Tribute to Lalita Deulkar, the well-known playback singer and supporting actress of 1940s in Hindi and Marathi films, on her 14th death anniversary.

Tribute to Lalita Deulkar, the well-known playback singer and supporting actress of 1940s in Hindi and Marathi films, on her 14th death anniversary today.

Lalita Deulkar was fairly busy as a film singer in 1940s. She was born in 1925 on Lalita Panchami day. She liked music from childhood. Her uncle Pandharinath aka N. Deulkar was a classical singer and she learnt classical singing from Baburao Gokhale.

Her first step into films was as a supporting actress. She acted in Bombay Talkies films including ‘Nirmala’ and ‘Durga’. Thereafter, she turned to playback singing and provided playback for over 60 films. Her duet with Mohammad Rafi “Mohe raja ho le chal nadiya ke paar” from the film “Nadiya Ke Paar” (1948) became very popular in 1948.

She also provided playback in Marathi films including Prabhat’s “Sant Janabai”, “Vitthal Rukmini”, “Mee Daru Sodali”, and “Suhasini”. Her songs had also been recorded by Young India Gramophone Company. Among them, “raanii jaa_uu sakhyaa re, shobhaa paahuusakhyaa re” became quite popular.

In 1949, she married music director Sudhir Phadke and gradually moved away from films. At their wedding, which took place at the Sahitya Parishad hall in Pune, the well-known singer Mohammed Rafi sang the traditional ‘ma.ngalaaShTak’ in the traditional tune but with Hindi words. He had prepared extensively for this in advance.
Her notable films as playback singer include Sajan (1947), Nadiya Ke Paar (1948) and Shabnam (1949).

Lalita Deulkar passed away on May 25, 2010.