For some reason, the news of the passing away of Asha Bhosle hit me much harder than the news of the death of her sister, the Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar a few years ago. The reason is probably due to the goddess-like image of Lata in our mind. It was as if, when she passed, she simply made her expected journey to b e with the o ther goddesses in heaven. Asha was real. She was like one of us, the common people.
She lent her voice to everyone to express their every emotion from passion, grief, devotion to just inane jubilation. When Lata declined to sing songs that were “inappropriate” for her image, such as songs accompanying cabaret dances, voices expressing extreme passion, qawwalis, songs depicting controversial situations or songs by street singers, Asha was there to entertain and mesmerize us. Let us recall some hit songs in some of these genres. Asha had a virtual monopoly on all songs accompanying cabaret performances by Helen and others during our younger years like “Karle pyar”, “Baithe hai keya uske pas” etc.
“Dilruba dil pe tu”, “Raat akeli hai”, “Aye dushmane ja” are some of the songs expressing the sultriness of her voice which gave us goosebumps. Asha was a natural at singing qawwalis like “Nigahe milaneko jee chahta hai”, “Kajra mohabbatwala” and “Huzurewala ho ijajat”. One must not assume that Asha picked up the songs that Lata did not want to perform. For many songs, Asha was the preferred singer. The famous music director O. P. Nayyar made the point explicitly clear. He never used Lata as a playback singer. He reportedly said that Lata’s voice was not suited for his style of music, which was sensuous and passionate. He preferred Asha or Geeta Dutt.
Asha has sung innumerable legendary songs under Nayyar’s direction. My favorite one is “Mai shayad tumhare liye ajnabi hun”. Then there are legendary street songs like “Leke pehla pehla pyar”, “Ek pardesi mera dil” and “Jhumka gira re”. Popularity of many movies like “Phir wohi dil laya hun”, “Kashmir ki Kali”, “Mere Sanam” and “Kismat” can be attributed to the strength of this collaboration between Asha, Mohammed Rafi and Nayyar. Asha was exceptionally good at pouring her heart out in any song to convey the emotions. Every time I listen to the song “Ab ke baras” from the movie “Bandini”, tears come to my eyes.
The associated video clip shows a young girl in a women’s prison surrounded by high walls grinding wheat and singing about a letter she is expecting to get from her father to take her home. It reminds me of all of us going through our daily grind, confined in our own prisons and waiting for our “father” to call us home; a perfect metaphor. I doubt that any singer other than Asha could have expressed the emotions of that young girl. Her singing of “Ang lag ja balma” in “Mera Naam Joker” was equally touching. She was great in some of the romantic songs with Rafi.
The songs “Abhi na jao chhod kar” and “Chura liya hai” come to mind. When she worked with Rahul Dev Burman, both before and after they got married, it seemed like a perfect match. Their marriage was rooted in music and mutual respect; Only Asha could match and keep up with RDB’s unique beats and eccentric experimental rhythms. Together, they changed Bollywood music forever. Just listen to the song “Duniya me logon ko” from “Apna Desh”. Her songs “Dum maro dum” and “Piya tu abto aja” have become legendary in the Bollywood music world. In personal life, Asha was a devoted wife who stood by her husband when his career was faltering near the end.
I was delighted when RDB persuaded Asha to sing a number of songs in Bengali. RDB even composed a Bengali song, “Ektu boso” sung by Asha in the movie “Troyee”. Her song “Jete dao, amay dekona” (let me go, don’t call me back) now seems to have taken a different significance: we really did not want to let her go. Her song “Jabo ki jabona” was clearly ahead of its time in terms of the beat. It is not just Bengali; Asha reportedly recorded 12000 songs in 20 different languages. In a 1971 interview, Asha denied that she had any rivalry with Lata by saying, “Blood is thicker than water”. The two sisters have sung together in 78 duets. The ones I am most familiar with are “Hamre gaon koi ayega” from the movie “Professor” and “Mai chali” from “Padosan”.
However, it does seem that the sisters somehow complement each other. I offer the following crude analogy to younger readers. If you think Shreya Ghoshal is like Lata, then Sunidhi Chauhan probably comes close to Asha. This is not to say that Asha was any less expert in singing difficult classical songs. “Kayse samjhaun” from “Suraj” is a prime example. Other memorable songs include “Jiyara kahe tarsaye”. She was trained in classical Indian music by her father Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar when she was only a few years old. Her classical songs from the movie “Umrao jaan” with music by Khayyam are legendary. Later in life, she teamed up with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and produced a joint album “Legacy” in 1996. It seems that she devoted more time to ghazals, bhajans and other Indian classical music after RDB’s death. Even more recent great music directors such as Anu Malik and A. R. Rahman recognized the treasure in Asha’s voice.
The song “Le gayi le gayi” from Malik’s “Dil to pagal hai” is a fast-paced dance number. Her singing in the song “Rangde” from “Thakshak” accompanying a dance routine by Tabu is a memorable masterpiece of Rahman. She also sang for Rahman in the movies “Rangeela” (“Rangeela re” and “Tanha tanha”) and Laagan (“Radha kyon na jale”). We lost Asha (which means hope) but we are certainly not going to lose the hope she has instilled in all of us about a continually expanding influence of Indian music throughout the world.
(The writer, a physicist who worked in industry and academia, is a Bengali settled in America.)