So many artistes have emerged as self-proclaimed ‘Rock Stars’ in the last few years but Asha Bhonsle has proven, decade after decade, that she is the greatest Rock Star of India’s music industry. From frenzied cabarets (‘Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja’) to fervid ghazals (‘Yeh Kia Jagah Hai Dosto’), from ‘60s rock (‘Aaja Aaja Mein Hoon Pyar Tera’) through the ‘80s, and right through the new millennium, it has been impossible to discuss Asha Bhosle without mentioning the word ‘versatility’. Though Asha has always been associated with spry and sensual songs, the fact is that her 24 carat vocals have animated every category of songs in the last six decades. No song was beyond her range, and no ears were beyond her spell.
Asha started her career as a child artiste, just like her elder sister Lata. In Badi Maa (‘45) she even co-starred with Lata. Having been trained in classical music by her father, Master Dinanath, it was only natural for Asha to turn to playback singing. She sang her first song in the year 1948 for a film called Chunarriya.
However, while Lata ascended quickly to the top, Asha endured years of toil before she tasted success. Concurrently, she made an ill-advised marriage that alienated her from the Mangeshkars. Lata considered Asha’s act of eloping with her lover as irresponsible as she was left alone to sing and earn for the family.
This led to tensions between them. There were times when the both had not spoken to each other for years.
In the ‘50s, despite being the most recorded female artist of the decade, Asha sang largely for small-budget films of no distinction. The pressure to raise kids kept her singing every song that came her way. Her breakthrough came in 1957 when her close association with O P Nayyar resulted in successful songs for Naya Daur and Tumsa Nahi Dekha. In the same year, S.D Burman’s squabble with Lata resulted in using Asha’s flair for light, flirtatious numbers in films like Paying Guest and Nau Do Gyarah.
Asha’s only competition was her elder sister, Lata, and the comparison was always unfavourable for her. Asha once said that ‘she has worked for years to create a voice and a style that was different from Lata, so that she could carve her own niche and not be banished to live in her sister’s shadow’. The movie Saaz was based on Lata and Asha’s rivalry where the main characters were played by Aruna Irani and Shabana Azmi.
Interestingly, in their later years, both Asha and Lata insisted that the rivalry was just media created. The sisters, however, sang very few songs together, the most famous being ‘Mann Kyon Behka’ from Utsav.
Asha did have her share of triumphs in the ‘60s and the early ‘70s marked a new beginning for her. Her relationship with O P Nayyar was now behind her. Not many years later, Asha married composer R D Burman with whom she shared a passion for music. But even as this crooner seemed increasingly typecast in the westernized ‘Dum Maro Dum’ variety of songs, the delicately tuned ghazals of Umrao Jan (81’) clinched Asha to immortality.
In her seventies, Asha sang the youthful ‘Rangeela Re’ and sensuous ‘Sharara Sharara.’ In 2003, British opera pop singer Sarah Brightman sampled her song ‘Dil Cheez Kya Hai’ on her album titled Harem. It was used as the intro for her song “You Take My Breath Away”. Her album, You’ve Stolen My Heart, a tribute to R.D. Burman was released in US. It was nominated for Grammy Awards 2006 in the category of “Best Contemporary World Music Album. In 2011 she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. From the Filmfare Award to National Award to Padma Vibhushan, Asha’s list of accolades kept rolling in.
Today she remains one of the few artists in the music industry who has realized her search for excellence and she’ll be celebrating that as she completes yet another concert in New York today.
