Dharmendra reveals why he didn’t attend Lata Mangeshkar’s funeral despite getting ready thrice: ‘Was feeling uneasy’

Dharmendra says that he got ready to attend Lata Mangeshkar's last rites thrice, but ‘pulled back' as he did not want to see her leaving. Lata died on Sunday following Covid-19 complications.

Lata Mangeshkar died on Sunday due to Covid-19 complications and her last rites were held at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. While many Bollywood celebrities attended the funeral, Dharmendra was among those who missed it. The actor has now said that he felt rather ‘uneasy’ ever since he heard about the legendary Bollywood singer's death and did not want to ‘see her leaving’.

Dharmendra talks about the reason why he did not attend the last rites of Lata Mangeshkar.

Lata was hospitalised on January 8 after being diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia. She was on her way to recovery but her condition deteriorated on Saturday and she had to be put back on ventilator support.

Speaking with Times of India, Dharmendra said, "I was very uncomfortable and uneasy. I got ready not once but three times to go for Didi's last rites yesterday. But every time, I pulled myself back. I didn't want to see her leaving us. I was feeling very uncomfortable and uneasy after hearing the news of Lata Mangeshkar's demise yesterday.

On the day of Lata's death, Dharmendra had tweeted a picture with her. He wrote, "The whole world is sad , can’t believe you have left us!!! We will miss you Lata ji, pray for your soul, be in peace."

Dharmendra, who spent most of his time at his farmhouse over the past two years, had earlier thanked Lata for making efforts to cheer him up. In 2020, he tweeted a short video and thanked Lata for gifting him a portable music player with pre-loaded songs. Last year, he also said that Lata called him up soon after coming across one of his tweets that sounded sad. She talked to him for half an hour to cheer him up, he had said.

Lata Mangeshkar's funeral was attended by celebs such as Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, among others. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid a floral tribute to the singing legend.