Lata Mangeshkar was a religion of her own; personal relationships notwithstanding, her work cut across politics

Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam’ was no empty rhetoric. Pick any one… ‘Raina Beeti Jaye,’ ‘Aaj Socha Toh Aansoon Bhar Aaye,’ ‘Ae Dilruba,’ ‘Kitni Dard Bhari Yeh Raat Hai,’ ‘Abke Na Sawan Barse,’ ‘Saawan Ke Jhoole Pade’… Every one of these songs is worth infinitely more than the entire body of songs sung by every other singer in the universe. I have heard “Main hoon teri prem deewani, mere saiyan mera raja diljani," an obscure RD Burman composition from a potboiler, titled Azaad, which did not deserve the gem of a song, at least 500 times since it was first released in 1978: I still do not know how she has sung it, the pauses she takes between the lines, the way she carries the notes from mid-wave to the highest octave within two lines: no singer in the world, not Tansen, not Bhimsen Joshi, not Pavarotti can do this. Lataji’s ‘Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam’ was no empty rhetoric.