Hridaynath Mangeshkar Birthday: Hridaynath Mangeshkar was closest to Lata ji

Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar has millions of brothers, but there are some brothers who are close to her heart and mind. Let's talk about some of her special brothers today on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan... Lata Mangeshkar had three other sisters, Meena, Asha, and Usha, and she had only one brother, Hridaynath who was the youngest and very close to her. She was very young when their father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar died when he was only 42 years old and the responsibility of taking care of the family rested on the shoulders of little Lata and she fulfilled the responsibility of taking care of the family and especially her brother, Hridaynath, who was suffering from polio. Their bond as sister and brother grew stronger with time and is still strong when Lata is ninety-nine and Hridaynath is 83 years old. Talking about music, Lata also calls him Guru.

Hridaynath Mangeshkar Sogns

Lata's other sisters have been in and out of Prabhu Kunj but Hridaynath and his wife Bharti and their two children have always been with Lata and celebrated all the festivals together, especially Ganesh Chaturthi and Raksha Bandhan which is a very revered festival. Lata because it is on this day that she spends most of her time with her brother whom she calls "Bal" (little child). .... As Lata became more and more successful, she found other very important men whom she accepted and respected as her brothers. Lata's first brother was Dilip Kumar whom she called Dilip Bhai Sahab and touched his feet out of respect and she also called him "meri choti bahan" in public and at various prestigious shows around the world. Lata was perhaps the last celebrity whom the legendary actor recognised and he even fed her some sweets from his own hand.

That was the last meeting of Bhaisahab and his younger sister… Lata’s other famous brother was Dr. Sivaji Ganesan, a Tamil cinema legend who became a prominent politician and leader of the Congress party. The actor and leader decided to visit Bombay only to see his “sister”, Lata. It was because of Lata that he was extremely close to the Mangeshkar family. When Lata opened her own hospital in Pune, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Sivaji was the chief guest and was given all the respect a sister could give to her brother. In her illustrious career, she had worked with many composers, but the only composer she called “bhaiya” was music director Madan Mohan, whom she called Madan Bhaiya. This sister and brother team did wonders in their profession as singers and music directors, a fact that is proved by the songs they created for memorable films like “Woh Kaun Thi”, “Dastak”, “Heer-Ranjha” and “Haqiqat”. Volumes can be written about the contribution made by the brother and sister team to the music of Hindi films.

In fact, her music was so mesmerizing that when Yash Chopra made “Veer Zaara” he wanted the music to be composed by Madan Mohan and asked Lata to sing the songs to Madan Mohan’s tune. If there was any other man whom she considered as her younger brother, it was Dr. Yash Chopra who once told me that he could not imagine making films without Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. He was so dependent on Lata that he could not imagine making any of his films without Lata. A few months before he died, he told me, “I can never think of making a film if my film does not have a song by Lata ji. For me she is the goddess of music”. There was a producer named Bal Navle who helped Lata in presenting her film “Lekin” directed by Gulzar. Lata called him her brother, but he did not have the same warmth that Lata had for her other brothers. Brothers rarely get such great sisters. Lucky are those brothers who got a sister like Lata.