It was a brother-sister bonding that cut across state and language barriers. It took root in the early 1960s, when the Mangeshkar sisters came down to Chennai to meet the actor, who had the features of their father Deenanath Mangeshkar – whom they lost at a young age. It lasted almost till she breathed her last on Sunday. “It was a special bonding. For Lataji, appa was always her Anna (brother) and for him, she was a sister. Not a Diwali passed without us sending new clothes for her and she did the same too,” recalls actor Prabhu, Sivaji’syounger son.
“Lataji used to fly down to the city regularly those days torecord for Hindi songs and stay in hotels. She once mentioned to appa about her discomfort with the hotel stay and the food. Within two months, appa got a cottage constructed within our ‘Annai Illam’campus (Sivaji’s residence on North Boag Road in T Nagar). From then, whenever she came down to the city, she always stayed in that outhouse,” Prabhu said. While age restricted her travel to the city in later years, Lata came down to Chennai a few days after Sivaji Ganesan passed away (July 21, 2001) and spent some time with the family, recalling her long association with him. Whenever G Ramkumar, Sivaji’s elder son, visited Mumbai he would call on her.
Despite not being used to smart phones and social media tools, she made it a point to type small messages on WhatsApp to Ramkumar – updating about herself and enquiring about members in Sivaji family. “Just two weeks ago, as if due to a premonition that her end was nearing, she sent out a personal voice message to Ramkumar enquiring about the health of all in the family,” Prabhu said.
Lata’s South Indian hits include ‘Aararo Aararo’ in Tamil film ‘Anand’ (1987) that had Prabhu in the lead and produced by Sivaji Productions, with music by Ilaiyaraaja. Her duet number, with singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, for Kamal Haasan’s ‘Sathya’ (1988) – ‘Valai Osai Gala Gala Vena’ is an evergreen hit. “During discussion, I told Kamal Haasan about one tune composed for ‘Gone with The Wind’ but not used and he liked it. I insisted that Lataji should sing the song and Kamal agreed. I got lyricist Vaali to use simple, smooth flowing words to make it easy for her,” Ilaiyaraaja recalled during a live concert.
Lata and SPB came together the same year again for Telugu film ‘Aakhari Poratam’ and rendered ‘Thella Cheeraku’, which too became a hit in the Nagarjuna – Sridevi featured film. It is just tragic that the lives of both these legendary singers were plucked away by the effects of the Covid pandemic.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/chennai-for-lata-mangeshkar-meant-brother-sivaji-ganesan/articleshow/89395402.cms
