“To received appreciation from Mangeshkar family was valuable for any musician or singer. It was indeed a blessing to me to receive “Lata Mangeshkar Sangeet Seva Purskar”. I will try to reach the pinnacle as much as possible like Lata didi”, said Rahul Deshpande.

He received the award at the hands of founder director of MIT World Peace University Vishwanath Karad in a function held in Pune recently. This was the first year of the award.

It was instituted by ‘Lata Mangeshkar Medical Foundation and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital. Also present for the function was veteran music director and singer Pt. Hridyanath Mangeshkar, senior singer Usha Mangeshkar, Adinath Mangeshkar and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar.

Pt. Hridyanath said, “We Mangeshkar family still feels that Didi is among us and thus for first two years we did not conduct any programme in her memory. Didi is where, there is music”.