During her 70-year illustrious career, Lata Mangeshkar sang over 40,000 songs in 36 languages. However, she sang only one song in Malayalam. Her only song in Malayalam happened to be 'Kadali Chenkadali' from the film 'Nellu' directed by Ramu Kariat. Renowned musician Salil Chowdhury composed the song. Lata Mangeshkar did not sing any other Malayalam song after this. The reason for this is the toughness of the Malayalam language. Although 'Kadali Chenkadali' garnered attention, she was criticised for the pronunciation of Malayalam words.

However, Lata was supposed to sing another song for Salil Chowdhury even before 'Nellu'. Lata had accepted Salil Chowdhury's invitation to sing the song 'Kadalinakkare Ponore' from the film 'Chemmeen'. Though she was reluctant at first, she later agreed to sing the song.

The next step was to correct Lata Mangeshkar's pronunciation. Yesudas was assigned for this task. On the instructions of director Ramu Kariat, Yesudas went to Mumbai to teach Lataji Malayalam pronunciation. Despite all efforts, Latha could not learn Malayalam pronunciation. Following this, she decided to back off from the song as she felt that she was not in control of the language.