- Monday, February 03, 2025
The three-time Grammy winner was pleased to learn that Lata Mangeshkar knew his grandfather, Janki Das Mehra, an actor and freedom fighter
By: India Weekly
IN 2015, following Ricky Kej’s first Grammy award win, he received a phone call that would become one of his most treasured memories.
The call, from an unfamiliar number, was initially confusing. Kej answered and was greeted by a voice introducing itself simply as Lata.
Kej described the call: “This happened in 2015 after I won my first Grammy award. I landed in Bangalore and got a call from an unknown number in Mumbai. ‘Hello, is this Ricky?’ I said, ‘Yeah’. She said, ‘I wanted to congratulate you on winning your Grammy award’. I’m like, ‘Who is this?’ She’s like, ‘I’m Lata’. I’m like, ‘Who Lata?’ She’s like, ‘I’m a singer’. I said, ‘How do you get my phone number? Who gave you my phone number?’”
At this point, Mangeshkar’s manager took over the call to clarify the situation. “Hello Ricky, I’m Mahesh. I’m Lata ji’s manager and this is Lata Mangeshkar.”
After the manager handed the phone back to Mangeshkar, Kej remarked on her youthful-sounding voice. Mangeshkar laughed and said, “Everyone says the same. I sound very young.”
Kej responded, “Next time, don’t say you are Lata, a singer. You are much more than that.”
Kej, who has won three Grammys, was also pleased to learn during their conversation that Mangeshkar knew his grandfather, Janki Das Mehra, an actor and freedom fighter.
“We spoke to each other quite often after that… These are just beautiful moments in life that you’re very grateful for when you got to speak to the legend Lata Mangeshkar. I’m extremely fortunate that I had a beautiful relationship with her,” Kej said.
Now 43, Kej has been offered various Bollywood film projects but has declined them.
He explained, “After I won the first Grammy award and the second and the third, I’ve been offered a lot of films by Bollywood. But that is something I’m not interested in. If there is a film which is about a social message at its root, I would love to take that up. But I’ve never been offered a film like that. I’m only offered mainstream, big budget Bollywood movies.”
Kej is currently involved in a significant project with the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), where he led a Guinness World Record-setting singing lesson with 14,000 students.
The project features performances by renowned Indian classical musicians including Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Sharma, Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash, Jayanti Kumaresh, Mr & Mrs Sheik Mehaboob Subhani, and Giridhar Udupa.
