Lata ji was always a phone call away for me : Dharmendra

Mumbai:Bollywood’s ‘He-Man’ Dharmendra reveals about his emotional connection with legendary singer, the late Lata Mangeshkar, on singing reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’.
He is appearing as a celebrity guest on the show.
The soulful rendition of ‘Agar Mujhse Mohabbat Hai’ and ‘Chalo Sajna, Jahan Tak Ghata Chale’ left Dharmendra mesmerised and made him reminisce about late Lata Mangeshkar’s singing.
He talked about how he and Lata Di have always shared an emotional connection and she was always a phone call away from him. He further recalled that the late singer would always make it a point to send him gifts.
She shared motivating messages with him and always asked him to “remain strong.” Once Dharmendra had written a rather gloomy post on Twitter. Soon Lata Mangeshkar called him up and spoke to him for 30 minutes only to cheer him up.
Reminiscing about the late Lata Di, Dharmendra mentioned: “I am fortunate enough that legendary singer like Lata ji was always a phone call away from me and whenever she found my tweet or Instagram posts sad, she used to call me up and sing for me to lighten up my mood. But it breaks my heart today that she is unfortunately not between us anymore.”
While complimenting contestant Neelanjana, he said: “Both of the songs you sang are my favourite, and after listening to your beautiful and soulful voice, I want to sing too. However, since I am not a very good singer, I request Shankar ji and you to sing ‘Main Kahin Kavi Na Ban Jaoon’ along with me.”
The singing reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, judged by Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal Dadlani and Shankar Mahadevan airs on Zee TV.