Her incredible voice has won her many fans and admirers. One of them is Nasreen Munni Kabir, a British television producer and creator of documentaries like Movie Mahal, In Search Of Guru Dutt, How to Make it Big in Bollywood and The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan.

Her most recent book, Lata Mangeshkar... In Her Own Voice, is a book which she told rediff's Patcy N she was only too happy to write.

As we celebrate Lataji's 80th birthday on September 28, we bring you fascinating excerpts from the book:

Nasreen Munni Kabir: Isn't there a famous incident in which Dilip Kumar commented on your Urdu pronunciation?

Lata Mangeshkar: I must tell you the story. One day (composer) Anil Biswas, Yusufbhai (Dilip Kumar) and I were travelling to work together on the train. This was in 1947 or '48. In those days, Yusufbhai was able to travel by train as no one really recognised him!

We were sitting in a compartment and Yusufbhai asked who I was. Anilda replied: 'She is a new singer and sings well. You'll like her voice when you hear her.' They were chatting together and Yusufbhai asked him. 'Where is she from?' 'She is Maharashtrian.'

'But their Urdu pronunciation isn't correct and in their singing you can smell daal-bhaat' (implying a Marathi accent would come through in the pronunciation in Urdu). I felt terribly hurt hearing him say such a thing.

I knew the composer Mohammed Shafi. He was an assistant to Anil Biswas and (legendary composer) Naushadsaab, and a few days later, I told him I wanted to learn Urdu so I could pronounce it correctly.