Those who know me, know that neither RD Burman nor Lata Mangeshkar are my top most favorite composer or singer though I am definitely awed by their music and love so many gems they have composed together.. Its just I am hugely devoted to Pancham’s father and Lata’s younger sibling and hence rest of the love feels relatively muted.. But it is more true than anything that when it comes to Pancham, he always reserved his best songs for the magical Lata Mangeshkar always, in spite of all the space that Asha occupied in his life, so much so that some times that has appeared a tad unfair to me!

Today this post is about recalling the brilliant gems that Lata and RD created together – there is so much melody and an ethereal feel to these songs that it can add colors to any day, it can suck you in to its beauty at any time. You can then only thank the stars that this happened. These are all of my favorite solos that Lata sang for Pancham (and yes of course she has sung exceptional duets as well on RD tunes), and the era of this work spans across more than 20 years from one of his first sensational hits in Bahaaron ke sapne (1967) to the obscure Libaas (1988) for which we are still awaiting a theatrical release…