India farewells Lata Mangeshkar Beloved singer in state funeral

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Thousands gathered to pay their respects

Lata Mangeshkar, one of India's most beloved singers, has been cremated in Mumbai with full state honours.

Mangeshkar, whose voice was the soundtrack to hundreds of Bollywood films, died aged 92 on Sunday.

PM Narendra Modi and stars of the entertainment industry attended the funeral, where large crowds gathered to pay their respects.

Her extraordinary career spanned more than half a century and she recorded thousands of songs in 36 languages.

Two days of national mourning will follow the funeral and the national flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country.

Crowds gathered outside her home, where her coffin began its journey to a city park where it was publicly cremated. Mr Modi was among those who laid flowers on the pyre.

One mourner, Rajesh Kumar Ram, told the AFP news agency "her voice touches the soul of every Indian. Her songs have been with us all through our lives."

Mangeshkar was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai in January after testing positive for Covid-19.

As the news of her death became public, tributes began pouring in to the woman who was often called the "nightingale of Bollywood" for her role as a playback singer, recording the songs that actors would lip-sync on screen.

Mangeshkar sang thousands of songs which were lip-synced by Bollywood's biggest heroines.

President Ram Nath Kovind said the news was "heart-breaking for me, as it is for millions the world over" and added that in her songs "generations found expression of their innermost emotions".

Mr Modi, meanwhile, said Mangeshkar's death had left a "void in our nation that cannot be filled".

Mangeshkar was a huge fan of cricket, and India's former captain Virat Kohli said her songs had "touched millions of people around the world".

Several Bollywood stars also expressed their condolences. Actor Hema Malini said she was "lucky" to have performed to several songs sung by Mangeshkar.

"No one can sing like her, she was very special. Her passing away is very saddening," she told the news agency ANI.

Mangeshkar was equally popular in neighbouring Pakistan, where TV channels broadcast rolling coverage of her death.

"The subcontinent has lost one of the truly great singers the world has known," Prime Minister Imran Khan said.

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