This man, Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar's guru, who launched their careers, died in poverty, his wife was found begging at..., his name is..

There are countless stories of many artists of Hindi cinema who could not save their earnings and were forced to live in poverty. One of them was Khemchand Prakash, whose painful story will bring tears to anyone's eyes. People remember Khemchand Prakash as the mentor of artists like Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Naushad, and Manna Dey. Still, despite having such a high stature, Khemchand Prakash's final days were spent in misery. After the death of Khemchand Prakash, his wife was also found begging at the railway station.

Veteran lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar has long supported paying royalties to writers, composers, and other artists involved in the creation of songs. He put his might behind the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010, citing the example of composer Khemchand Prakash, who was one of those artists lost in the darkness of obscurity due to the faulty system, leading to his wife being found begging at the railway station after his death.

Khemchand Prakash, often referred to as the mentor of many superstar singers, was the one who had the most impact on the late Lata Mangeshkar's career. After Lata Mangeshkar was famously rejected by producer Chandu Lal Shah, it was Khemchand Prakash who gave her a break with the film Mahal, predicting that she would go on to achieve greatness in her career.

Khemchand Prakash hired Lata Mangeshkar to sing a song in the film Ziddi (1948), but it was the song, Aayega Aane Wala, that made Lata Mangeshkar a household name. Unfortunately, Khemchand Prakash died of liver cirrhosis at the young age of 42 in 1950 and didn’t experience the success that Lata Mangeshkar and Mahal went on to have.

After Khemchand Prakash's death, his financial condition was so poor that his earnings could not support his family. Khemchand Prakash's second wife, Shreedevi, had to beg at a railway station to be able to survive in her last days. Javed Akhtar, in his speech in the Rajya Sabha in 2012, mentioned her plight as an example to support the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010.

Javed Akhtar said, "Ayega ek din, ayega. Bahut mashoor geet hai, 60 saal pehle likha gaya tha... This song was composed by Khemchand Prakash, a deeply admired musician of his time… When they tried to locate him to pay Rs 13,000 owed to him, it was found that his wife was begging in Malad. This is not surprising. There are many stories like this."

Surprisingly, as per the Indian Express, Khemchand Prakash’s family stood to earn Rs 50 lakh in royalties for only the Ayega Aane Wala song, as reported by journalist Abhilasha Ojha.