Lata Mangeshkar, the singing voice behind many Bollywood actresses, died Sunday at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, India. She was 92 and the cause was complications of Covid-19, said Pratit Samdani, a doctor at the hospital, according to Indian news outlets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he was “anguished beyond words.”
Mangeshkar was a “playback” singer, who recorded the dubbed voices for tens of thousands of songs, mostly in Hindi, but also in several other Indian languages.
Although she never appeared on screen, Mangeshkar was well-known. She received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest honor, in 2001. The Ministry of Home Affairs also said that she would be given a state funeral and that flags at government buildings would be flown at half-staff for two days.
A four-octave singer, she recorded some of Bollywood’s biggest hits, including “Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya” (Why Fear to Be in Love) from the 1960 film “Mughal-e-Azam.”
She became the singing voice for generations of actresses in the Hindi-language films of Bollywood, but also did songs in Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Gujarati.
“She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled,” Mr. Modi said on Twitter. Ms. Mangeshkar was an early supporter of Mr. Modi.
Mangeshkar is survived by her sister, Asha Bhosle, 88, also a well-known playback singer.
