Lata Mangeshkar's final rites will begin in the next 30 minutes or so. It is a terribly sad moment. The world has lost the Queen of Melody.
During one of our conversations with certain personalities from the industry this afternoon, we learned that
Lata ji
had spoken to Rajesh Khanna when he was fighting cancer in its last stage.
Confirming this, Rajesh Khanna's close friend Bhupesh Raseen said, "
Lataji
was a very caring lady. We have lost a national treasure. Yes, she spoke to
Kakaji
(as Rajesh Khanna was fondly called) a few days before he passed away. It was about 20 days prior to his death if I remember correctly."
But Rajesh Khanna could not speak to Lata ji for too long. "He had gone very weak around that time. They spoke for about 1 or 2 minutes."
Raseen added that Khanna had extremely high regard for Lata ji. "He had a long list of her songs that featured the heroines in the films he'd worked on. I recall the 'Jai Jai Shiv Shankar' song from 'Aap Ki Kasam' as one of his favourites. He also loved 'Acha Toh Hum Chalte Hain' from 'Aan Milo Sajna' and 'Karvate Badalte Rahen' from 'Aap Ki Kasam'."
RIP Lataji. There will be nobody like you.