RIP Lata Mangeshkar: Malayalam singer Latha Raju recalls excitement before meeting melody queen

Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: Yesteryear singer Latha Raju (70) can still remember the excitement of meeting India’s nightingale and legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. Back in 1980, she was a programme executive at AIR in Chennai.

Lata was coming to Chennai (then Madras) and AIR wanted to do an interview. “We contacted her for an interview. I could not sleep properly for two weeks before her arrival due to excitement. I was going to meet the queen of melody after whom I was named,” reminisced Latha. 

A playback singer of her own right, Latha was named after the legendary singer none other than her mother — the well-known singer Shantha P Nair. Latha has sung more than 60 songs in Malayalam in the 1970s. Hailing from Thrissur, Latha is settled in Chennai. 

Though she was not the main interviewer, Latha assisted throughout the one-and-a-half-hour interview. “The recording was in a five-star hotel. Before the recording, Lataji rang up the reception and asked them not to connect any call for an hour. She was that committed to her profession,” Latha said.  

After the interview, Latha told her idol how she got her name. “She gave me that half-smile which she used to pass on to composers when she sings a song to her perfection. I was on cloud nine,” Latha told The New Indian Express. 

The singer of “Pinchu hridayam devalayam“, “Manjakkili…swarnakkili” (both in ‘Sethubandhanam’ movie), “Kanninu kannaya kanna…” (Priyam), “Evidathe chechikkinnale…” (Azhakulla Saleena) among others, Latha is all set to release a video of her singing Lata Mangeshkar’s “Piya bina piya bina” (Abhimaan). 

“While studying at Presidency College, Chennai, I have won prizes for singing this song. I love almost all her songs. My favourites are ‘Piya bina‘ and ‘O Sajna barkha bahar aayi‘ (Parakh),” said Latha, who retired as AIR-Doordarshan Director (marketing) in 2011.