Dinanath Mangeshkar

<p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dinanath Mangeshkar (Marathi: <span lang="mr" xml:lang="mr">दीनानाथ मंगेशकर</span>) (December 29, 1900 - April 24, 1942) was a well-known Marathi theatre actor, a renowned Natya Sangeet musician and an exceptional Hindustani classical vocalist.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">He was also popularly and reverentially addressed as <em>Master Deenanath Mangeshkar</em>. He is also the father of well-known singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Usha Mangeshkar as well as composers Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dinanath Mangeshkar started taking singing and music lessons from Shri Baba Mashelkar at the tender age of five. He was also to become a disciple atGwalior school. In his youth, he traveled to Bikaner and took formal training in classical music from Pt. Sukhdev Prasad, father of Pt. Mani Prasad, of theKirana Gharana. He joined the Kirloskar Sangeet Mandali and the Kirloskar Natak Mandali at the age of 11. Later, he left Kirloskar Mandali, and formed Balwant Mandali with his friends Chintamanrao Kolhatkar and Krishnarao Kolhapure. This new group had Gadkari's blessing, but shortly after the group was formed, Gadkari died in January 1919.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dinanath's good looks and melodious voice won him popularity on the Marathi theatre. So much so that the then giant of the Marathi stage, Bal Gandharva publicly declared that he would welcome the entry of Deenanath in his organization "<em>by throwing a carpet of rupee coins under his feet</em>".</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">During the period of 1935, he produced 3 films, one of them being <em>Krishnarjun Yuddha</em>. It was made in both Hindi and Marathi, and a song from it, sung by and filmed on Dinanath. Dinanath also studied Indian classical music music under Ramkrishna Vaze. He also studied astrology.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Partly out of his interest in astrology and numerology, he believed that dramas with 5 letters, with anuswar on the third letter, were lucky for him. Examples : Ranadundubhi (रणदुंदुभी), Rajsanyas (राजसंन्यास), Deshkantak (देशकंटक).</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">He was the first musician to openly defy the British Empire by performing and singing songs penned by Veer Savarkar in the presence of the British Viceroy, in Simla.</span></p>