When Lata Mangeshkar took 3-and-a-half months to record for AR Rahman

Mumbai on Monday saw the launch of Raunaq an album that sees the coming together of Kapil Sibal, senior advocate of the Supreme Court and music maestro AR Rahman.

Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday has given voice to the lyrics of the lead track Laadli, penned by Sibal, with music rendered by Oscar winning composer Rahman.

You will be forgiven for thinking it must have been a cakewalk for Rahman to get Lata Mangeshkar to record Laadli, since both the music heavyweights have already worked with each other before. When asked to talk about his experience of working with Mangeshkar on Laadli, Rahman said, "When I heard the lyrics of Laadli for the first time, I instantly felt that Lata Mangeshkar would be the right voice for it. I was glad that she heard the song and agreed to do it but then said that I don't feel like recording it today."

Rahman smiled and added, "I had come to India for a day just to record that song. I had to fly back immediately because I was working on a movie abroad. We were able to record it only three-and-half months later. Finally, when I met her later I told her that if you do not do it, then I will not release the album. She was not able to do it on the day I had met her for it the first time because she wasn't feeling too well on that day."

The video of Laadli has been directed by film director Bejoy Nambiar and is part of the VogueEmpower initiative which is a larger campaign to speak out against discrimination, violence and injustice meted out to women in society.

Besides Mangeshkar, the album also features songs sung by other singers such as Chitra, Shreya Ghoshal, Mohit Chauhan, Shweta Pandit and Jonita Gandhi.