Her voice…what a voice!

Author Nasreen Munni Kabir .

Speaking to Nasreen Munni Kabir is a lesson in wit and wisdom. The words flow with the natural ease and grace of a raconteur. “Sparkling,” is the expression that readily comes to mind as she takes a few questions only a little before she is to fly across to the U.K. The depth in her response comes from her immense knowledge, and tons of patience; an asset that has come in handy time and again for the London-based filmmaker-author. With works on Guru Dutt and Javed Akhtar already in the kitty, she is now working on a book on Raj Kapoor’s “Awaara”.

But it is what she has done after Guru Dutt and before Raj Kapoor that makes her the subject of many discussions, and a pretty much sought after name these days. In what is probably a first for Indian publishing, she has just come up with a conversational biography of the one and only Lata Mangeshkar, a lady who opens up as easily as a shy kid in nursery class. Yet Nasreen has managed the almost impossible, nudging, cajoling, even gently persuading the veteran to take a long, long trip down memory lane and tell her tale to her fans in her own voice. Yes, in “Lata Mangeshkar…in her own voice”, brought out by Niyogi Books, Nasreen gets arguably the greatest singer of the 20th Century to talk of things comfortable as also subjects uneasy, of her father who did not have a very high opinion of film music, her sister Asha Bhonsle, and the so-called sibling rivalry, of Shanker-Jaikishan and the Filmfare award controversy.

Far from taking credit, Nasreen merely says, “It was not very challenging. Lataji has such a fabulous memory. She is an engaging conversationalist. Very intelligent, she does not suffer inane questions. She is very polite. You have to find newer ways to ask her the same things. You have to think a lot. You cannot approach her with a pre-planned list of questions and you simply cannot manipulate her answers.”

Nasreen claims the best part of doing the 260-odd page biography rich with rare photographs was that she got a peek into the little known world of Lata Mangeshkar, the person. “I asked her what aspect of her personality is present in her songs. She said, ‘my concentration’. She can memorise a song in little time.”

Having said that, Nasreen is a bit unhappy that the biography has not got the right attention from the press. “The Asha-Lata rivalry has been made into a big deal in the press. There is an element of drama there. The sisters have a relationship but the press made a big thing of their rivalry.” Similarly, Nasreen is unhappy that Lata has not been projected in the right colours in the media, and often accused of engineering a monopoly with certain music directors, banners and the like. “There have been accusations that Lata had a monopoly and that she did not allow newer talent to flourish. It is all wrong. The music directors chose her, not the other way round. Lata respects people, does not cross the line with anybody.”

But does not that kind of spirited defence take the book close to the realms of hagiographies, that abiding bane of honest appraisal? “It is not a goody-goody exercise. Lata is part of music history. I am interested in her work, not her personal politics of relationships. I want to ask her about recording studios then and now, the flow of things with the passage of time.”

The making of The Nightingale Artist M.R. Achrekar’s portrait of Lata Mangeshkar from the book.

So, what was the one thing Lata would have wished to do better in a career that has probably seen as many crests as a river in spate? “She would have liked to do more classical music. This desire had a lot to do with her father. She became such a big name as a playback singer that maybe she could not go back to it. She did tell me about virtually every big name from the classical world, how Bade Ghulam Ali Khan needed to be persuaded to do films, how she cherished working with Ustad Bismillah Khan.”

That’s fine. But considering Lata does not open up easily, and has had her share of controversies in her career, how challenging was it to put it all together?

“This is a very independent exercise. At different times in life one speaks different things. She has a slightly different perspective on a few things now. At times you have to look at things in a different light. Her generation of people is gone. For this book, I wanted Lata in her own voice. I like direct contact. I like they read her, not me. This kind of work cannot be possible without trust. It is a trust that cannot be broken.”

But isn’t a conversational biography replete with questions and answers a novel concept in India?

“Maybe relatively new here but such a thing is well established in the West. It is an interesting format. I kept the questions short, gave her space. If you notice in the book, I don’t direct the conversation. I allow her to talk of her life her own way. Lataji has had an interesting life. Like all big achievers, she has a story to narrate. But it could not have been forced out of her.”

Over to Lata Mangeshkar in her own voice, a legendary singer who has also given music score for many Marathi films, an artiste who lost herself when she sang for her heroines, a woman who has lost count of her white saris. A young girl who could ride a bicycle but never owned one. And a singer who brought tears to the eyes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with her rendition of “Ae Mere Watan ke Logon”. All in one book. All in conversation.

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