When Lata Mangeshkar was given a slow poison

Not many of us are aware that someone had once tried to kill Bharat Ratna awarded singer, Lata Mangeshkar.  

Lata Mangeshkar, one of India's best-known playback singers, who have over a thousand Hindi film songs to her credit was, once fell ill because someone had tried to kill the Bharat Ratna awarded singer. 

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Veteran writer Padma Sachdev, who was very close to the singer Lata Mangeshkar, had written a book where she disclosed that the singer was given a slow poison for the first time.

In the book ‘Aisa Kahan Se Laaoon’ Padma Sachdev has revealed for the first time that Lata was given a slow poison in 1963. Miraculously, the vocalist survived. 

In her book, the writer, who used to be a regular at Lata's recordings, writes: "Lataji revealed this to me. She was 33 years old in 1963. The singer had severe pain in her abdomen one early morning, and she vomited clear greenish liquid twice or thrice. Due to the pain, Lata could not move her legs, and her entire body was in pain. For three days, she had a close brush with death. After ten days, her health began to improve. The doctor told her that someone gave her slow poison.” 

During that time, it was said that Lata Mangeshkar’s cook vanished without a trace or even collecting his salary. The book also claimed the same. “After the happening, Bollywood famous lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri visited Lataji at her home daily at 6 pm. Majrooh first used to taste the food and then allow Lata to eat. He used to repeat poems and stories to keep Lata in good humour.” Padma wrote in the book. 

In another interview with London-based film writer Nasreen Munni Kabir, Lata also told this deadly incident, which further confirmed with Lata's younger sister Usha Mangeshkar.