Country mourns the passing of the Nightingale of India

Lata Mangeshkar, the Nightingale of India, died this morning, marking the end of an era in playback singing in Indian cinema.

Beginning her career in the early 1940s when still a teenager, Mangeshkar went on to become the queen of playback singing in cinema, with innumerable hits to her credit. Her first superhit song came in Kamal Amrohi’s thriller Mahal (1949), a film which was a turning point for both its heroine Madhubala and for Mangeshkar.

After decades of ruling the charts and the imagination of the country, Mangeshkar died today of COVID-related complications. Film stars and politicians came together to pay their respects to the legend.

Younger sister Asha Bhosle arrived at Shivaji Park with Lata Mangeshkar's mortal remains. Their nephew Aadinath, son of their music composer brother Hridaynath, was to perform the last rites.

Celebrities from Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Javed Akhtar to Shraddha Kapoor, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan and Anuradha Paudwal turned up to pay their respects. Politician Raj Thackeray and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar were also seen at the funeral.

Prime minister Narendra Modi flew to Mumbai to attend the funeral. The government of India's official Twitter handle shared an image of Modi paying his respects to the legend's body which was draped with the Tricolour as a Bharat Ratna who was accorded a state funeral.

Several others expressed their condolences on social media at the passing of the singer. As a mark of respect, the government of Maharashtra declared a public holiday on Monday, 7 February. The news was shared by the chief minister's office on Twitter.