“Can never forget Didi –Lata Mangeshkar’s blessing- mantra at ‘Bhool Gaya Sab Kuchh’ song-recording,” recalls ‘Julie’ hero Vikram Makandar

Former popular suave lead actor Vikram Makandar , of superhit ‘Julie’(1975 movie) fame, is a die-hard fan of legendary singer ‘Didi’ Lata Mangeshkar, who was deeply saddened to hear about her passing away last Sunday morning - Chaitanya Padukone

Sharing his sentiments Vikram says,” “Yes I was and I am a huge fan of Lata-ji right from my childhood.

Consider myself so fortunate that I personally met her at the recording of the Lata-Kishore-da hit duet romantic ( Bhool Gaya Sab Kuchh from ‘Julie’ ) title-song composed by genius Rajesh Roshan.”

Would he share some more details ?. “Leading Southside film-producer B.Nagi Reddy was scouting for a new hero of his movie ‘Julie’, auditioned so many faces but was not satisfied .

Somebody suggested my name , he asked me to meet him at the Taj Hotel, where he was accompanied by film’s director K.S. Sethumadhavan. Within a few minutes he had finalised me.

Lata -ji was to record the duet song Bhool Gaya Sab Kuch here in Mumbai and the producer asked me to be present at the recording-takes session . She was briefed by the director Sethumadhavan that both hero and heroine are ‘new faces’ and introduced me .

Lata-ji said to me , ‘You are so handsome and trained at FTII , what a great combination ! I wish you should have joined the industry during the ‘50s and ‘60s.’ She blessed me and said ,’ Work with dedication and do not let success spoil you after three or four hit movies.’

Her guru-mantra she shared with me was Shiddat and Ibaadat,” discloses Vikram who was highly impressed watching the supreme singer at work.

Continues Vikram, “On that day I observed how meticulous Lata-ji was. After two rehearsals, she used to complete her work in just ‘one take’.

But that day she was singing with Kishore-da and he generally used to require more takes. That day after listening to the first take, director Sethumadhavan told her to add another 30 to 40 percent more feelings, the song was okayed in the next take.

As Lata-ji knew that the romantic title-song ‘Bhool Gaya..’ was for a new heroine ( Lakshmi ) she made her voice so sensual with freshness that the duet-song became an instant hit.

The amazing lyrics- writer Anand Bakshi-saab was also present in the studio . What I also noted during the recording that Kishore Kumar used animated-gestures body language to create more effect-impact While Lata-ji used to create that magic in her voice without the help of any hand or body gestures,” he smiles.

Recalls dynamic Vikram who later also turned producer-director-entrepreneur ,” At yet another song-recording, I also noted that Lata-ji would recognize cine-musicians by their names, and talk to them in a friendly way like extended family members.

That then was the iconic yet modest melody-queen Lata-Didi, : signs off dynamic Vikram, who continues to run his popular Bollywood Tours India concern. Now on the verge of producing an entertaining Web Series he informs that he has also opened a global network of distribution offices