LataMangeshkar turns 80 - A Great Legend

On September 28, 2009 India's Great Legend Lata Mangeshkar turned 80. A wonderful singer, Lataji is the second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

I am posting a wonderful moment of lataji sharing with Javed Akhtar on CNN-IBN for a special interview telecast on her birthday. Lataji was referring to the old system of recording and how difficult was in those days to record one song. Her first hit was perhaps the song sang for Madhubala in 1949 in the film Mahal called Ayega Aanewala. At the time of recording lataji was told that the first part should sound as though the voice was coming from far away. At that time, recording techniques were not as advanced as they are now. lataji was made to stand a good distance away from the microphone and while singing she came closer and closer to it. Finally when the Ayega bit came she was supposed to stand next to the microphone to get the right effect. She had to do the entire process some 25 times to get it right.