Lata Mangeshkar joins Javed Akhtar's fight for the copyright bill

Mumbai: Bollywood's Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar says she is totally with Javed Akhtar in his fight to secure royalty rights for singers and lyricists. Lata said, "I'm 110 percent with Javed Saab. My only fear is, how will he cope with all the backlash coming his way from producers and music companies who are very angry and upset?"

"I fought for royalty for singers in the 1960s. I had even stopped recording songs at that time while other singers who didn't support my cause continued to record. My mission collapsed. My colleagues didn't get the point. If a songwriter like Javed Saab had spoken up alongside me in the 1960s, a change in copyright rules would have occurred long back. Javed Saab is fighting a much wider battle. Singers and other musicians often die in penury," Lata said.

She feels she is being deprived of her rightful royalties. "The music company Saregama HMV has nearly all my songs. They are putting my songs in various compilations of Naushad, Salil Chowdhary, Bappi Lahiri,etc. What do I get from this? I don't get any royalty. Now there is internet and the MP3 format. On top of that, the serials on television play my songs. It's the music company that gives them permission to play my songs. Is that correct? There's a popular serial 'Bade Achche Lagte Hain'. Even the title of the serial is from a popular song by Amit Kumar."

Thanks to her successful long journey and her body of work, Lata Mangeshkar has become an institution in herself and a guiding force not just for budding singers, but also for established artists.
She started her career in 1943 at the age of 13 with the song "Mata ek sapoot ki duniya badal de tu" for Marathi film "Gajaabhaau".
Lata, who is called the Nightingale of India, went on to record songs for more than 1,000 films in 36 languages.
From classical to romantic numbers to ghazals to bhajans, she made her mark in a variety of genres.
Even at this age her zeal to sing is the same which was evident when she sang "Tere hasne se" for "Satrangee Parachute" that released this year.
Lata is the voice behind evergreen lilting melodies like "Aaja re pardesi", "Kahi deep jale kahi dil", "Beeti na bitaai raina", "Tere bina zindagi se", "Tere bina jiya jaaye na", "Naino mein badra", "Chalte chalte" and "Yaara sili sili".
She made it to the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world.
Not just for singers, for actors and filmmakers too, the Bharat Ratna recipient is the voice that gave Hindi songs the quality that will be remembered for years.
Filmmaker Yash Chopra feels proud that an artist like Lata was born on Indian soil.
Lata Mangeshkar, the music legend continues to mesmerise millions with her golden voice in a career spanning over seven decades.
The Nightingale of India has around 30,000 songs to her credit.
Lata's first Hindi song was 'Paa lagoon kar jori' for Vasant Joglekar's movie 'Aap Ki Seva Mein' in 1946.
Two years later, composer Ghulam Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song 'Dil mera toda' in 'Majboor' and after that there was no looking back for Lata didi, as she is fondly called.
She has recorded songs for over a thousand Bollywood movies and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages.
Lata will add one more feather to her cap, when she receives the 'Hridaynath Award' from Mega star Amitabh Bachchan for her contribution in music.
She is the recipient of the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country.
She has lent her voice to generations of Bollywood actresses from Madhubala to Kajol.
She is the most sought-after singer by top filmmakers from Yash Chopra to Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
From light classical music to film songs, from ghazals to bhajans and pop, Lata has sung a variety of numbers like 'Tumhen yaad karte karte', 'Ajeeb daastan hai yeh', 'Bahon mein chale aao', 'Bangle ke peeche' and 'Choti si umar main' as well as devotional songs like 'Paoji maine Ram ratan dhan pao' and 'O palan hare'.
'Aayega aanewala', 'Pyar kiya to darna kya', 'Satyam shivam sundaram', 'Kabhi kabhie mere dil mein', 'Neela asman so gaya', 'Meri bindiya teri nindiya', 'Dholna' and 'Tere Liye' are just a few of the hit numbers from her huge body of work.
Her singing calibre and exceptional voice quality took her to the 'Guinness Book of World Records' for recording the maximum number of songs during 1974-1991.
Lata has bagged several awards in her singing career. These include Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), NTR National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna (2001) and three National Film Awards.

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$Copyright Bill: Lata joins Javed Akhtar\'s fight$

Lata Mangeshkar says she is with Javed Akhtar in his fight to secure royalty rights for singers and lyricists.

"Javed Saab is fighting a brave battle. But the time to fight battles for film music is gone. Where are the singers and song writers with durable content? Today I see my songs being sung on television by other singers. Even my face is used. But I am not singing. Is there any way of stopping such practices? However what Javed Saab is doing fully justified. But even if the amendment becomes a law, how can the music companies be controlled," Lata asked.

Said Javed: "What Lataji fought to achieve in the 1960s has now come to fruition. She feels she should have spoken up in parliament about the issue. But I say, she is the queen and it up to us, her followers, to ensure her dream is fulfilled. The singer has now been given a moral right over the song. This has not happened anywhere else in the world. What more could I want? We've fulfilled what Lataji had set out to do for musicians 50 years ago. When she was gracious enough to come to release the Marathi translation of my poems on Saturday I told Lataji that we're near achieving what she had set out to achieve."

"In recent times, the desecration of songs has attained epidemic proportions. They take the songs of Lataji and add rap and jhankar sections to them. When I hear a new version of 'Mera lal dupatta mal-mal ka', I feel like crying. If there are people who feel this kind of remix invites youngsters to listen to the classics, then by the same logic strobe lights should be added to the Taj Mahal during weekends so that youngsters can go and dance in the moonlight. This is absurd logic. Now they won't be able to make these additions without the singer's permission," Javed added.