Lata Mangeshkar conferred with Officer de la Légion d''Honneur

Lata Mangeshkar Mumbai, Dec. 3 : Legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar was conferred with the Officer de la Légion d''Honneur (Officer of the Legion of honour) medal, the highest French decoration, at a glittering function here on Wednesday.

The medal, created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is awarded for exemplary service in military or civilian life. The award can be conferred on a French national or a foreigner for outstanding contributions in their field of work.

Mangeshkar was conferred with the award for her incredible contribution to Indian music.

Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra, who is also a close associate of Mangeshkar, told reporters that the honour of any award is raised when it is received by her.

"Since ages, an awardee has been honoured after receiving the awards. But with Didi (Lata Mangeshkar) I want to say, when she gets the award, the honour of awards is raised. Till now, many people in India have received this award. But now this has been conferred to Didi, so its honour has risen even more. Now it has become ultimate," said Chopra.

Mangeshkar, 81, has not been singing in Bollywood films for a while, but she said she hasn''t stopped singing.

"I am still singing, and many of my records are out, as well. But I don''t sing much in Bollywood films because there are mostly duets these days. Earlier, there used to be actress-centric films but now there are actor-centric films, so there are more male-centric songs. And now there are just one or two duets, so that''s why I don''t sing in films," she explained.

Bollywood personalities like directors Yash Chopra and Madhur Bhandarkar, composer Anu Malik, and others attended the function.

For over six decades, Lata Mangeshkar has captivated the imagination of music lovers in India as well as around the world, rendering thousands of melodies for Hindi and other Indian language films.

She has sung in almost 20 Indian languages besides Hindi.

Mangeshkar is the recipient of several awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India''s highest civilian honour. Her name has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of recordings. (ANI)