Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar is, to my ear, the rare artist whose voice became a piece of national infrastructure. For most of a century, Indian cinema's heroines kept changing but the voice singing for them did not — that crystalline upper register threaded through thousands of films and several generations of memory. I am struck by how completely she dissolved her own image into the work: a playback singer by definition stays off-screen, yet she ended up more famous than almost anyone she sang for. The Bharat Ratna and the Legion of Honour merely formalized what audiences already knew. Few musicians anywhere have meant this much to this many.

Name (English)

Lata Mangeshkar

Name (Japanese)

ラタ・マンゲシュカル

Reading

らた・まんげしゅかる

Born

September 28, 1929 – February 6, 2022

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Snake

Origin

Indore, Indore district, India

Occupation

singer / film actor / film score composer / film producer / playback singer

Awards & achievements

• 2001 Bharat Ratna
• 1999 Padma Vibhushan
• 1969 Padma Bhushan
• 2007 Officer of the Legion of Honour
• 1997 Maharashtra Bhushan Award
• 1989 Dadasaheb Phalke Award
• 1972 National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
• 1974 National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer

Motto

Private

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/lata_mangeshkar/
• Xhttps://x.com/mangeshkarlata
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B2%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AB

Tags

• Indore district
• singer
• film actor
• film score composer

Last updated

2026-06-11

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.