A lot has changed about Lata Mangeshkar. The veteran admits that she has become a recluse and has cut down heavily on her singing assignments and public appearances.
Lata Mangeshkar gets vocal about her distaste for TV
contests and her songs being remixed
A lot has changed about Lata Mangeshkar. The veteran admits that she has become a recluse and has cut down heavily on her singing assignments and public appearances.
“I don’t want to be photographed please,” she says rather curtly, adding, “I am not attending any public function in the near future. So there won’t be any photo opportunity either.”
You ask her why she has cut down on her recording assignments and she says that she prefers to pick and choose her work. “Abhi main thoda aaram se kaam karna chahti hoon. I only sign those projects that I like,” Lata says in her sweet tone, stressing that she has no concert lined up in the near future. Tell her that some of her famous songs are being remixed over and over again and it instantly touches a discordant note in her. “Forget about taking permission, they don’t even feel it necessary to ask me before doing such a thing. I feel sad when these people ruin my songs,” Lata rues.
But why does she keep quiet about it all this while? “Log mujhe galat samjhenge. It’s best to keep quiet than rake up a storm,” she answers.
Surprisingly, Lata doesn’t watch the music channels. “I don’t relate to the music being churned out these days. I watch cricket matches and the news channels,” she says.
But what about music reality shows? Wasn’t she a judge in one of them? “Bilkul galat!,” Lata raises her voice a little, “I was only a guest in one of the shows. I only agreed to give away the award.”
Continuing to express her disillusionment she says, “I think it’s an insult to the judges. What’s the use of having a panel of judges when the candidates are being judged on the basis of SMS votes? I don’t relate to such competitions. I don’t like them. Hence I don’t watch them,” she asserts. We come back to one her favourite topics—cricket. Does she understand the difference between long on and long off? She bursts out laughing. “Thoda bahut pata hai na,” adding “I feel that the Twenty-20 format is for kids. I still prefer to watch the one-dayers.”
s_banerjee@dnaindia.net
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