Usha Mangeshkar gets Lata Mangeshkar award on sister's birthday

The Maharashtra government on Monday announced that veteran singer Usha Mangeshkar has been honoured with the 'Gansamradni Lata Mangeshkar' award for 2020-21.

The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and a citation, has been constituted for the felicitation of senior vocal artistes and their contribution.

Usha Mangeshkar is the youngest sister of Lata Mangeshkar, who turned 91 on Monday.

According to an official release, the 84-year-old singer's selection was unanimously done by a committee headed by state Culture Minister Amit Deshmukh.

Usha Mangeshkar made her debut in 1954's V Shantaram romantic-drama "Subah Ka Tara" with the song "Badi Dhoom Dham Se Meri Bhabhi Aayi".

The singer went on to croon several chartbusters over the years, including the evergreen "Aplam Chaplam" from Dilip Kumar-Meena Kumari starrer "Azaad", the title track of Basu Chatterjee's "Khatta Meetha" and one of the biggest hits of her career, "Mungda" from "Inkaar".

She also earned acclaim for singing devotional songs for the 1975 hit film "Jai Santoshi Maa".

Past recipients of the awards, being conferred by the state government since 1992, include Lata Mangeshkar's sister veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle, singer Suman Kalyanpur, music composers Ram-Laxman, Uttam Singh and Usha Khanna, the release said.