Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar are two Bollywood legends who need no introduction. While the legendary actor late Dilip Kumar played many mesmerising roles in films, Lata Mangeshkar sung a plethora of beautiful songs in her mellifluous voice. The Hindi film industry is proud to have these two stars.
Do you know that Lata Mangeshkar was once irritated by Dilip Kumar's comment? This was so severe that both stars were not communicating to each other for 13 years. The reason behind it will astound you.
Lata used to take local trains to her recording sessions at Bombay studios in Malad, Mumbai. Anil Biswas, a music composer, used to accompany her at the time. Dilip was also struggling to establish himself in the Hindi film industry at the time. He just happened to be on the train with them.
Anil Biswas and Dilip Kumar were well acquainted. They began talking to each other. Anil told Dilip that when he hears Lata's voice, he will fall in love with the voice. When Dilip discovered that she was from Maharashtra, he reacted that people from that state do not have a strong command of Urdu. Dilip Kumar commented that their Urdu is similar to Dal Chawal. Dal Chawal was a metaphor for blandness. Lata was offended by this comment.
The determined singer worked hard to improve her Urdu pronunciation and put in a lot of time and effort to learn the language. Dilip, who had mocked Lata's blandness in Urdu, began recommending her for his films.
In reality, when Lata Mangeshkar first entered the film industry, Noor Jahan was the most popular female singer in the country, and she was nearly ruling Bollywood. Lata struggled to carve out her own niche in the industry. Noor Jahan, like many others, was the best singer for Dilip Kumar and set the standard for female singers. Dilip Kumar's remark about Lata's Urdu language skills may have been in reference to Noor Jahan, who was not well received by the legendary singer.
In another intriguing incident, Dilip recorded a duet with Lata for the film Musafir, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Salil Choudhary composed the song Laagi Naahein Chhute on Raag Piloo. Dilip, who had chosen the song and spent hours practising it on Sitar, was nervous when it came time to sing with Lata. Salil even gave him a peg of brandy to help him overcome his nervousness, but his voice sounded weak and unsatisfactory. This caused tension between Dilip and Lata, which was resolved when she tied rakhi to the star.
