‘Wanted to felicitate Lataji for her services to Urdu’

Mumbai: A lot has been said about the impeccable Urdu pronunciation of the iconic playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away on Sunday. But not many know that her Urdu teacher Altaf Husain Lutf lived at Nagpada, a neighbourhood in Central Mumbai which also housed the famous film actor Nadira.
Director of Urdu Markaz, Zubair Azmi, who holds the annual Bhendi Bazaar festival wanted to felicitate the ‘nightingale’ of Indian music, Lata Mangeshkar.He said that music maestro Khayyam had told him about Lataji's Urdu teacher. “We wanted to felicitate Lataji for her services to Urdu through her huge repertoire of film songs, ghazals and bhajans. She had stopped accepting awards after the Bharat Ratna, but agreed to accept the felicitation by us when Khayyam sahab spoke to her on our behalf and told her that it was a token of appreciation from Urduwallahs. Khayyam sahab also told me that Lataji learnt Urdu from the poet Altaf Husain Lutf who lived at Nagpada,” said Azmi.
The legendary singer also received ample help in understanding the tallafuz (pronunciation) and makhraj (diction) of Urdu words from poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and music maestro Naushad. Sultanpuri, who then lived in Juhu was close the Mangeshkar and would drop in at her Peddar Road home whenever he was in South Mumbai.
“Lata aunty had said in an interview that my father would spend hours at her house, speaking to her, reciting poetry and telling her stories during the three months that she was ill, decades ago,” said Andalib Sultanpuri, the son of Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Both Lata and her younger sister and playback singer Asha Bhosle loved the ‘Mughlai dishes’ that Sultanpuri's wife, whom they endearingly addressed as ‘Begum’ (lady) cooked.
Urdu lover and poetry connoisseur Asif Azmi, who held centenary celebrations for Sultanpuri a couple of years ago said that the poet liked Mangeshkar so much that he even penned a poem, praising her melodious voice and soulful singing.
Mangeshkar who had sung several songs by Sultanpuri which became hits, including the immensely popular Rahein na rahein hum. She had also said in a tribute to Sultanpuri that the poet addressed her as ‘Bibi’ (honourable lady) out of respect and would be present whenever she recorded his songs.