The Mangeshkar sisters and Marathi music

Lata and Asha made a huge contribution to non-film music in their mother tongue

For the Mangeshkar sisters, Lata and Asha Bhosle, life was not always easy. Although they were the inheritors of their father Master Deenanath Mangeshkar’s rich musical legacy, his untimely death in 1942 made the family financially insecure. The family responsibility fell on a young Lata, who at the age of 13 sang her first Marathi song in the film Pahili Mangalagaur. Asha debuted in the Marathi film, Mazha Bal, aged 10.

Although they began their musical journey in movies, what fascinates me as a music composer is their contribution to non-film music, especially in Marathi. It is of great cultural significance that the sisters kept exploring their roots despite soaring high in the film industry. While they sang in almost all Indian languages, their contribution to Marathi has been seminal.