Mumbai, Oct 20 (IANS): In a tribute to the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra on the eve of his first death anniversary, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar was conferred the first Yash Chopra Memorial Award at a glittering function here.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari presented the award late Saturday to the legendary singer.

"Lata Mangeshkar, blessed with a beautiful voice, is the pride of the Indian music industry and a living legend," Tewari said.

He called upon the film fraternity to zealously guard the liberal space.

Dedicated to the memory of the late producer-director, the Yash Chopra Memorial Award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T. Subbarami Reddy.

Chopra was a victim of dengue in Mumbai Oct 21 last year, spelling the end of a romantic and passionate era of filmmaking.

Carrying a cheque of Rs.1 million and a citation, the memorial award will be given annually to people in recognition of their outstanding contribution in the field of art and culture.

Lata, who started her singing career in 1942, has continued singing for over seven decades, recording songs for over a thousand Hindi movies besides singing in 36 Indian and foreign languages.

She has been conferred several national and international honours, including Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, three national film awards and and the One Time Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India's Independence.

Present on the occasion was Pamela, Yash Chopra's widow, Union Minister for Heavy Industries Praful Patel, the award jury Anil Kapoor, Hema Malini, Simi Garewal, T. Subbirami Reddy, filmmakers Subhash Ghai and Boney Kapoor, Sridevi, Akshay Kumar, Rani Mukerji, singer Alka Yagnik and other dignitaries.