MUMBAI: Renowned playback singer and Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar was spotted at the Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar Awards ceremony in Mumbai recently.

The Dinanath Mangeshkar Awards instituted in the name of Lata Mangeshkar’s father, recognises service in the field of music and films.

Lata Mangeshkar was present to confer the illustrious honour upon Jaya Bachchan, and other veteran musicians, artists, actors and social workers for their individual contributions to society.

Jaya Bachchan was presented with the Master Deenanath (Vishesh Puraskar) Award, for her dedicated services to Indian theatre and cinema on the death anniversary of Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar.

Said Lata Mangeshkar, of her fondness for Jaya Bachchan: “I like all her films. I am fond of Bachchans and so are they.”

Reminiscing about the times they shared together, Lata Mangeshkar revealed, “I remember she (Jaya) would come for my song recordings before she began shooting for ‘Abhimaan’. During my recordings she used to stare at me and I kept thinking as to why she is doing this. When I saw the film I noticed she had somewhere copied my gestures like the way I used to stand, adjust my pallu etc.”

Lata Mangeshkar also let slip her great respect and admiration for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar who celebrated his birthday yesterday. When asked why Tendulkar hadn’t been honoured with the Deenanath Mangeshkar award yet, the veteran singer smiled and said, “This is because we have not given awards in the category of sports. But we would definitely like to give an award to him.”