Playback singer Mahendra Kapoor dies !!

Mahendra Kapoor, popular Hindi film playback singer of yesteryears, died here late Satrurday following a cardiac failure. He was 74.

He was not keeping a good health of late as he had been suffering from heart ailment for long, his son Rohan Kapoor told IANS.

Born in Amrisar in Punjab, Kapoor first came into prominence after he won a singing contest at the All India Youth Festival in the late 1950s.

A fan of singer Mohammad Rafi, he had dreams of making a career as a playback singer in Bollywood movies.

Thanks to filmmaker B.R. Chopra, he got a foothold in the film industry ad came into prominence singing the "Tere pyar ka asra" number in "Dhool Ka Phool".

Penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, the song was composed by Dutta Narwekar, known as N. Dutta.

He also sang some popular numbers in Chopra's "Gumrah," "Humraaz" and "Waqt," which were composed by music director Ravi and picturised on Sunil Dutt during the late 1960s and 1970s.

Kapoor also rendered the most popular number, "Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle" in Manoj Kumar's "Upkar" as also "Bharat Ka rahnewala hoon" in "Purab Aur Paschim" and "Ab Ke baras" in "Kranti."

He also sang the title song of Chopra's popular TV serial, "Mahabharat", in the late 1980s.

He received the the Filmfare Award for his song "Chalo ek baar phir se" in Chopra's "Gumrah" in 1963 and also for "Neele gagan ke tale" from "Humraz".

In 1967 and again in 1974 for rendering the song "Nahin nahin bus aur nahin" in Manoj Kumar's "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan".