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Watch: When Lata Mangeshkar sang 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon' for the first time after India-China war

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 06, 2022, 12:24 PM IST
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File: Undated image of Lata Mangeshkar with Jawahar Lal Nehru. Photograph:(Twitter)

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'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon' is written in Hindi by Kavi Pradeep and composed by C Ramchandra 

'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon...' 

This song is one of the most heartbreaking tributes ever composed to commemorate Indian soldiers, who lost their lives fighting enemies. It was composed to remember Indian soldiers who died during the India-China war in 1962. 

The emotional song is sung by none other than the iconic singer Lata Mangeshkar, who left for heavenly abode on Sunday (February 6) at the age of 92. 

The song 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon' is written in Hindi by Kavi Pradeep and composed by C Ramchandra. 

It was first performed live two months after the war by Mangeshkar on Republic Day (26 January) 1963 at the National Stadium in the nation's capital, New Delhi. 

The legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar sang the song in the presence of former Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. 

Years later in 2013, in one of the media interviews, Lata Mangeshkar said that she had initially refused the opportunity to sing the song, as she had said she wasn't prepared during that time. 

"It was Pradeepji, (Kavi Pradeep) the poet, who wrote the immortal lyrics, who came to me and asked me to sing the song. I declined because there was no time to rehearse. You see, at that time I was working round-the-clock. To give special attention to one song seemed impossible," she had said. 

Lata Mangeshkar(1929-2022): 10 Melodious Bollywood Songs from her 80 year long career 

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RIP Lata Mangeshkar

The government announced two days of national mourning. The national flag will fly at half-mast and the Bollywood icon will be given a funeral with state honours. 

She passed away on Feb 6 at 8:12am (local time) due to a multi-organ failure, said Dr Pratit Samdani, who was treating the iconic singer in Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital.

Known as the 'Queen of Melody' and the 'Nightingale of India', Mangeshkar was one of the most loved singers in the history of the Indian music industry.

She was admitted to the hospital on January 8 after she had been diagnosed with Covid and pneumonia. She had recovered from the deadly virus but Mangeshkar was put on ventilator support after her condition worsened on Saturday.