My temper was my biggest flaw: Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar turns 90, but she’s not interested in celebrating. “What’s so special about it? It’s like any other day,” she says.

When told it’s the day India’s most gifted singer was born, she replies, “Aap aisa sochte hain yeh aapka badappan hai (if you  think that way it’s your greatness). I have never thought of myself as being special. For me, the constant effort in life has been to better myself as a person and an artiste.”

Javed Akhtar says your singing epitomizes perfection. Is there anything more to improve?
Oh yes. There are so many of my songs that are considered flawless but they are actually flawed. I can hear those flaws that you can’t. And believe me, I cringe every time I hear those flaws in my singing.

Can you point out some of your  ‘flawed’ songs?
Why should I? Keep believing that they are  flawless songs!

Where do feel you need to improve?
My biggest personality flaw was my fierce temper. Even as a child I had a major temper issue. I would get angry very quickly. This changed as I grew older. Now I don’t get angry at all. I sometimes  wonder what happened to my temper.

How do you manage to remain unaffected by your phenomenal success?
I have always been like that. I was taught by my parents to forgive and forget when  wronged by anyone. I’ve tried to follow that.

Many have taken advantage of your generous, forgiving nature.
God bless them all. I’ve never been vain  or arrogant about my abilities. Because I feel  if I can sing well it is a gift that I’ve got from God and my parents. I always treated my singing as a special privilege.

What advice would you give to upcoming, aspiring singers?
Riyaaz (practice). Every singer who  is serious about singing  must do riyaaz. To this day I try to do my riyaaz as frequently as possible. The filmy classical song is not pure classical. Given a chance I would have loved to sit with a tanpura on a stage to perform uninterrupted for two hours. But where was  the time? I was recording songs round the clock.

Any unfulfilled dreams?
I loved photography and painting. I wish I had time to pursue these interests.