Happy Birthday, Lata Mangeshkar

The legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar turns 84 today, but it seems that the freshness of her voice would keep her going till eternity. She mesmerized billions of her fans in India and around the world with her golden voice in a career span of around seven decades. She shares her birthday with Bollywood heart-throb Ranbir Kapoor.The Bharat Ratna winning singer who has lent her voice to generations of Bollywood actresses from Madhubala to Kajol, is celebrating her birthday in her ancestral home in Kolhapur, said sources close to her. The evergreen singer held the Guinness World Records for having recorded the most songs in the world from 1974 to 1991 and continued to be the favourite singer of top filmmakers like Yash Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Last year on her birthday sister Asha Bhonsle tweeted, "My favourite Female Singer and also my elder sister Lata didi celebrates her Birthday today. Too bad I'm in Hong Kong & can't attend her birthday. Will miss her as I am in Hong Kong, but my well wishes are always with Lata didi (sic)," wrote Bhonsle who also posted a old picture of them together. Lata too is an active member of the micro blogging site and regularly post her wishes and messages to her fans and thanking all her fans for their love."I feel fortunate that my birthday falls close to two of my favourite people- freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and filmmaker Yash Chopra. I send my best wishes to Yash ji and pray that he lives for another hundred years," Lata had tweeted last year. The same year on October 21st, Yash Chopra left for his heavenly abode.Starting her career in 1942 with songs in Marathi, Lata's first Hindi song was 'Paa lagoon kar jori' for Vasant Joglekar's movie 'Aap Ki Seva Mein' in 1946. Two years later, composer Ghulam Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song 'Dil mera toda' in 'Majboor' and rest has been history. Lata went on to record songs for over 1,000 Bollywood movies and has sung in more than 36 regional Indian languages. The singer has lent her voice to some of the most popular and evergreen songs in film history including 'Pyar kiya to darna kya' from 'Mughal-e-Azam', 'Aaja re pardesi' from 'Madhumati' and 'Bahon mein chale aao' from 'Anamika' among hundred others. Lata continues to lend her voice to select projects and is excited about her soon to be released duet with 'Shehanshah-e-Ghazal' Mehdi Hassan. "Mehdi Saab always wanted to sing with me. In fact he sent me 2-3 recorded songs years back but he had to quit singing due to his prolonged illness. 'Tera milna' is one of them. I recorded my version here in Mumbai and Mehdi Saab's version was recorded in Pakistan a year back. We have made a duet compiling the two versions," said Lata.