What! How Lata Mangeshkar’s toughest rival Suman Kalyanpur never got her due and became a victim of cinema politics

MUMBAI: Lata Mangeshkar is one of the greatest singers of Indian cinema history. She is regarded as the nightingale of India and the Queen of Melody. However not many would know that during Lata Mangeshkar’s prime years, there was another singer who was the toughest competition and that is a singer named Suman Kalyanpur. 

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Suman received the Padma Bhushan in March 2023 for her contribution in singing by the Government of India. She has sung songs in 10 different languages including Bhojpuri, Marathi, Rajasthani, Bengali, Odia, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Maithili, and Punjabi. 

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Born in Dhaka in January 1927, Sumans father worked at a bank in top position while her mother was a homemaker. After coming to Mumbai, Suman told her parents about her interest in music and singing. They were supportive and admitted her to a music class. While getting trained in music, she also had a keen interest in painting and joinined the JJ School of Art, where she started learning classical singing from Pandit Keshav Rao Bhole. Soon enough she began training under icons like Ustad Khan, Abdul Rehman Khan and Guruji Master Navrang. 

In 1952, she got the golden opportunity to sing on All India Radio and got her first offer in the Marathi film Shukrachi Chandni. She then got the offer in a Hindi film titled Darwaza. Some of the popular songs sung by Suman include Sathi Mere Sathi, Tum Agar Aa Sako To, Yun Hi Dil Ne Chaha Tha, Zindagi imtehan leti hai, Sharabi Sharabi Yeh Sawan Ka Mausam, Behena Ne Bhai Ki Kalai Main, Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche, Na Na Karte Pyar, and so on. 

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Suman And Lata’s voices were almost identical and many were confused as to who was singing at times. For the longest time many thought the popular song Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche, was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. When Mohammed Rafi and Lata had a clash over loyalty fees, the industry was divided into two and Suman became many producers' first choice. Rafi and Suman thus sang 140 duets together.

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Soon the politics in cinema ended Suman’s singing career. As Lata Mangeskar’s staure grew, producers didn’t want to upset the latter and thus stopped giving work to Suman. Despite the dirty politics, Suman continued to get work, sadly she never got the recognition she deserved. 

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