Lata Mangeshkar was a ‘big fan’ of Sonakshi Sinha, says actor’s dad Shatrughan Sinha

Actor Shatrughan Sinha has revealed that Lata Mangeshkar was a ‘big fan’ of his daughter Sonakshi Sinha. In a new interview, Shatrughan also said that the late singer used to recall dialogues from his films.

Lata Mangeshkar died in Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital at the age of 92 on February 6 morning after multi-organ failure. She was cremated at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai the same evening with full state honours. Her ashes were immersed in the Ramkund on the banks of the Godavari river in Nashik, Maharashtra last week.

In an interview with Aaj Tak, Shatrughan said, “We were fortunate that I and my family got love and adoration from Lata Didi. She would often talk about my dialogues and acting. She used to like my daughter Sonakshi’s acting as well. She used to say ‘I am a big fan of hers. I am a fan of yours but also a big fan of Sonakshi’. I told her ‘you saying this is such a big compliment for our family and kids’. She used to tell that she watched so and so film of mine so many times and would recall the dialogues.”

He also spoke about an incident about his meeting with Lata, “I was a part of a popular song Aa Bata De Tujhe Kaise Jiya Jata Hai sung by Lata Ji and Mohammed Rafi. Even I had some lines in the song. I had to say some of my famous dialogues. However, I was a bit late for the recording of the song. I was shooting at Filmistan Studios in Goregaon and the moment I got to know that such stalwarts are a part of the song, I rushed. The recording had to start at 2. I reached the studio at 3.30. The environment was quite tense. Nobody said anything to me but looked over at Lata Didi. I was a bit scared. However, Lata Ji handled the whole situation with the utmost grace. She didn’t reprimand me for arriving late and understood the reason behind it instead.”

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Shatrughan’s daughter Sonakshi made her acting debut as Rajjo Pandey in the action-drama film Dabangg (2010). She also featured in Rowdy Rathore and Son of Sardaar in 2012, Lootera in 2013, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty in 2014 and Mission Mangal in 2019. Sonakshi also reprised her role of Rajjo in the Dabangg franchise’s next two instalments–Dabangg 2 (2012) and Dabangg 3 (2019).

Sonakshi will be next seen in Double XL with Huma Qureshi and Kakuda with Riteish Deshmukh.