Thenceforth, Madhubala stipulated in her contracts that her songs must be sung only by the Voice Of India. And so it was all the way from Madhubala’s Tarana 1951 in which Lataji sang all the nine songs for Madhubala composed by Anil Biswas, to Madhubala’s last film Jwala where all the six songs were sung by Lataji.
The Madhubala-Lata Mangeshkar combo was interrupted on two occasions. Firstly when OP Nayyar was the music composer in Madhubala’s films like Howrah Bridge, Insan Jaag Utha, Do Ustad and Mr & Mrs 55 (Lataji never sang for Nayyar) and secondly when Sachin Dev Burman had a 3-year cold war with Lataji. That’s when Asha Bhosle stepped in for Madhubala in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi and Kala Pani.
But the piece de resistance of Madhubala’s Mangeshkerian melodic merger was Mughal-e-Azam where under Naushad’s compositional stewardship Lataji sang some of the most exquisite melodies for Madhubala including Beqas Pe Karam Kijiye, Mohabbat Ki Jhoothi Kahaani Pe Roye and Mohe Panghat Pe Nandalal. All three are far superior melodies than Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya which became a rage beyond anything that Lataji has sung.
In a past conversation Lataji had admitted that the song surpassed all expectations. “We never thought we were creating history. One never CREATES landmarks, they just happen. Every song of Mughal-e-Azam was recorded with equal reverence and care. Who knew that Pyar Kiya would become a timeless classic?”
There is a prevalent myth that the echo effect in Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya was created by Lataji singing in the bathroom of the recording studio. Lataji laughed off the myth as being just that. “This is completely untrue. Who would record a song in a bathroom? Whatever you hear was recorded on the studio floor.”
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