“Who is Ranu Mandal?” asks Lata Mangeshkar exposing a disturbing musical scam

From the railway station to the recording room, the swift journey of street singer Ranu Mandal from destitution to fame, is the stuff that fairytales are made of.

But the singer, one among millions of women who imitate the Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, and her fame are now becoming a problem for the Indian entertainment industry, as fabricated stories about her fling with fame and fortune are doing the rounds on the internet.

One embarrassingly impractical story said Salman Khan had offered the amateur singer a new home in Mumbai worth 55 lakh rupees and a chance to sing in Dabangg 3. Both stories were stoutly denied by Salman’s team.

Now the delusional sagas of Ranu Mandal’s overnight stardom have crossed all limits, with a new story gripping the internet about how Mandal has recorded a duet with Lata Mangeshkar. A photoshopped picture showing Lataji blessing her imitator (actually a picture of Lataji with her sister Asha Bhosle) is also being circulated to support Ranu Mandal’s Cinderella-like overnight transformation from ‘ragas’ to riches.

But the truth about the Ranu Mandal scam is shocking.

Lataji has never heard of this lady, let alone sung a duet with her.

“Who is  she?” Lataji asks innocently. “I’ve never heard of her, let alone meet her. And  you are saying I’m supposed to have sung a duet with her? Samajh mein nahin aata kaun aisi galat baatein phailata hai (I can’t understand who spreads such false information).”

Lataji says she wishes the lady well. “But using my name without my permission is morally and legally wrong. And the photograph of me with this lady is a scam. Please don’t believe what you see.”