Sanjay Leela Bhansali remembers Lata Mangeshkar: 'The way she spoke, paused and ruminated…will remain with me forever'

Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is gearing up for the release of Gangubai Kathiawadi had to stop all work when he heard the news. Says Bhansali, “To lose Lataji so soon after Pandit Birju Maharaj was soul-shattering to me. They are my two all-time idols. Whatever I’ve learnt about cinema is through their art. I’ve learnt EVERYTHING about filmmaking by listening to Lataji voice. When I discover some rare song of hers I feel I’m richer than the diamond merchant.” A facet of her talent that Bhansali recognises is how her voice was moulded in every decade. “There’s a different Lata Mangeshkar experience for every decade from the 1940s and 50s to the 1960s, 70s and 80s. It’s fascinating to see how differently she has sung for different composers from SD Burman to Madan Mohan to RD Burman. Each era has given us an entirely different aura from her voice.” Lataji’s penchant for perfection took Bhansali’s breath away. “She never lets go of a single word without doing justice to it. Such a frail and delicate voice, and yet so powerful. She has done it all. We cannot have another Lata Mangeshkar. It’s my desire to try and reach her level of excellence through my work.” Listening to Nightingale’s songs is mandatory in Bhansali’s life. “ Not a day passes when I don’t listen to her….It can’t! It’s the only shield and sustenance I’ve against the incessant blows from the world. Lataji’s voice has healed and nourished me from childhood.” To know the person behind the voice is a task that Bhansali is not up to. “Very few have dared to cross the sanctity of her music and try to know the real person. That aura she wore like a second sleeve is so overpowering… I met her when she came to the recording studio to sing RD Burman’s ‘Kuch na kaho’ for 1942 A Love Story. I was behind her when she came out of her car. I froze. I just kept looking at here. She looked so beautiful in her diamonds and white sari. When she was escorted to the lift I followed behind. Obviously, I didn’t have the courage to get into the lift with her. I ran up the stairs as fast as possible…As I watched her sing I couldn’t believe that any human being could generate so much beauty harmony and goodness through her vocal chord. When she left people, outside who had nothing to do with the recording, just stood up spontaneously. That’s the kind of aura she possesses. How can such a frail figure can exude such power! Either people dive for her feet or stand up in supreme reverence…” Then Bhansali finally got an opportunity to meet her personally. “You took me to meet her. Those two hours with her will remain with me forever. The way she spoke, listened, paused and ruminated…will remain with me forever. Whenever I passed her home in Peddar Road I wanted to get one glimpse of her on that famous little balcony of her home.” Bhansali feels incomplete as a filmmaker. “I kept hoping maybe one day she’ll sing for my film. My work is so incomplete without her voice…Once she came THIS close to actually singing for my film. She drove towards the recording studio where we waited like excited schoolboys with an aarti ka thali, but she had to turn back because of heavy rains….What is not meant to be, won’t be…

Through her songs, she taught me that excellence, perfection and beauty have no full stops. We’ve found it long back in her voice. She’s still searching.”

As a music composer, Bhansali admits his greatest inspiration impetus and motivator is Lata Mangeshkar. “My greatest compliment as a music composer came to me from Lataji for the music of Bajirao Mastani. Lataji has inspired all my films. She told me that the ‘Latpat latpat’ opening of my Pinga song was from her song in V Shantaram’s Amar Bhoopali. Lataji said she liked my songs and the way I’ve filmed them. Then she affectionately said, ‘Aapne mera Latpat latpat utha liya.’ I humbly submit that it is indeed true. Bajirao Mastani was a tribute to the voice of Lataji, the music of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the cinema of K Asif and V Shantaram. I am very proud to have absorbed all these influences.” ++++++ Lataji On Sanjay Leela Bhansali: “I have always loved the music of his films. Earlier it was Ismail Durbarji who would do the music. Now Bhansaliji is doing his own music,which is a very good thing. I believe a filmmaker has to be a musician himself to understand the quality of music needed in his films. Bhansaliji has that quality. He has a deep knowledge of music and songs,and of the Indian classical heritage and culture. The song Ghoomar in Padmaavat has revived the appeal of the Ghoomar dance form. People are dancing to it all over the world after watching Deepika Padukone’s Ghoomar dance,” says Lataji, comparing Sanjay Leela Bhansali to none other than Raj Kapoor.I believe Bhansaliji has a music sense as sharp as Raj saab. Raaj saab was a complete musician. He played the table, the harmonium and the piano. He composed songs and sang them in his own voice before handing them over to professional playback singers. He could’ve easily scored the music in his films. But he chose not to take credit for the music in his films.” Lata Mangeshkar was deeply impressed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ghoomar song in Padmavat.“I saw the song and I was again stuck by Bhansali’s visual sense. It is unmatched by that of any other filmmaker in this country,” says Lataji, not prone to extremes of praise unless provoked. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He’s been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.