Lata Mangeshkar, who died on Sunday in Mumbai, had a large fan base in Bangladesh. The legendary singer along with other Bollywood artists had played an active role in the country's Liberation War by mobilising funds.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her sympathies on the death of India's Nightingale on Sunday. In 1972, Lata visited Dhaka on 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's invitation.
Lata was a part of an Indian cultural delegation that called on Rahman and his family in Dhaka in 1972. Actress Waheeda Rehman, a young Sanjay Dutt and his father and actor Sunil Dutt were also a part of the delegation.
The official radio channel AIR aired a historic photo of Lata Mangeshkar and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman meeting in Dhaka in 1972.
On 14 September 2019, she wrote, "Namaskar. As soon as the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war ended, we went to Bangladesh and we did several events with Sunil Dutt's group. At the time, we used to commute all around by Army plane," Lata Mangeshkar had once tweeted in 2019, recalling her Bangladesh visit in 1972.
Namaskar. 1971 Bangladesh mukti yudh samapt hote hi hum Bangladesh gaye the aur Sunil Dutt ji ke group ke saath humne kaafi karyakram kiye,us waqt hum Army ke plane se hi sab jagah jaate the. pic.twitter.com/IAgiVWOAhb
— Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) September 14, 2019
Lata Mangeshkar also sang a song for a Bangladeshi movie which is regarded as her only song for any Bangladeshi movie.
The song "O Dadabhai", composed by Salil Chowdhury for the film "Raktakto Bangla", was released in December 1972.
The movie was directed by Mumtaz Ali, and starred Biswajit Chatterjee, Kabori, and Golam Mustafa.
