When Lata Mangeshkar Got Angry with Raj Kapoor During Satyam Shivam Sundaram: 'I Argued With Him...'

Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar had once opened up about her fallout with Raj Kapoor. The singer has collaborated with the ace director on several projects. One of them was Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The film was released in 1978 and starred Zeenat Aman and Shashi Kapoor in the lead. Lata sang all the songs from the film, including the hit title track Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. Lata revealed that Hridaynath Mangeshkar was the first choice but Raj changed his mind and it spiraled down to a fallout.

As reported by Rediff, in Nasreen Munni Kabir’s fascinating book, Lata Mangeshkar… In Her Own Voice, Lata shared how things went down between her and Raj Kapoor. “We did have a falling out in the late ’70s when Satyam Shivam Sundaram was being made. Raj Kapoor came to Hridaynath I(Mangeshkar, her brother) and offered him the film. I had to leave for the US and Mukesh Bhaiya was with me. When we were in the US, Mukesh Bhaiya said: ‘Hridaynath won’t be composing the music for Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Laxmikant-Pyarelal are going to do the film,'” she said.

“I didn’t pay much attention to his comment. I returned to Bombay when the tour was over and discovered Raj Kapoor had indeed changed his mind and gone to Laxmikant-Pyarelal — despite first offering the film to Hridaynath. It was possible Laxmikant managed to persuade Raj Kapoor to use them since their music in Bobby had been so successful. Hridaynath was very irritated because he knew he hadn’t asked Raj Sahib for the film — it was the other way round. On top of that, articles started appearing in the press about the whole incident,” she said.

Lata confessed she was ‘angry’ and confronted the filmmaker. “I got very angry and argued with Raj Kapoor and asked him: ‘Why did you come to Hridaynath at all? I won’t sing for the film.’ Pandit Narendra Sharma was writing the lyrics for Satyam Shivam Sundaram and said there was absolutely no question of Lata not singing the songs. Laxmikant then said they would not compose the film’s music if I didn’t sing. And so Hridaynath ended up persuading me not to drop the film for his sake. He insisted I sing,” the singer said.

The singer said that she walked into the recording, did her job, and left. “When I went for the recording of the title song of Satyam Shivam Sundaram, I was still feeling quite angry. I sat down, wrote down the lyrics Sharmaji gave me and then Laxmikant-Pyarelal arrived and taught me the song. I took off my chappals, as I usually do, and stood at the mic. I sang the song once and the take was okayed. I put my chappals back on and left,” Lata shared.

All the songs were a hit. Following the incident, Lata and Raj kept their relationship formal.