How Asha Bhosle overcame early setbacks to become a legend of Hindi film music

The veteran composer then told her to delve into her own life and remember her own mother and invalid brother who she loved dearly. Asha had not seen them for a long time since her family, including her sister Lata Mangeshkar, had cast her aside since she had run away from home to get married at 16.

Asha started to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Now, sing the song,” Burman told her brusquely. This incident from the turbulent early years of the life of Asha Bhosle, who breathed her last at Breach Candy hospital on April 12, is recounted by Ambarish Mishra, a Mumbai-based senior journalist. He was well-acquainted with Asha Tai, having helped her to work on her autobiography in the past, a project which was later allegedly shelved by her children.

Did Lata Mangeshkar stall her career?

In an interview with The Federal, Mishra, a veteran journalist who has covered cinema for many decades, talks about how Asha Tai went through a hard time when she left home to marry her first husband, Ganesh Rao Bhosle. “Though Asha Tai never brooded about her past, always living for the moment, she did bitterly refer to the time with her husband who treated her badly. I should not have had to go through all those tough times. Her family, including her mother, had warned her not to marry him. Her astute mother had sensed that Ganesh Rao, a private transport operator, who used to visit their home, would not treat her right. But for Asha Tai, the magic of the man was strong and she ran off with him.”

Ganesh Rao treated her badly and was abusive. They struggled to make ends meet and it did not help she became a mother soon. He made her sing and accompanied her to studios and would not part with her earnings. As a young mother at 17 years, she felt alone. Meanwhile, her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar, who was shouldering the responsibility of the family, was the reigning queen of Indian cinema being the undisputed favourite of every leading music director.

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It was a shadow that continued to haunt Lata and Asha till the end of their lives. When Asha was an aspiring playback singer trying to gain a foothold in the Hindi film industry, did Lata create obstacles in her path? Filmmaker Sai Paranjpye’s film, Saaz (1998), was based on this alleged rivalry between the two famous sisters. On this controversy, Mishra says, “I refuse to pit one sister against the other. I don’t agree with the view that Lataji tried to stall her career. To my knowledge, they were good friends and even lived next to each other.”

Never imitated Lata

In his view, there was no question of competition since Asha Tai’s voice was entirely different from Lataji’s. “It had more adaptability, an incredible range — she could weave all kinds of emotions into the tapestry of her songs. Moreover, her strong base in classical music helped her manipulate the notes with greater precision and clarity. Asha never imitated her sister. Maybe, other struggling singers at that time tried to be a Lata clone but not Asha Tai,” says Mishra, adding that for Asha, there was no question of stepping out of her sister’s shadow as far as singing was concerned. Yet, he admits Lata had a clear edge when it came to opportunities.

“From 1947 to 1967, Lata didi had all the best opportunities and songs that could have gone to Asha Bhosle. I will give you an example. There’s the song from Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Dum Maro Dum, which went to Asha since it was vibrant, vivacious and youthful. But the Phoolan Ka Taaron Ka sung by the child in the film went to Lata didi because SD Burman felt Asha did not have the right voice for it. It was a decision by the music composer and had nothing to do with any politics by her elder sister,” claims Mishra.

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He gives another example. “The famous Mora Gora Ang Lai Le in Bandini, in which Nutan prances around under the moon rejoicing that her love is blossoming, went to Lata since SD Burman thought she will do justice to that song. Music directors at that time had decided that all the best songs should go to Lata, while all the top heroines like Madhubala and Kamini Kaushal had a clause in their agreement that their songs had to be rendered by Lata, I can vouch for that,” says Mishra.

The OP Nayyar phase

Asha had to wait longer for her life to hit the high notes. It was music director OP Nayyar, who quickly realised that Asha had a vocal range that was unsurpassed and a voice that he felt he could tap for different kind of songs. According to Mishra, Asha could yodel and produce unimaginable sounds giving the example of the fast-paced rhythmic song, Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera, with its “O aa jaa, aah aah” segments, which required a lot of breath control.

"Asha’s versatility was her outstanding quality," agrees Radha Rajadhyaksha, a senior editor and Hindi film music aficionado.

Rajadhyaksha says, “In 1949, Lata became popular after she did Mahal, Andaz, and Barsaat. It is true it took Asha much longer to make it in the film industry. Lata’s voice cast a spell on the nation for she had boundless talent. She could sing soulful and romantic songs beautifully but she could not really pull off light-hearted songs. On the other hand, Asha could be soulful, poignant, romantic, whacky, free-spirited and be totally convincing. She was a mimic, and an actor and struck the perfect notes for whichever actress she was singing. You think it is Madhubala who is singing Aaiye Meherban in the film Howrah Bridge. Her voice was deep and she has better range than Lata. While Lata could render high notes beautifully almost like a soprano, Asha could go high and low.”

Rajadhyaksha believes Asha was the outsider at first. “People started comparing her to Lata and since her family, including Lata, had shunned her since she had run away from home, only crumbs came her way at first. Asha has said that she consciously changed her singing style, seeing no sense in trying to be a Lata, who always got the lion’s share in the industry. However, with OP Nayyar, all that changed,” she explains.

Asha had depth and range and when Lata refused to sing cabaret numbers, those songs came to her as well. “Take the famous cabaret she sang in Kati Patang, Mera Naam Shabnam, Asha carried it off beautifully. There are words spoken in the song as well, which she pulled off. In Sapna Mera Toot Gaya in Khel Khel Mein she did the same, and in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Buddha Mil Gaya (1971), she teams up with Kishore Kumar to sing the playful, zesty song, Bhali Bhali Si Ek Soorat, where she even ends a stanza with a giggle. It’s amazing what Asha could do,” says Rajadhyaksha.

With Nayyar choosing to work only with her, Madhubala’s coquettish Aaiye Meherban and Vyjayanthimala’s songs in Naya Daur were all sung in Asha’s throaty, sultry voice. “Nayyar refused to give Lata even one single song. This was because of their personal equation. He was completely devoted to Asha and credit to giving career breaks to Asha goes to Nayyar no doubt,” Mishra says.

However, Asha like her sister, was also full of grit, hard-working and determined to succeed. With the advent of colour films, as movies veered away from sad, mournful songs, Asha’s voice lent itself to peppy numbers being churned out in films. So, by the 1960s, Asha was singing for all the top heroines like Sharmila Tagore, Nanda, Mala Sinha and others.

Lata’s tiff with SD Burman

According to Mishra, there was another factor that helped Asha to establish her own strong legacy in Hindi cinema. “Lataji had a tiff with SD burman in 1957 after he asked her to rerecord a song. Lata flatly refused saying she did not have dates. A misunderstanding cropped up between them and Lata stopped singing for him. SD Burman then turned to Asha and added to her rich repertoire with evergreen songs like Chhod Do Anchal Zamana Kya Kahega from Paying Guest (1957), Achha Ji Main Haari Chalo, Chalo Maan Jao Na from Kala Paani (1958). Further, Asha’s career touched dizzying heights after her association with the powerhouse music composer RD Burman. He was responsible for redefining Hindi film music bringing in Bossa nova, Mediterranean music, jazz, Arabic songs into film music.

Also read: 10 eternal Asha Bhosle songs that India could never stop humming

For Mishra, after Teezri Manzil, 1966 to 1975 turned out to be the best decade for Burman and Asha Tai. Together they set celluloid on fire with songs from superhit films like Seeta aur Geeta, Jawani Diwani, Manoranjan, Anamika, which all carried a new zingy flavour. Asha, in her richly textured voice, was simultaneously displaying her ability to sing qawwalis and deeply soulful songs like the Gulzar number, Mera Kuch Samaan, from Ijaazat.

In a nutshell, Mishra sums it up: SD Burman gave her a good break, OP Nayyar shaped her career, while RD Burman took her career to new heights. “But one cannot negate the fact that Asha was a great singer herself. Both Lata and she could modulate emotions and suit their singing to fit the heroine’s persona,” he points out.

Young at heart

In all the years that he interacted with Asha, Mishra found her not to be particularly mediative or reflective. “Unlike her sister, she lived from one moment to another. She was always young at heart and showed no restraint. She was intense, very generous, and hated the avarice and backbiting in the film industry,” he says.

He recalls an incident which gives a glimpse of her playful nature. She refused to wear glasses at an event hosted by journalists and ended up calling the organiser by the wrong name. Her reasoning: “The girl who sang Dum Maro Dum cannot be seen wearing glasses”!

A diehard romantic, she always dreamt of a perfect marriage and a loving husband, which she never had, says Mishra. But luckily Asha Tai was not the kind to brood for long about her turbulent past or waste time with regrets.