This royal, a cricketer-turned-administrator, was Lata Mangeshkar's romantic partner but they never married.
The association between cricket and entertainment world in India did not begin with Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, not even with Tiger Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore. Years before either of these celebs couple was one couple – a legendary singer and a cricketer – who were set to get married, only for destiny to pull them apart.
The royal for whom Lata Mangeshkar fell
Raj Singh Dungarpur was a cricketer, lawyer, and erstwhile royal as the heir to the Dungarpur kingdom in the Rajputana. The youngest son of Maharawal Lakshman Singhji, the ruler of Dungarpur, Raj was born in 1935 and began playing cricket first for Madhya Bharat and eventually for Rajasthan and Central India. He moved to Bombay in the late 50s to study law while he continued to play the Ranji Trophy. There, while playing club cricket, he became friends with Hridayanath Mangeshkar and was introduced to his sister Lata. The two immediately developed a liking for each other and became romantically involved.
Why Lata and Raj never got married
Raj was not the heir to the Dungarpur throne but was still a prince, the son of the Raja. Hence, his family was against the idea of him marrying a commoner. The young prince fought his family initially in a bid to convince them about Lata but his parents did not want him to marry Lata, a commoner who was also in the film industry. Eventually, Raj promised his father that he would not marry Lata. Yet, the two continued to be romantic partners. When Dungarpur became the President of BCCI, he ensured that Lata received tickets for every match India played at home.
Raj and Lata’s decision to stay single forever
While Lata and Raj did not marry each other, they also never married anyone else. As per reports, the two remained devoted to each other lifelong. Dungarpur was known to carry a recorder in his pocket that had some selected songs of Lata. The singer also performed fundraising concerts for BCCI at Dungarpur’s behest, most famously after the 1983 World Cup win. Dungarpur died in 2009 at the age of 73. Lata Mangeshkar passed away in 2022 at the age of 92.
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 "Lata Mangeshkar and Raj Singh Dungarpur")
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