A history of Hindi film music recounted from a list of 50 of Lata Mangeshakar's songs that she chose as her favorites.
Lata Mangeshkar, one of India's all-time most influential singers was known as "the Nightingale of India." For her album My Favourites, Vol. 2, Lata chooses 50 songs as her favourites among her own work, from a repository of over 5,000. This book covers an expanse of nearly forty years, connecting you to the real-life events behind the songs, going back to when music listening in India was limited to the radio, the 78 RPM shellac, the occasional visit to the cinema, and later, the vinyl records, cassettes, and the 30 minutes Chitrahaar on television every week.
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A history of Hindi film music recounted from a list of 50 of Lata Mangeshakar's songs that she chose as her favorites.
Who is Lata Mangeshkar?
Lata Mangeshkar and LP records a story
Documenting the album
Nomenclature and sources used in the book.
Getting started
Music Director
Lyricist
1. In the beginning
Master Ghulam Haider the melody queen maker
Masterji Khemchand Prakash
Anil Biswas the first star
2. The Trailblazers
Shankar Jaikishan the allrounders
3. The Classicists
Naushad the Lucknavi master
Sachin Dev Burman the Folkman from Bengal
Roshan - ode to Hindustani classical
Jaidev the fakir
4. The Conventional
Husnlal Bhagatram Punjab celebrated
Shyam Sundar Pathos of Punjab
Vasant Desai soft and colourful
5. The Unconventional
C Ramchandra music is fun
Salil Chowdhury the genius
Sajjad Hussain the perfectionist
6. The Tearful Craving
Madan Mohan closest to the heart
7. The Trailblazers - II
Rahul Dev Burman the modernist
Laxmikant Pyarelal the born survivors
8. The Subdued Nuances
Hemant Kumar - friendly notes
Khayyam poetic feel
Rajesh Roshan - relaxed gait
Ghulam Mohammed - Pure heart
9. The Less Spoken
Chitragupta- the gentle soul
S Mohinder solitary reaper
10. The Lesser Heard
Hridaynath Mangeshkar family
Fayyaz Shaukat & K Mahavir lesser knowns
11. The Last Song
Ravindra Jain Raj Kapoors last magnum opus
12. Summing Up
Acknowledgements
Index
Anirudha Bhattacharjee is a Distinguished Alumnus Awardee of IIT Kharagpur, India, a Business Consultant by profession and the author of R D Burman: The Man the Music (2011), which won the National Book Award for best book on cinema; Gaata Rahe Mera Dil (2015); S D Burman: The Prince-Musician (2018); and Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography (2022).
Chandrashekhar Rao has been a regular contributor to Khaleej Times and Gulf News, among others, where he conducted interviews with several luminaries of Indian music, from Pandit Ravi Shankar to Lata Mangeshkar.
