From Hema to Lata: How she took the helm of family at young age

Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929, to classical singer and theatre artist Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Shevanti in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. She was initially named as Hema.

When Lata Mangeshkar was only 13 years old, her father passed away due to heart disease. Lata also has four younger siblings – Asha, Usha, Hridaynath and Meena. This is the reason why Lata had to leave her studies and start singing.

She began singing and acting in her father Deenanath Mangeshkar’s musical plays when she was only five. On her first day at school, she started giving music lessons to other children and when the teacher asked her to stop, she felt so offended that she decided not to go to school ever. Other sources cite that she left school as she would always go to school with her younger sister Asha, and the school would object to it.

This was the period when no one had any idea that one day Lata Mangeshkar would become the country’s favourite. At a very young age, she took music training from Master Vinayak. When she camped her company in Mumbai, Lata also went with him. After this, she got training in Hindustani music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhindi Bazar Gharana.

The story of Lata Mangeshkar’s struggle was narrated by her younger sister Meena Mangeshkar. In an interview, Meena said Didi had suffered so much, at the age of 12, she had seen so much. In such a situation, she had changed a lot at that time.

In an interview given to ABP, Meena Mangeshkar had said, “I have a strange relationship with Lata didi. Not only my sister, but I am also her daughter, but I am also everything, I used to walk like a shadow with her since childhood. I am only two years younger than Didi. She was 12 years old when my father left. I was 10 years old. Everyone else was small. We have seen Baba’s illness, it was one year since we came to Poona, we came in 1941 and Baba left in 1942.”

She had further said – “We did not even know when Didi suddenly became so big. She took care of the family, we were in mourning at that time. But didi took care of everyone.”