Lata and Rafi: Most hit duets, with a brief tiff

The two differed on royalty payments and did not collaborate for four years

Lata Mangeshkar sang most of her duets with Mohammed Rafi, giving memorable hits like dil pukare aare aaare, jhilmil sitaron ka aangan hoga and tasveer teri dil mein, but the two had a brief tiff in the 1960s.

They had a tiff over the issue of royalty and reportedly didn’t sing together from 1963 to 1967.

The disagreement between Lata and Rafi Saab over the issue of payment of royalty on duets has been mentioned in the book Mohammed Rafi: Mere Abba: A Memoir by Yasmin Khalid Rafi, the daughter-in-law of Mohammad Rafi.

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In the book, Yasmin wrote, "There was a time in the early 1960s when Lata Mangeshkar stopped singing duets with Mohammad Rafi. Differences arose between the two over the payment of royalties for the songs sung on their behalf. Lata was in favour of royalty being paid and also took up the matter with the producers.”

The two actors sang together again on stage in 1967 at a concert for composer late SD Burman.