Hyderabad: The biography of the renowned playback singer Hemlata, titled Dastan-e-Hemlata, penned by well-known journalist and biographer from Hyderabad, Dr. Arvind Yadav was launched on Saturday at Sahitya Aaj Tak platform, New Delhi. The biography contains very interesting anecdotes from the singer’s life, including some that even her close associated were unaware of.
Dr Arvind Yadav, who was born in Hyderabad and holds Master’s degrees in English and Hindi from Osmania University, also sheds light on the life of Hemlata’s father, Pandit Jaychand Bhatt, bringing to the literary and music lovers several fascinating insights, a press release said.
At the mere age of thirteen, Hemlata recorded her first film song. Over the course of her career, she has sung more than five thousand songs in 38 languages. In every language and dialect in which films were made in India, Hemlata has sung songs. Hemlata is extremely popular for her Hindi duets with the legendary singer Yesudas, holding the record for the most number of duets with him, Dr Arvind said.
In her childhood, Hemlata was called ‘Baby Lata’, and during her adolescence, she was referred to as the ‘Second Lata’. For film producers who found Lata Mangeshkar’s fee exorbitant, and for music directors who couldn’t get Lata’s dates, Hemlata became their go-to artist. She was their ‘Lata’, Dr Arvind said.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Hemlata set a record by singing the most ‘dubbed songs’ in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films that were dubbed into Hindi. Her melodious voice became a household name through the iconic TV series Ramayan. Hemlata holds a unique record as the first singer to record songs while being nine months pregnant. She recorded the famous song “Kaun Disha Mein Le Ke Chala Re Batuhiya” from the popular film Nadiya Ke Paar when she was pregnant and had already passed her delivery date.
Author Dr. Arvind Yadav, who is primarily a journalist, has already written biographies of prominent personalities like the renowned scientist Bharat Ratna Professor CNR Rao, India’s first female cardiologist Padma Vibhushan Dr. Padmavati, the well-known social worker Padma Shri Phoolbasan Yadav, the famous entrepreneur Sardar Jodh Singh, renowned entrepreneur, social worker, and doctor Nimmagadda Upendranath, and famous surgeon Dr. Pigilam Shyam Prasad. Several of his books have been published.
