Intersetingly, it was Asha Bhosle who was to sing the song, but when Pradeep came to know about this, he put his foot down, and insisted on Lata singing the song.
Lata, who was not on good terms with the composer , C Ramchandra, agreed to give her voice only on one condition that it will be recorded as a solo, says a new book.
“C Ramchandra had actually tuned ‘Ae mere watan ke logon' as a duet...Lata and C Ramchandra were not on talking terms by then. Kavi Pradeep played master reconciler.
“This coincidentally was when Lata, out of the blue called around six one morning at Pradeep's Vile Parle home to express her keenness on singing ‘Ae mere watan ke logon', provided she could do it as a solo,” writes Raju Bharatan in his book “A Journey Down Melody Lane”.
Bharatan says Asha had even rehearsed with the composer but was dropped when Lata insisted to record it solo.
“Pradeep found C Ramchandra, too, to be jumping at this chance to have his very own Lata back to render such a hallmark number. Forgotten in a trice were C Ramchandra's long-spread rehearsals for the number with Asha Bhosle,” the book says.
