By PTI
MUMBAI: Music composer Milind said Lata Mangeshkar had named him and also his house, and their families had close ties for over half a century.
Milind, who composed the score for Aamir Khan-starrer Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak with his elder brother Anand, said she had told his father, the veteran music composer Chitragupt, that she wanted to name his child.
“She was the reincarnation of Ma Saraswati,” Milind (62) told PTI.
“My father composed over 200 songs with her, including gems like Dil Ka Diya Jalake Gaya for 1965 film Akashdeep and Yeh Parbaton Ke Daire Yeh Sham for 1967 movie Vaasana,” he said.
“Papa started working with her in late 1950s. We had a ‘ghar ka rishta’ as she was a regular to our house,” he added.
Milind said the younger members of the Chitragupt family never called her Lata Didi as she was popularly known in Bollywood and elsewhere in the country.
“For us, she was always Lata Aunty. She used to come to our house with her sister Usha ji. When I was born, she told my father that she will name me. She named me Milind Madhav. I am so lucky,” he said.
“We believe she is the reincarnation of Ma Saraswati. Today is “visrajan” of Ma Saraswati and Lata Aunty,” an emotional Milind said.
He said he was in regular contact with her.
“I used to speak to her once a week or fortnight till a few years back,” he added.
“We (Anand-Milind) began our music career by recording our first song with her. It was Raja tere raste se hat jaungi, gaadi ke niche jake kat jaungi for the film Ab ayega mazaa (1984).”
“We did around 20 songs with her, including Aa ke teri baahon me, har shaam lage sindoori for 1992 film Vansh,” Milind said.
He said when his family shifted from Khar to Powai in 2003, Lata came to their row house and named it Swarganga.
“She was close to my mother who died in 2019. Whenever Lata Aunty recorded songs at Mehboob Studio, she called our home on landline and came to us for lunch. This was a ritual twice — and sometimes three times — a week.”
“We used to come from school and see Lata Aunty’s favourite food items on the table and knew at once that she is in the house,” he said.
Lunch was followed by playing rummy (cards) and “gupshup” sessions, he said.
Madhya Pradesh government conferred the Lata Mangeshkar Samman (2020), comprising Rs two lakh in cash and a citation to Anand-Milind duo.
“The presentation of this award was delayed due to coronavirus pandemic. But now it feels that Lata Aunty was with us throughout our lives,” Milind said.
