How Lata Mangeshkar became the favorite of Keralites
How Lata Mangeshkar became the favorite of Keralites
‘Kadhali Chenkadali’ is the only Malayalam song rendered by India’s nightingale
Lata Mangeshkar has, based on all available evidence, lent her voice to about 30,000 songs, penned by established poets and ordinary songwriters alike. Whether the actual song tally is a few thousand more or less than the 30,000 is immaterial, because her body of work will remain unmatched by the sheer tonal quality.
As a Malayalee, it is relatively easy for me to pull out my favourite nugget from those songs: ‘Kadhali Chenkadali’ from the 1974 Malayalam movie ‘Nellu’. Just that one lilting song the movie ‘Nellu’- a forgotten classic now - is enough for any Malayalee to claim the late Mangeshkar as one of his or her own.
‘Kadhali Chenkadali’ - penned by Vayalar Rama Varma - distils the beauty of the Kerala landscape into one everyday object 'Kadali', which is a type of plantain that is common in the south Indian state. What’s diffe…
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