‘Aye mere watan ke logon’: When Lata Mangeshkar told the truth about her favorite patriotic song. – The Times of India

,O people of my country‘A song by iconic artist Lata Mangeshkar is more than a song, it is an emotion. The song touched millions of hearts and even decades after its release, it is the first song that comes to one’s mind. patriotic songsAlso, it is worth noting that one cannot imagine anyone other than Lata Mangeshkar voicing this iconic song. However, do you know the real truth behind how Lata ji got this song and if she had said no to it then the entire idea of ’Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo’ would have been ruined? Here’s the truth from one of their old exclusive conversations:
Did you ever think that ‘O people of my country’ would achieve the immortality that it did?
“Who knew that people would like this song so much? (Who knew that people would like the song so much?). When ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ was being made, we never thought that it would become such an indestructible patriotic song.
Do you remember the first time you sang it on stage?
“I well remember that cold winter evening in Delhi when I sang as a part of the Republic Day celebrations in front of an audience that included President S. Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and many other distinguished guests Were.”
There is a lot of misinformation about how you came to sing this incredible ‘Desh Bhakti’ song?
“It was poet Pradeepji, who wrote the immortal song, who came to me and asked me to sing the song. I declined because there was no time to rehearse and prepare to sing it in front of so many eminent personalities. You see, at that time I was working around the clock. It seemed impossible to pay special attention to one song. We had very little time to prepare ‘O people of my country’. I wanted to get out of this instead of doing something rash. But Pradeepji said that if I did not sing he would scrap the idea. I reluctantly agreed to sing it.
Some misinformed sections believe that your sister Asha Bhosle Was it the song ‘Aye Watan Ke Logon’?
“I suggested we adapt the song into a duet with me and Asha. But Pradeepji wanted it to be a single. I insisted that we do it as a duet. Asha had also rehearsed for this song. But then a few days before we left for Delhi, she came to me and said, ‘Didi. I am not coming to Delhi. I tried to convince him to change his mind by arguing that his name had also appeared in the newspapers as one of the singers of Aye Mere Watan. But she remained adamant. I told composer-singer Hemant Kumar, who actually helmed the entire ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ project, about Asha’s decision not to go to Delhi with us to perform the song. Hemant da also tried to convince Asha. But he did not agree.”
what happened next?
“Then the rehearsals for the songs were left to me alone. Pradeepji told C. Ramchandra, who was composing the tune of Pradeepji’s words, about my problem. C.Ramchandra informed us that he would have to stay in Delhi for at least 4-5 days before our performance. That’s why he couldn’t rehearse the song with me. Instead, he gave me a tape of the number. I picked up the tune from the tape and flew to Delhi on 26 January with all the big names in the film industry. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Mehboob Khan, Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan… we were all in one plane.
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