In pictures: Thousands gather to say goodbye to Lata Mangeshkar

PM Modi, Bollywood stars among others bid farewell to one of the greatest playback singers in South Asia

Lata Mangeshkar, one of the greatest playback singers in South Asia, breathed her last at the age of 92 in Mumbai on Sunday.

The singing legend's funeral was attended by thousands, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood stars.

Mangeshkar, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001 for her contribution to Indian music, more particularly in films, had been detected with Covid-19 on January 11 and had to be admitted to Breach Candy's ICU.

The global star's demise was mourned by Indian and Pakistani celebrities as well as politicians.

A school dropout in her hometown of Indore who said she only attended classes for one day, Mangeshkar was fluent in several languages. She sang in more than 1,000 films, in addition to recording devotional and classical albums.

A recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1989, Lata Mangeshkar recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films, apart from singing in about 36 languages, though primarily in Hindi and Marathi.

In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and is only the second vocalist, after M S Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007.

Her oeuvre spanned around 27,000 songs in dozens of languages including English, Russian, Dutch and Swahili.

Together with her younger sister Asha Bhonsle -- a superstar in her own right -- Mangeshkar dominated Bollywood music for more than half a century and is considered by many to be the Indian film industry's greatest-ever playback singer.