In a shocking disclosure, Priyamvada Patel Hazarika, the widow of music legend Bhupen Hazarika, told a local news channel on Friday that her marriage with Bhupen Hazarika was on the rocks because of his relationship with the nightingale of India –Lata Mangeshkar! This disclosure is surely going to stir up a hornet’s nest as it involves one of the biggest names in the Indian music industry.
In an interview to a local news channel, Priyamvada Patel, who has come to Assam after many years, said that she drifted apart from her husband because of his closeness with Lata Mangeshkar. “It was Lata Mangeshkar who made the first move. I have even overheard their romantic conversation. In fact, I recollect an incident where in our house in Calcutta there were three rooms. Bhupen Hazarika and Lata Mangeshkar were in one room, I was in another room and Kalyanji (of the music composer duo of Kalyanji and Anandji) was in the third room. I was waiting outside the room where Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupen Hazarika were. Kalyanji came up to me and said in Gujarati, ‘Sister, go to your room and sleep. He won’t come out now’. I was never the types to protest or bang on the door. I kept quiet because I was too proud,” said Priyamvada.
She said that during one of her arguments with her husband over his affair with Lata, Bhupen Hazarika had said that for any musician in India to establish himself, his song had to be sung by Lata Mangeshkar. “At that time I asked him whether for that he had to sleep with her and he replied, ‘Maybe’,” said Priyamvada. She added that during those times many people had seen Bhupen Hazarika and Lata Mangeshkar moving around together.
Priyamvada said that it was musician Hemanta Mukherjee who had introduced Bhupen Hazarika to Lata. “Even I was present during their first meeting,” she added.
Getting candid about her love for Bhupen Hazarika, she said, “I loved him very much and hence I married him. I am a vegetarian and he was a non-vegetarian. But I loved him so much that I cooked non-vegetarian meals for him.”
Priyamvada, however, said that this disclosure should not affect the image of Bhupen Hazarika in any way as he was “a son of the soil and was deep-rooted”.
Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar had an affair with Bhupen Hazarika. His estranged wife Priyamvada Patel Hazarika told a local TV channel ahead of the Assamese balladeer’s first death anniversary on November 5.
“Lata started a big affair with him,” the octogenarian
Hinting that Lata was one of the reasons why she left the balladeer, Priyamvada said Bhupen and Lata shared one of the three bedrooms in their Tollygunje apartment whenever she came to Kolkata.
On one occasion, music director duo Kalyanji-Anandji told her in Gujarati that it was futile to stay up late expecting Bhupen to return to her bedroom.
“Lata was crazy after him, and he told me Priyam in India if a musician wants to come up, his songs have to be sung by Lata Mangeshkar. I asked why should you be in the room with her the whole night, he said ketiyaba koribo laage (sometimes you have to do it),” the Ottawa-based Priyamvada said.
Many in Assam are aware of Lata and Bhupen’s affection for each other.
But this is the first time that anyone has made the ‘affair’ public.
In his autobiography Moi Eti Jajabor (I am a Nomad), Bhupen wrote about a big Mumbai-based singer in his life. He wrote how his wife returned downcast after seeing off Lata at Kolkata airport.
He wrote: “I asked Priyam what happened, and she said maanuhjone kotha eta koley bhaal nalagil (I didn’t like what she said). What did she say, I asked again. Priyam replied: ‘She told me her love for you is no less than mine as your wife’.”
Priyamvada told DY365 in an interview aired on Saturday prime time.