Singer Adnan Sami recently opened up about his close relationship with late singer Lata Mangeshkar. He also spoke about how his father Arshad Sami Khan was a huge fan of the ‘Nightingale of India’, and would listen to her lullaby “Dheere Se Aaja Ri Ankhiyan Mein”.
During a conversation with Bollywood Bubble, Sami opened up about the personal bond he shared with Mangeshkar. “Apart from the fact that she was the Bharat Ratna, she was the nightingale of India, and she was the ultimate voice that has graced the microphones and speakers of India,” he said.
Talking about his father’s love for her, the singer shared, “There was another wonderful thing that she was my father’s favourite. He grew up listening to her and he could sing all her songs. Apart from a personal honour, collaborating with her was something that felt very wonderful for me to do, which made my father extraordinarily proud.”
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Once, when Adnan Sami wanted to lift his father’s spirits during his battle with cancer, he decided to call Lata Mangeshkar. “In fact, he was literally on his death bed, he was suffering from cancer of the pancreas. He was in Mumbai at that time. When you have a loved one suffering so helplessly in such a final stage, as a well-wisher standing next to him, you feel helpless, because you can’t do anything,” he said.
The singer added, “One day, to make him happy, I called didi and I told her. She had met my father many years ago. I told her about his condition and how I would love for her to just talk to him, it will cheer him up. I remember going up to him. He was in bed, and he was surprised that she was on the phone. Suddenly, his face lit up and then he went on and on about how he has been listening to her since childhood. There were tears coming out of his eyes and she was singing. Looking at him being so at peace, it was an emotional moment for me. That is where she stood with me.”
Another way that the singers stayed connected was through Adnan Sami’s daughter Medina. He used to share her photos with Lata Mangeshkar and she edited them for him. “One of her passions was photography and photo editing. When my daughter was born, I sent her the photographs. She edited the photos and sending them back to me. She would just zoom on the thing that she found cute, like her toe. Till the end of her life, I would constantly share the pictures and she would colour correct them and crop them. She was very special to me,” he shared.
Lata Mangeshkar passed away on February 6, 2022.
