Music director Usha Khanna to get Lata Mangeshkar award

Veteran music director Usha Khanna, who created magic by giving songs like "zindagi pyaar ka geet hai", "chhodo kal ki baatein”, and "aap to aise na the", has been chosen for the Maharashtra government’s coveted Lata Mangeshkar Award.

She has composed music for over 150 films in the male-dominated field.

The award, which carries a cash reward of Rs.500,000, a citation and a memento shall be awarded to the 78-year old Khanna at a later date, cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawde announced.

Instituted in 1993 by the state government, the previous recipients of the award have been on Krishna Kalle, Ram-Laxman, Uttam Singh, Pushpa Pagdhare and other personalities.

She is the third female music director to enter the Indian film industry, after Jaddan Bai and Saraswati Devi.

She remained active for more than 3 decades from 1960s to 1980s. She is still active making some music for some movies and television-serials, more than 40 years after her debut as music director in Dil Deke Dekho (1959).

After she started composing music for Hindi movies, Usha Khanna struggled to establish herself as a music director, despite producing many hit songs. She often collaborated with Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. She gave music to several hit scores of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh.

In 1979 K. J. Yesudas received Filmfare award for her song “dil ke tukde tukde” in the film Dada.

She gave the chance to the singers who were little known at that time – Anupama Deshpande, Pankaj Udhas, Hemlata, Mohammed Aziz, Roop Kumar Rathod, Shabbir Kumar, and Sonu Nigam.

Some of her memorable songs were for films like: “Shabnam” (1964), “Ek Sapera Ek Lutera” (1965), “Badal” (1966), “Honeymoon” (1973), “Hawas” (1974), “Do Khiladi” (1976), “Saajan Bina Suhagan” (1978), “Bin Phere Hum Tere” and “Dada” (1979), “Aap To Aise Na The” (1980), “Saajan Ki Saheli” (1981), “Gopichand Jasoos” (1982), “Souten” (1983), till her swansong film, “Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya” (2003).

Some of her creations include creations include: “dil deke dekho”, “hum tumse juda hoke, mar jayenge ro roke”, “jiske liye sabko chhoda”, “teri galiyon mein na rakhene kadam”, “chhodo kal ki baatein”, “shaayad meri shaadi ka khya”, “jhumta saavan dekho aaya”, “zindagi pyaar ka geet hai”, “tu is tarahse meri zindagi mein shaamil hai”.