Ameen Sayani, the legendary radio host of Binaca Geetmala died yesterday at the age of 91. The man with unmatched voice quality ruled the broadcasting industry for decades and continues to inspire hundreds of RJs who want to make a stunning career in the radio industry.
Those were the times when radio was one of the leading entertainment mediums and hence radio shows, interviews, and interactions were very common.
Apart from being a radio host, Ameen Sayani was also regularly invited to host various musical stage shows with leading music directors and singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, and more. That is why he shared a good bond with these singers and even with a few Bollywood superstars.
During one of his interviews with the legendary Lataji, Ameen asked some controversial questions of those times which were answered with great ease by the nightingale of India.
Lataji cleared suspense about the place where she was born
In those days there was confusion about whether Lata Mangeshkar was born in Goa, Indore, or in some other city. Clearing the air, the singer said that there is no such thing as suspense and that she was born in Indore where her mausi used to live. She even revealed that there is a lot of confusion about her birth because her father is from Goa, her mother is from Gujarat whereas she was born in Madhya Pradesh but basically, she belongs to Maharashtra’s Marathi family.
The SD Burman-Lata Feud
Ameen Sayani then asked Lataji to recall the time when during an interview she had said she had stopped singing for SD Burman and she again started singing for him when he called back a few years later. However, Ameenji wanted to know what exactly happened that made Lata Mangeshkar stop singing for the famous music composer.
In reply, the legendary singer said there was a movie called Miss India with Nargis as the female lead. Lataji said, “Unka ek gana muzhe karna tha. Ab woh kya picture thi aur unka role kis tarah ka tha Nargis ka muzhe malum nahi tha. Toh muzhe Burman dada ne kaha ke Lata isme humko mithas chahiye. Toh maine Kaha accha toh maine uss tarah se thoda soft gaya. Unko bahot accha laga.”
She added, “Aur baad mein muzhe malum nahi kya hua, muzhe phone aya ki nahi Lata gana thik nahi huwa, phir se karna padega. Maine kaha dada abhi appko toh uss din accha laga tha. Par unhone kaha nahi abhi gana padega. Toh maine kahan accha dada. Unhone phir aadmi se kahan ki jake Lata se date leke aao.” But at that time she was busy with a lot of recordings and hence could not offer immediate dates to that man.
But this particular man told SD Burman that Lata was not ready to sing the same song again since the composer was changing the songs as per his will. Lataji once again said that she never said a thing but that she was very busy. It was for the first time on Ameen Sayani’s show that Lata Mangeshkar spoke about this feud which was highly discussed during the 50s. And this continued for at least 7 to 8 years.
Lataji spoke about rivalry with sister Asha Bhosle
In those days many journalists refrained from asking controversial questions to Lataji out of respect. One such topic was her rivalry with sister Asha Bhosle. But since Ameen Sayani had a good rapport with both the sisters, he asked Lataji to spill the beans on the same. The singer revealed that she has never been jealous of Asha but it was true that they did not talk with each other for many years because Asha left the house at the very young age of 14 years to the secretary of Lata Mangeshkar Mr. Bhosle and married him without telling anyone.
She revealed that people tried to create differences between the two sisters but she never listened to them. Rather it was Mr. Bhosle who did not want Ashaji to speak with her elder sister and that is why they could not speak for long years even when they were recording a duet.