'Until We Meet Again, Yusuf Saab': Lata Mangeshkar Remembers Late Dilip Kumar

India’s most cherished singer Lata Mangeshkar and the country’s most accomplished actor Dilip Kumar doted on one another. Dilip saab referred to Lata ji as his "chhoti behen" -- with the same affection that he would have for his biological sisters. In fact, when Lata ji gave her first live concert abroad at the Albert hall in London, it was Dilip saab who introduced his ‘chhoti behen’ to the international audience comparing her voice to a baby’s cry and the sound of water streaming through a mountain.

“Yes, he spoke so beautifully about me when I performed live for the first time in London,” smiles Lata ji, as I speak to her about Dilip saab's demise.

“We go back a very long way. He has been most instrumental in shaping my career. I’ll tell you how.When I was just starting out I was introduced to Dilip saab as a new promising singer. That was the era when Noorjehan with her full throaty voice, ruled. Dilip saab asked where I was from .When told I was from Maharashtra he quipped, ‘Then the smell of  chawal-daal will be heard in her singing’.That remark stung me. I decided I’d perfect my diction. I hired a maulvi to work on my Urdu. That’s how my pronunciation became what it did.” ALSO READ: Dilip Kumar Passes Away: Amitabh Bachchan Says ‘An Institution Of Indian Cinema Has Gone, An Epic Era Has Drawn Curtains’

In 1957, Lataji got the rarest of rare opportunities to sing a duet with Dilip Kumar. “It was for Hrishida (filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukerjee)’s film Musafir. Salilda (Salim Chowdhary) composed the number Ja ja re sugana ja re… Laagi naahin chute rama chahe jiya jaye. Singing with him was not like singing a non-professional singer. Dilip saab is a perfectionist and he practised for months for that duet with me.”

Apparently, Dilip saab requested his 'chhoti behen' Lata to keep in mind that the fact that he was not a professional singer while recording. But he finally felt she out-sang him and was unhappy about it.

Says Lata ji, “He has been my elder brother and I his younger sister for decades now. I met him  last a few years ago when I went to visit him. I thought he wouldn’t recognise me. But he did and  here is what I  did  to jog his memory. I sat down next to him and said the opening words of our song, ‘Lagi nahin chute rama’. He looked back to me and smiled and said the rest of the first line, ‘Chahe jiya jaye.’  There is a special place in his living room where Saira ji makes him sit when meeting guests. But he insisted on sitting next to me. He also insisted that I feed him with my hands. I fed him some paneer. Then  it was time for me to  go. He wanted to see me off. But Saira ji insisted she would do it. I was not able to visit him after that, much as I wanted to. He has now gone to a place where I cannot meet  him. Until we meet again, Yusuf saab.”