Lata, Kishore Kumar, a fresh voice on the horizon, stood by her firmly.   Second, the headstrong singer had a rift with Raj Kapoor too. Differences were brewing between both for some time, entirely driven by an artistic temperament. Raj Kapoor had brought Lata in for playback in Barsaat (1949), a super hit of its times. Initially, he hesitated because she had come from a background of classical training. But having heard her sing, and her natural improvisations, he chose her for the film immediately. Lata didn’t ask him for a specific amount of money. Both collaborated with Shankar and Jaikishan, music arrangers who had been promptly promoted to music composers for this film. Their iconic song Barsaat Mein Hum Se Mile Tum Se Mile revealed that this young singer could vary her voice and cover range. The ditty is playful, light-hearted, and irreverent. Kapoor began to sign Lata on for every film of his. Impulsive as he was, he would call her at wee hours of the night to record riffs and tones without involving the music composer. Their valuable relationship is well documented in the book by Kapoor’s daughter Ritu Nanda, The One and Only Showman. Kapoor had deep connections with those that made his film’s music. Mukesh, Shailendra Singh (lyricist), and Lata Mangeshkar held a special place for him. But that didn’t stop him from re-writing lyrics or re-doing their songs. They argued massively while recording songs for Randhir Kapoor starrer Kal Aaj Aur Kal. Lata would not speak with Raj Kapoor or anyone else in the studio; in turn, he would tease her by talking loudly through the recording. What might seem like childish behaviour, reflected their artistic passion forgetting something just right. Kapoor didn’t agree to pay royalty but she continued to sing for him on and off. It was around 1976 when the filmmaker had hired her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar to compose the music for Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Mangeshkar was reluctant, given his classical music background. But then Kapoor promptly replaced him with Laxmikant Pyarelal. Lata still sang the most popular songs in this radical film for its times, but her fight with Kapoor held strong. It was only when the showman was making Bobby, that he extended her an olive branch. Lata’s deft ability to adapt her voice to a teenager, Bobby, was proven with this film. She was in her forties by then.   It is also lesser-known that Lata Mangeshkar and Dilip Kumar had sulked with each other for 13 years! Only when both made it to the cover of Illustrated Weekly magazine, did both let go of a past grudge over a song. Both had disagreed on how this song was best sung, for the film Musafir (1957) by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Both made up for the magazine cover shoot and stayed cordial ever since.     Whether Lata Mangeshkar ever got paid for evergreen hits that she had delivered for Raj Kapoor remains unanswered. They stayed friends till the end. When asked about royalty, the melody queen sounded bemused over the era of music CDs and DVDs. Always a defender of singers’ rights, she criticised the mushrooming of reality shows across Indian television, pointing out that these 15 minutes of fame dilute the dedication that defines a singer. Mangeshkar spoke her mind and lived her life on her terms in an era before social media and image perception dominated public behaviour. Her loss will be felt forever.  

Archita Kashyap is an experienced journalist and writer on film, music, and pop culture. She has handled entertainment content for broadcast news and digital platforms over 15 years.