RMIM Archive Article "36".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Lata and Guiness Record?
#
# Posted by:
# Preetham Gopalaswamy (preetham@src.umd.edu)
#
# Sources: Articles from magazines Movie 1983, and Filmfare 1987.
#
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The following article is incontrovertible proof of 2 related yet
different issues
1] Lata could not have sung 25000 songs in her career (and most
certainly not by the time that the Guiness Book Records included
it in its edition).
2] Lata was overtaken by Asha in the number of songs sung by each
of them (and Rafi was nowhere in the reckoning) as early as the
70s.
Furthermore, after reading this article, Lata herself ack-
nowledged the fact to the author that the stories of her having
sung 25000 songs were most probably exaggerated.
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In his article, parrikar@spot.Colorado.EDU (Rajan Purshottam Parrikar) writes:
:This is what is said in 1982 Guinness Book of World Records:
: Miss Lata Mangeshkar (b 1928) has reportedly recorded between
: 1948 and 1974 not less than 25,000 solo, duet and chorus backed
: songs in 20 Indian languages. She frequently has 5 sessions in
: a day and has "backed" 1,800 films to 1974.
: Mohamad Rafi (d May 1, 1980) claimed to have recorded 28,000
: songs in 11 Indian languages between 1944 and April 1980.
> I can buy the argument that the peak number is an exaggeration. But
> the assertion that Asha has more songs than Lata is a bitter pill to
> swallow. This is handwaving, Janaab. Put your balls on the table
> and then we'll talk; i.e., let's see the article proving # of Asha
> songs > # of Lata songs.
You wanted the article, you got it. Here are the details that I
was referring to. This article was part of a longer article en-
titled "The Lata Legend" which appeared in FILMFARE in 1987. It
is a wonderful article which lovingly describes the woman behind
the voice, her likes, her dislikes, her views; it also traces her
career and the impact that she has had on popular Indian music.
The article has several wonderful pictures of Lata and her fami-
ly. I do not have the time right now to type in the whole thing,
and opted to enter just the section relevant to the Guiness con-
troversy. In a separate article by the same author on Asha Bhon-
sle entitled "Asha Bhonsle : The Voices" (MOVIE, August 1983),
there is a small table which compares the number of songs sung by
Asha, Rafi and Lata, in the 50s, where Asha leads the rest. I
shall append that table to the end of this article. With a lit-
tle extrapolation and a basic knowledge of the big picture of
music in the 60s, one can see that Asha would certainly have sur-
passed Lata in numbers in the 60s (Nayyar was one of the most po-
pular and prolific composers and Lata did not sing for him; S. D.
Burman and Lata did not make music together due to some disputes,
not until the film "Guide" which was in the late 60s). By her
own admittance, Lata has been in semi-retirement through the late
70s and the 80s (she apparently spends 5 months in a year in Lon-
don) and the 70s saw the onset of the Disco era which belonged to
Asha. So I guess that would be a handwavy way of making Rajan
swallow that bitter pill :-) :-) (Note: Subsequently, figures for
the 60s and 70s, which were unavailable in 1983 when the Asha ar-
ticle was written, became available. Hence bear the date of the
article in mind while reading it).
Here is the article!! Any typos are mine.
Preetham
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A CONTROVERSY IN THE MAKING
by Punita Bhatt
(Source: Filmfare June 1-15, 1987)
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The following figures of Hindi film songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar
are derived from the only authoritative work in the field, Har
Mandir Singh's "ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HINDI FILM SONGS", so far avail-
able in three volumes, 1941-50, 1951-60 and 1961-70. This very
scholarly work limits itself to songs from Hindi films only;
therefore, these figures DO NOT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Lata's
songs from the various regional films, non-film songs, and songs
from films that remained incomplete or unreleased.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FORTIES THE FIFTIES THE SIXTIES
1951 : 218 1961 : 153
1952 : 171 1962 : 128
1953 : 189 1963 : 107
1954 : 166 1964 : 133
1945 : 1 1955 : 209 1965 : 90
1946 : 6 1956 : 200 1966 : 129
1947 : 5 1957 : 135 1967 : 106
1948 : 48 1958 : 127 1968 : 80
1949 : 151 1959 : 193 1969 : 95
1950 : 152 1960 : 158 1970 : 122
---- ---- ----
TOTAL : 363 1766 1143
---- ---- ----
TOTAL FROM 1945-1970: 3272 SONGS
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It all seems to have started with an article published in the
March 12, 1971 issue of FILMFARE, in which Raju Bharatan observed
quite casually that Lata's voice had enhanced "the tonal appeal
of some 16,000 songs in a variety of languages". There was no
indication of how he came upon this figure. The 16,000 jumped to
25,000 by the time the item reached the Guiness Book of World
Records, and the period was said to be 1948-1971.
By the end of the seventies, it was said to be 30,000 songs.
Since then the figure has hop-skipped-and-jumped every few years,
erratically, irresponsibly and always without documentation. The
last I heard was an article claiming 50,000 songs on Lata's
behalf. All this when she has been semi retirement for almost a
decade now.
Where are these figures coming from ? No one seems to know the
source or has any concrete information to support the claims. It
seems to me that once this whole thing started, it has taken on a
life of its own, snowballing into increasingly ridiculous claims.
To some extent it may even have become a convenient tool, an on-
going game of one-upmanship between journalists - all at the ex-
pense of Lata Mangeshkar.
Throughout her life, Lata has refused to get involved in contro-
versies, whatever the nature, no matter how bitter and biting
their tone. She has often preferred silence over clarification,
waiting for stories to die a natural death. And they have, soon-
er or later. And she has emerged always, with her reputation un-
scathed. On this issue she has stated categorically and with a
finality: "I don't know anything about it. I don't know how my
name appeared in the Guinness Book or where they got their infor-
mation from. Certainly, I didn't supply it. I don't keep a
record of the number of songs I've done."
The sad part of all this is that numbers is not what Lata is
about. Her greatness as an artiste, her contribution to the
world of popular music, her stature as an imposing figure in pub-
lic life - none of these derive an iota from any statistics, real
or imagined.
Lata does not need 25,000 or 35,000 songs to be what she is or to
retain her position in history, any more than Shakespeare needed
25,000 plays. For Lata Mangeshkar, a "mere" thousand or maybe
even just one hundred songs would suffice. It is in the "quali-
ty" of her contribution to the film song, the eternal charm and
magic of her voice, the dignity and class of her personality - it
is in these that she stakes a claim to our hearts and to our
minds. To think otherwise is to misunderstand the nature of the
love she commands and to denigrate a truly great lady.
I think this terribly fixation on numbers that has infected pub-
lic life in India is juvenile and hopefully will run its course.
Until then it is better to let those who need the figures compete
for them, to race for the numbers and be their only claim to
fame. Let us leave Lata out of the horse race.
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THE FIFTIES -- ASHA BHONSLE'S DECADE
(Source: Movie August 1983)
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------------------------------------------------------
Year Asha Lata Rafi
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1951 58 218 59
1952 69 171 61
1953 125 189 68
1954 220 166 82
1955 281 209 147
1956 280 200 125
1957 196 135 159
1958 281 127 163
1959 197 193 169
1960 185 158 203
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Decade Total 1892 1766 1236
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NOTE: These figures refer to Hindi film songs ONLY, and do not
include regional or non-film music.
From Hindi Film Geet Kosh (Encyclopaedia of Hindi film songs),
Volume III, 1951-60 (compiled by Har Mandir Singh "Hamraj", Edi-
tor). Figures provided by Mr. A. Rajamamar of Shahabad (Gulbar-
ga). Figures for the sixties and the seventies are not avail-
able.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian