Mangeshkar sisters tune in

Mangeshkar sisters tune in
Twenty seven years after singing “Aaya Mausam Dosti Ka” for Sooraj Barjatya’s Maine Pyar Kiya, sisters Lata and Usha Mangeshkar are reuniting for a song, titled “Ek Baar Bidaai De Do Maan” in Main Khudiram Bose Hun, a biopic on the Bengali freedom fighter.

“Khudiram Bose sang this song when he was being hanged. I have spent a month-and-a-half composing the number. When I approached Lataji and Ushaji, they immediately agreed to lend their voice,” informs an elated Tutul, one half of the Bapi-Tutul composer duo who has earlier made music for films like Sarkar, Sarkar Raj, Khosla Ka Ghosla, among others.

Writer Dhiraj Mishra chanced upon the fact that Lata Mangeshkar had sung the same song in Bengali while researching Bose. “The Bengali song had a folk-sy feel to it which we have tried to retain in the Hindi version while also keeping it contemporary,” asserts Tutul who recently recorded portions of the song with Usha and will be soon meeting Lata to do her portions. “She has been unwell recently so we couldn’t record with her.”

Directed by Bhanu Prakash Jha, the biopic features Rituparna Sengupta, Kanishk Kumar Jain and Imran Hasnee. “I was born and brought up in Muzaffarpur, where Bose was hanged. I’ve read about him ever since I was a kid. I have worked with Ashaji (Bhosle) before but never with Lataji and Ushaji,” concludes Tutul.