Note: This article was originally published on September 28, 2019 and is being republished on February 6, 2022, after Lata Mangeshkar passed away.

Lata Mangeshkar passed away on Sunday (February 6) morning.

Generations of Indians have grown up with her songs – often the latest ones – playing around them. It is not just her longevity – she has come to embody the definitive voice of the Indian woman on the screen over more than seven decades. The very persona of the heroine – sweet, virginal, sometimes modern but always rooted in the Indian ethos – developed with the backing of Mangeshkar’s dulcet singing. From Madhubala and Nargis to Madhuri Dixit and Kajol, she has playbacked for all of them, singing songs that were melancholy, romantic, contemplative, joyful and even peppy, a domain that is normally that of her sister Asha Bhosle.

When she began her career (and even acted in some films) in the early 1940s, she was just a teenager, a babe in the woods at a time when the scene was dominated by either singing stars like Suraiya and Noorjehan or by singers like Ameerbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Ambalewali and Shamshad Begum, who sang in a rich and heavy style. Young Mangeshkar, helped by family friends, had no chance to make her mark. A prominent producer found her voice too thin and the only music director who had complete faith in her was Ghulam Haider, which she has often acknowledged. In the very early days, there were Noorjehan-like inflexions in her singing, but that soon disappeared.

Then in 1949, things changed in a big way. That was a landmark year, for the movies and for her. Noorjehan had moved to Pakistan after finishing her commitments in India and there was a vacuum in the industry. Prominent music directors put their faith in Mangeshkar and three films that released in that year – Mahal, Andaz and Barsaat – put her in a different orbit. After that, there was no looking back and with multiple successes in the 1950s, often termed as the Golden Age of Indian cinema, she became the biggest singer of all time.

Many other singers emerged but couldn’t last; it was often said that she and her sister ensured that the competition did not survive, but there is no denying that it was her voice that ensured that every music director – including those who had once fought with her, like S.D. Burman – eventually returned to her.

It is difficult to choose from the tens of thousands of songs she has sung – even a shortlist would have hundreds of them – but here are a few of her memorable songs, each with a different music director, which show her versatility and range, and which have given us much joy over the years. Two of them are from 1949, the year that really launched her glorious career. Most are from an earlier time, when melody was king.

Mahal (1949)

No list of the best ever Hindi film songs can not include this mesmerising, ethereal number. Music director Khemchand Prakash beautifully evoked the ghostly mood of Mahal, a Gothic film about reincarnation. The effect in the beginning of the song was achieved by the singer standing at a distance from the mike and then slowly moving, one line at a time, towards it.

Andaz (1949)

The second film of that year that catapulted her over and beyond her competition, was Mehboob Khan’s three-star drama, with Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Raj Kapoor in a love triangle. Naushad, who came to rely on her in a big way and said she was incapable of singing a false note, got her to sing this sad song that has become a classic.

Aaaram (1951)

The 1950s were a period of great music and every producer, music director and actress wanted Mangeshkar to sing for their films. One of them was Anil Biswas, who honed her craft, teaching her the importance of words. While she enjoyed singing for Naushad, C. Ramachandra and her favourite then, Shankar Jaikishen, Biswas was like a mentor, and together they produced some outstanding songs, like this one, with a simple piano accompaniment. A very young Madhubala enhances the appeal of the song.

Saiyan (1951)

Sajjad Hussain was a multi-talented but eccentric composer who played the mandolin and many other instruments for other music directors but gave music under his name for very few. He had special regard for Mangeshkar and she sang for him in several of his films. This was an obscure movie, hardly remembered today and it is a relatively unheard song, but she imbues it with pathos and longing and handles the note changes with great dexterity. She has made it a point to mention it often and even sing it in her concerts, calling it one of the most beautiful songs of her career. Madhubala is barely 18 here.

Amar Bhoopali (1952)

Though Lata Mangeshkar has sung in several languages, she brings special feeling to songs her in her mother tongue, Marathi. In 1952, she sang for Amar Bhoopali, which was directed by V. Shantaram and was about a cow-herder with a gift for poetry and was set in the last days of the Maratha confederacy. The song, set in raag Bhoopali by Vasant Desai, begins with the dying Panditrao Nagarkar singing a bit after which Mangeshkar takes it over, rendering a difficult classical composition with practiced ease.

Anarkali (1953)

C. Ramachandra and Mangeshkar made great music together; so much so that when she stopped singing for him her career collapsed. Of the many songs she sang under his baton, this is one of the most remembered. Based on the same story as in Mughal-e-Azam, this film too was a hit, not the least because of the songs.

Dil Apna aur Preet Parai (1960)

The Lata-SJ combine scored hit after hit in the 1950s and continued the trend in the ‘60s too, though there was to be a falling out later in the decade. Here, the composers used a choral background, in the manner of Salil Chowdhry.

Anuradha (1960)

Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film centred around a neglected wife of a doctor and the title role was enacted by a young Leela Naidu. Mukherjee chose Ravi Shankar to compose the music and the maestro, who had done some films before, put his knowledge of classical music to full use.

Hum Dono (1961)

S.D. Burman took a break from Navketan, with which he was closely associated, and recommended his assistant Jaidev, who rose to the occasion with some superb compositions that are remembered even today. This bhajan, a paean to India’s secular ethos, is among the composer’s and the singer’s best ever songs.

Woh Kaun Thi (1964)

One of the many versions of the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins made in India, and perhaps the best. Lata Mangeshkar had a soft corner for Madan Mohan, who was known for his ghazal compositions and he in turn tuned his best for her. This song is much loved even now, with even remixes getting millions of views and the original, over 150 million views on YouTube.

Akasdeep (1965)

Chitragupta was one of the relatively less high-profile music directors of the 1950s and ‘60s but Lata Mangeshkar worked with him in several films. The songs were always melodious, with simple instrumentation and a hummable quality.

Guide (1965)

S.D. Burman was very fond of Lata Mangeshkar and used her voice in every film, but for a while, in the late 1950s, they fell out. The composer turned to Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, but missed Mangeshkar. They had made up by the mid-1960s and an inspired Burman composed some of his best music in Guide. Dev Anand had chosen an unusual and bold subject for the film and relocated the story from south India to Rajasthan. Waheeda Rehman did full justice to the role of the dissatisfied wife who, after leaving her husband, expresses her joy with abandon in this song. Mangeshkar fully captures that emotion in this song.

Mamta (1966)

The film saw Suchitra Sen play a double role, as the mother and daughter, opposite Ashok Kumar and Dharmendra. Roshan, whose relatively modest output in Hindi films contained some memorable songs, scored the music.

Inteqaam (1969)

It was often said of Mangeshkar that she hesitated to sing ‘cabaret’ or ‘naughty’ songs. Bhosle was usually the singer of choice for anything remotely saucy and she did a fine job of it too. But Mangeshkar, perhaps to prove her versatility, sang two of those songs for her favourites Laxmikant Pyarelal – who otherwise gave folksy music – in the film Inteqaam, including this one, which showed the lead actor getting drunk, not often seen then in Hindi films.

Amar Prem (1972)

R.D. Burman was known for his foot-tapping songs which hit a chord with the younger generation in the 1970s, but he could create softer, classical-based songs too. He used Lata Mangeshkar’s voice to great effect from his debut onwards, as here, in Shakti Samanta’s film.

Pakeezah (1972)

This film was long in the making, thanks to the separation of Kamal Amrohi and his wife Meena Kumari. It was finally completed and released and soon after Meena Kumari passed away. The songs, composed by Ghulam Mohammed, were old worldly and stood out amidst the noisy 1970s and immediately attained classic status. It is difficult to choose the best from this great album, but this one is a good candidate.

Chhoti si Baat (1975)

Salil Chowdhury was not as prolific as some of his contemporaries but what he composed has stood the test of time. In the 1970s, many Hindi film producers discovered him after he had back to back hits with Anand, Rajnigandha and Chhoti si Baat, all small films but each one a big box office success. He became the composer of choice for the discerning who did not have the budgets for big blockbusters. Here, he uses his familiar choral voices and Lata Mangeshkar does the rest. Lovingly shot in Bombay, this film about modern romance was a surprise hit.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1995)

Most of the 1980s films were garish, over-the-top dramas, where music was not given much priority. In the 1990s, now well into her 60s, Lata Mangeshkar sang for Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, a story about a large, sweet, every-smiling family that captured the imagination of the whole nation. The painter M.F. Husain was known to visit Liberty cinema regularly to see it and dance in the aisles. The composer was Raamlaxman, known mainly for his work in Marathi and Bhojpuri films.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995)

Less a movie and more a cultural marker, launching a new kind of post-reforms period Hindi film genre, Aditya Chopra captured the imagination of an entirely new generation of filmgoers not just in India but also overseas, especially among the NRI audiences. He chose the young music directors Jatin-Lalit who came up with a contemporary score. The film continues to run in Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir and is a benchmark for many other similar films to come, shot in beautiful overseas locations with glamorous stars leading glamorous lives.

Rang de Basanti (2005)

A.R. Rehman burst on the Hindi film scene with Roja and soon became the hottest music director in both the Mumbai and the Chennai film industry. Rang de Basanti was one of his biggest hits. This song comes at a poignant time in the film and Lata Mangeshkar, still in fine form decades after she began her career in the 1940s, imbues it with meaning and emotion.

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