Entertainment Desk

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar on Wednesday and the star said he is fortunate to receive the award in the memory of the singer whose voice connected listeners to a higher power.

The family and the trust instituted the award in the memory of the melody queen, who was the eldest of the five Mangeshkar siblings, after she died in 2022 following multiple organ failure.

Bachchan received the recognition on April 24, the memorial day of Deenanath Mangeshkar, the theatre-music veteran and father of Mangeshkar siblings.

The 81-year-old star, whose career spans over five decades in films and known for movies such as "Zanjeer", "Deewar", "Chupke Chupke", "Mohabbatein", and "Piku", said he was blessed to receive the award.

"I'm fortunate to receive this award today. I never really regarded myself worthy of such an award, but Hridyanath ji tried hard so that I could come here. He even invited me for this ceremony last year.

"Hridaynath ji, I apologise to you for last time. I had then told you I was unwell. I was healthy but didn't want to come here. This year I had no excuse, so I had to come here," Bachchan said in his award acceptance speech.

The actor said his father and celebrated Hindi poet Harivansh used to liken Lata Mangeshkar's voice to "shehad ki dhaar".

"The sweetness in her voice was honey and as the flow of honey never breaks, her 'swar' never breaks. Whenever someone hits the right chord, our soul meets with 'parmatma' . And Lata Mangeshkar ji's 'swar' joins us with God," Bachchan said.

Singer Usha Mangeshkar, the third eldest Mangeshkar sibling, presented the award to Bachchan. Earlier, veteran singer Asha Bhosle, the second Mangeshkar sibling, was supposed to give away the trophies but gave the event a miss as she is unwell.