DO DOSTO KI EK HI DEVI ....LATAJI ( MANOJ KUMAR AUR DHARMJI ABHI BHI MAAN NAHI SAKTE KI UNKI DEVI UNKO CHHOD KAR CHALI GAYI HAI )... BY ALI PETER JOHN

Some men may have loved their parents , their families and their beloveds , but they have openly confessed that they have been greater lovers and admirers of Lataji who has been a very beautiful part of their lives - Ali Peter John

Manoj Kumar was directing his first film Upkar and had finalised all the details and left his choice for the female singer till the end and when the worried team of Kalyanji Anandji finally asked him why he was not revealing the name of the singer , he said , " naam bataane ki zaroorat kya hai ? Ek hi naam hoga aur woh hai desh ki anmol ratan Lata Mangeshkar .

Lataji had a long relationship with Manoj and his wife Shashi and she has sung some of her best songs for Manoj the director . Who can ever forget that song from Manoj Kumar's "Shor " ek pyaar ka nagma hai sung by Lataji and Mukesh which sounds so fresh and meaningful even after fifty years .

Lataji once told me that even though she could refuse to sing for the greatest composers and filmmakers she could never say no to a song which Manoj Kumar needed for any of his films and she proved that she meant what she said .

Manoj and his family literally treated Lataji as a goddess on earth . And I felt I was in some real heaven when Lataji herself invited Manoj and Shashi to the launch of my book "Molly" which she had not only launched but celebrated and blessed for me .

DHARMENDRA has got very emotional whenever he has talked about Lataji and has often burst into poetry when describing her.

Dharamji has been living on his farm house for all the time during the pandemic . He has been farming himself and growing rice , wheat and all the flowers and vegetables , but he says that he feels a heavenly feeling when he listens to the old songs of Lataji which Lataji herself had been sending to him regularly.

He once told me , " log Lataji ki awaaaz ke bina kaise jeete hai , mujhe nahi pata , lekin main kabhi bhi lataji ke awaaz ke bina jee hi nahi sakta .

JISS DIN LATAJI APNI AWAAZ CHHOD KAR CHALI GAYI , MANOJ BHIMAARI KI HAALAT MEIN PADE HUVE THE AUR PHIR BHI WOH LATAJI KI AWAAZ HI SUNNA CHAAHTE THE

AUR WOHI HAAL DHARAMJI KA THA . WOH DO DOST AAJ BHI LATAJI KE MUREED HAI AUR AAGE BHI RAHENGE , AISA MUJHE LAGTA HAI AUR AISE HI LAGTA RAHEGA JAB TAK MERE MEIN HAI JAAN