By Kavita A Chhibber
As a little girl belonging to a family that loved music, and my mother who had trained in classical vocal music under Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s eminent father Uma Dutt Ji, always singing and playing the radio when she was expecting me, and later near my ear as an infant 24/7, I probably have the sounds of instrumental and vocal music rendered by master musicians embedded in my cells. But as a fiercely opinionated, independent young child who was nurtured in every way by doting parents, grandmothers, uncles and aunts, I would have heated arguments with everyone on why I favored Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar over all the stalwarts who had thrown their illustrious caps in the arena of melody. And while I have grown to love and admire so many great vocalists, I will still maintain that there is never going to be another Asha Bhosle. There are many Lata Mangeshkar clones, but not ONE female singer, or even a male for that matter, who can sing or sound like Asha ji.
I was just listening to the ghazal “Salona Sa Sajan Hai aur main Hoon” and then listened to every other singer, male and female, who has attempted the same ghazal. Venture there and you will understand what I mean when I say there is no one like her. Either they have over sung or under sung the ghazal. But everyone who knows and understands great music, whether they have trained in it or just have an ear for it, knows that Asha Bhosle is an ocean of emotion, finesse, brilliance, subtle nuances and embellishments. And she reinvents herself with each song. This is just one example.
If you hear her sing in “Saiyan Bina” at 91, certain segments will take your breath away. It is so beautifully conceptualized, and it also introduced her grand daughter Zanai, as the fourth generation artist from the same family. It was so moving to join Asha ji on a melodious journey that took us back to the times of Deenanath Mangeshkar, and many of the greats Asha ji lived and worked with. Her son Anand has a huge contribution to her journey but I want to do a separate conversation with him.
Comparisons are a sure shot path to disillusionment and are a roadblock. I learnt that early on from my parents but was judgmental about others. When I became a young teenage freelance journalist and had the good fortune to meet and interview many greats, I realized that each one was a unique gem in the treasure trove of different genres of music. I learned to love each and everyone and their genius. Today I am so grateful to have met some of them up close and personal. And I also realized that comparisons can be so disrespectful, and were the biggest hurdle Asha ji had to overcome. She said in an interview that had she not been a Mangeshkar she would have been considered number 1. But as the great Lata Mangeshkar’s younger sister, she had to work very hard to create her own unique identity because their voices were so similar. And she did.
Yet there was this number game that she could never escape. Even after Lata ji herself acknowledged in a conversation I was lucky to have with her that there were certain songs Asha ji has sung that Lata ji could not have sung. But Asha ji can sing anything anyone else has.
“Didi Ke gaane mujh ko miltey they. Mere gaaney didi ko nahi miltey they” said Asha ji amidst laughter at her trip to Google HQ in 2017. She was obviously referring to the, incredible, racy numbers that she sang, that were ahead of the times and frowned upon. “Dum Maro Dum” was banned by the government. But today that song and many others like “Piya tu“, “Mera naam hai Shabnam”, “Chura liya”, “O meri jaan maine kaha”,” Duniya Mein” and many, many more have stood the test of times, becoming a must have on everyone’s playlist through generations. Some journalist and self appointed experts said Lata ji had soul and Asha ji focused on the body. Then they did not hear Lata ji’s incredibly sensuous number “Aa Jaane Ja”, or Asha ji’s soulful numbers as well as those rooted in Indian classical music, properly.
I am so glad I stopped all comparisons and started thinking of music as an ocean or a resplendent orchard, where there were beautiful gems and flowers, each with its own sparkle and fragrance.
However, Asha ji always held that extra soft corner in my heart, even after I learnt not to compare. Little was I to know that I would not only meet her more than once, but that I would get to know her son Anand, through the years and now her beautiful granddaughter Zanai, and be enriched by stories that are often not known in public. Or that an in-depth interview done over two decades ago with Asha ji, will still be quoted year after year to this day by many major media channels.
In fact that is how I was contacted on 12th April after I heard of Asha ji leaving us, and was overcome with deep grief. I remained silent on my social media channels, but Ajit had to listen to incessant stories, my singing her songs and tearing up. Every time he would walk in, there would be an interview of Asha ji on TV that I would be watching, while I kept getting texts and links of various media channels, from friends and followers, that were again quoting excerpts of her conversation with me. I had been joking with her son Anand, since last year that may be it is time to do another interview. How long are they going to keep using the old one from 2003? But I guess that was not to be, Even last year when we met for several hours, Anand and Zanai shared so many stories about Asha ji that are also an intrinsic part of their own journey.
I woke up early (or was it some divine energy that made sure I did) to see Asha ji’s final send off with full state honors. Her farewell was conducted with such understated elegance and simplicity. It would have made her very happy. The family, if you get to know them, are extremely special, but simple people. They are humble, straight forward, super intelligent, dignified and generous, with an incredible sense of humor and ready wit. And while the grief and fatigue was written all over their numb faces, they allowed people to come and pay their respects at their home. They met everyone with grace and gratitude there and after the funeral.
Since then, I have watched so many interviews and restarted listening to her songs. I am so grateful that we live in an era where so many podcasts, interviews, videos of Asha ji and her shows are available to watch.
The first time I met Asha ji with Anand is still so vivid in my memory. The first thing she said to me was “I feel very happy to see your Indian clothes, long hair and the bindi on your forehead. It is nice to see, that you like being Indian.” And we laughed. She was even happier, when I told her I always wore Indian clothes to all major events, as well, and they were always appreciated by all including one President of the United States, George Bush Senior. He had walked up to me at an event and had complimented me on my outfit.
Just last night, I watched an old interview done by an anchor, Kanchana Prasad from Doordarshan, where Asha ji had performed many times. Asha ji stopped the interview mid-way and told the anchor she wanted to place a bindi on her forehead because she felt she would look nice, The anchor said she had not worn one for 20 years, but let Asha ji place the bindi on her forehead and indeed she looked lovely.
The exchange showed how loving Asha ji is and how she makes everyone feel comfortable with an intimate loving gesture like that. She will always be “is” for me.
I went back and re-read my interview with her and realized why it keeps getting quoted over and over again. Her honesty about even the most personal things in that interview is deeply moving.
Before I went to her hotel for my first interview, I had read an article by her brilliant, journalist daughter Varsha in which she had mentioned that her mother left an abusive marriage when she was expecting her youngest child (son Anand). I had quoted that article and said to Asha ji that it was very brave of her to leave as the 1960s were very conservative. Asha ji’s level of honesty was at an altogether different level when she immediately corrected me and said “I did not leave. I was told to leave. Otherwise I would have just stayed on.” She could have let it go, but she did not. She made the correction. She told me that she believed in being truthful and taught her children to be the same way.
Asha ji also said to me with pride that it still turned out okay, because she had three wonderful children and the children were all brilliant and very musically inclined. I did not meet Hemant (the oldest) but I met Varsha and saw how sharp she was. I had also heard her sing and she had a beautiful voice, but she chose journalism because she did not want a constant comparison with her mother and her aunt. I recall Anand telling me that that he wished she had continued to sing and not to bother about the comparisons that were bound to come.
I have known Anand the longest and he is such a class act and a gentleman. He put his own career on hold to start taking care of his mom’s tours and other commitments. He will always say it’s a two way stream when I thank him, for being instrumental in Asha ji’s long innings on stage, but I tell him, mothers will always make sacrifices for their kids, but for a kid to do that in such a large measure and also push his mother to fulfil her potential is rare. Anand was also the mastermind behind Asha ji’s magnificent concert in Dubai to mark her 90th birthday. It was truly spectacular. He has also been involved in “Saiyyan bina” and much more. I hope to have more in-depth conversations with him. He is a walking encyclopedia of so much information. He definitely needs to write his own book.
Asha ji sang her first song at 10, restarting her life again after leaving her in-laws, reinventing herself so she did not come across as a clone of her incredible older sister. Asha ji told me that, it was not just Lata ji, but she had to sound different from the other greats like Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Noor Jehan. Initially no prominent music director wanted to give her a song. Asha ji, accepted whatever came her way but also started listening to different kinds of music, and taking nuances from different greats to create her own unique voice. And she did not give up, just worked harder.
The biggest gift her mother gave her, Asha ji said to me , was the gift of self-confidence. “I don’t give up easily. She always told us to forget about household chores and just focus on music. She also told me that there was no one more beautiful, or more talented and that we should be so proud of who we were. That self-confidence and a very strong will power have stood me in good stead.”
Anand has shared many such incidents, of Asha ji’s indomitable spirit. “ Mom has an amazing will power. The more you tell her it cannot be done, the more she will go out and prove that it can. Some time back, she was on this tour, sick, her voice in a mess, she could barely croak and we were in two minds whether to cancel the show or just let Varsha go and fill in for her and let the other singers also sing. When mom was told, she would not hear of such a thing. She went and started singing and unlike other singers, her voice keeps on getting better as time passes. Suddenly in the middle of the show, her voice that had been tired and weak, suddenly soared and then there was no looking back. She brought the house down. At another time, she broke a toe in her foot and went about business. By the time, she saw the physician the fractured toe had healed by itself, and the physician was shaking his head wondering how she had managed to even walk, in that kind of excruciating pain for so long.
Her body of work spans, 12000 songs according to one source and 16,000 according to another and in 20 different languages. I saw in an interview that Asha ji attributed the ease with which she sang in so many different languages to the fact that her father introduced Sanskrit to his children. She also said if you capture the emotion, and nuances of any language, mastering the lyrics becomes very easy. She went on to be nominated for the Grammys twice and sang with Boy George, Kronos Quartet, Michael Stipe (R.E.M), and recently Gorillaz. Singing in English, Russian, Malaysian, was no small effort, and I’ve lost count of all the languages in which she sang, her genius stamped on each song. She was a true global icon. She should have received the Bharat Ratna long time back for really putting Bharat on the global map.
I don’t have to go into details about her incredible singing or her iconic songs, but it is impossible not to be awestruck by her range and mastery of various genres. Each song is a master class in itself. It does not matter if you are Indian or non Indian: the nuances,” feelings, in her voice will make you laugh, get emotional, make you dance and smile, move you. The level of difficulty when you try to sing her songs is at another level.
I also noticed, right from the first time that I met her, her fierce protection of her family and her loyalty to Lata Mangeshkar.
Over time there has been a lot of gossip about the differences between the two sisters. I remember being bowled over by how incredible Asha Ji sounded singing “Raina beeti jai”, Lata ji’s famous number at her live concert and told her she sounded better than even Lata ji. And she immediately, shushed me up lovingly, and told me not to say that. She felt her sister was perfection, while she saw a lot of flaws in her own performances. When she saw the look of disbelief in my eyes, she smiled mischievously and said, “I guess I don’t let you see the mistakes.”
I also asked if the movie Saaz was based on their lives as was being said. Asha ji said “It’s not true at all. To have two women in long plaits, take a couple of incidents and exaggerate them into a 3-hour film is such a waste of time. We are indeed different people. She(Lata ji) thinks with her head and is very image conscious, and even when hurt feels she needs to uphold that image of being reserved and gracious, while I think with my heart, am blunt and say it like it is. In fact, once we were having dinner and someone said something that I could not take, but because Lata didi was on the table, I was biting my tongue. Finally she said, “Asha go ahead, blurt it out, otherwise you won’t be able to digest your food!” Well I did and what a relief it was. I think the reason why I live my life honestly is because truth has a way of coming out and in the end the only person you are trying to fool is yourself. Lata didi is a different person at home. Many people do not know this, but she can be fun and she is a very good dancer, but you will never catch her dancing on stage. While I just go out and have fun, because I think it is necessary to change with the times, to go with the flow and not take life or yourself too seriously.”
Blood is always thicker than water.
Last year Anand showed me this beautiful photograph that I’m sharing here again. Every morning when the sisters went for walks, they live in buildings close by. In the photograph Asha ji and her 94 year old sister Meena ji are hugging each other. “ That is how they meet every day”, said Anand to me, “People hardly do that nowadays”.
“Mom is four years younger than Lataji and was this cute chubby child and Lata ji used to treat her like a doll and carry her all the time. In fact one time she fell down the stairs carrying mom and there is a scar on her forehead that is very visible in pictures. Also they were so inseparable that when Lataji went to school she would take mom with her, but one day the teacher protested and said we can’t have two students on one fee, and Lataji refused to return to school without her and quit her studies. She often teased mom that she is uneducated because of her. Mom is very protective about Lataji. Once a music director was talking about a singer, who had a bachelor’s degree, a real big deal in those days and made a snide comment about how well educated the singer was. Mom just bluntly told him, he may be educated, but he still cannot be Lata Mangeshkar.”
I think if destiny did not have other plans for her, Asha ji would have been perfectly content, cooking her famous cuisine and being a homebody, pampering her kids and grandkids. Her cooking, she said to me with a laugh, was sometimes more appreciated than her singing both by Anand and RD Burman who are both foodies. When I asked her what made her food so special, she said “fresh ingredients and a lot of love.”
There were also talks of the Mangeshkar Monopoly and the sisters not letting anyone get ahead of them. Asha ji said to me that “It’s like the saying “Nach na Jane angan teda” (the dance floor is warped, so I can’t dance well). Okay so we monopolized the industry, but tell me has there been anyone who is as good as the Mangeshkars? The fact is we had no godfather to display our talents and we worked long and hard to be where we are today. There were other singers who were established before us and still we managed to carve a niche for ourselves. In fact, once, for a movie, all the songs had been sung by Sudha Malhotra, but the producer on hearing them had them scrapped and got them re-recorded in Lata didi’s voice. He said only she could do justice to those songs. In the industry, no one will give you a plug even if you are related to them if you don’t have what it takes and people who talk about politics are the ones who either don’t have the talent or are not willing to work hard. The fact is, if you have the talent no one can keep you down, but today most people think they can become famous and great artists just by cutting an album. Let me also tell you that there are some wonderful albums that I have sung on, but they have not seen the light of day because of rivalries between the music houses and some other petty politics. Therefore, the Mangeshkar sisters are not that influential.”
As I watched many of her interviews, I saw how gracious and warm Asha ji was and how she would tolerate many journalists asking mundane questions, that had been answered so many times before, and answer them. I saw journalists asking her questions about her personal life that they would not have dared ask a man. But she never shied away from answering them, even at the height of fame when she could have shut the person up.
Asha said she would not listen to song she didn’t like, that she forgave very readily, and she accepted the deep lows and turbulences in her life as karma that she had to go through. Dwelling on pain only makes you sad and unhappy, she said. So accept and keep moving. She believed the divine always steps in to help you go through the suffering.
There are never ending stories of Asha ji helping struggling artists – be they music directors, singers or film makers… or regular people in need for that matter. She sang many songs for free,held charity concerts and quietly helped out many people in whatever way she could. I was reading actor/director Amol Palekar’s autobiography and I came across an incident where he shared that Asha ji was to record a song for his film Ankahee. On the day of the recording Asha ji was running 102 fever and said she would not be able to come for the recording. When she found out Amol ji could not afford to cancel the recording, she showed up, sang the song and refused payment, If you listen to “Kaun thagwa nagariya lootal ho” sung with such power, you won’t believe Asha ji was so sick. The great music director Jaidev was in tears listening to her flawless rendition, said Amol ji.
I remember the great actor A.K Hangal sharing a personal story of Asha ji’s generosity to him, when we spoke. He said he had made some very unwise decisions regarding his finances and was living in a small room in a chawl when he got a message that Asha ji wanted to meet him with a friend who was a huge fan of his. Hangal Sahib was mortified at the thought of having to entertain a legend in such dismal conditions. He told the messenger of his plight and asked that some excuse be made to not have the meeting take place.
But next day there was a knock on his door and Asha ji stood outside with her friend, bearing a basket of fruit and sweets. When she left, Hangal Sahib found an envelope with a substantial amount of money tucked away underneath the sweets. Anand did not know about this incident when I shared it with him but he said he is not surprised. That was truly something Asha ji would do.
The Asha Bhosle Humanitarian Trust, does a lot of humanitarian relief work, focusing on child welfare among other things. Apart from charity concerts, the Mangeshkars have always served society. Just a couple of days ago Hridaynath Mangeshkar (Asha ji’s brother) announced the building of Asia’s largest hospital dedicated to Lata ji and Asha ji. It is being built with a goal of serving the public.
Asha ji sang for all the prominent music directors but I feel she missed Pancham the most after he passed. She had mentioned to me that “It was Pancham (R.D.Burman) who really exploited the full potential of my voice and challenged me to greater heights. Pancham was a genius, and the first musician to blend east and west so beautifully. Today all the musicians do is plagiarize from others and pass it as their own.”
Perhaps it is not just this allure and ability to incorporate so many different nuances and emotions in her songs, but her indomitable spirit, and inner strength that has made her cross all barriers of time, language and age. Asha ji loved her work and continued her riyaaz, into her 90s. She wanted to leave the planet singing. I saw an interview that she did barely a month or so before leaving where she told the anchor, she was just telling Anand what she wanted to perform in her next concert.
I remember Sukanya Shankar ji telling me that many people would ask her why did she let Ravi Shankar ji continue to perform into his 90s in spite of so many health issues. She said music is his life. He is alive because he is still so immersed in it. Asha ji I feel was the same way. Her last huge concert was in December 2024 with Sonu Nigam ji. I think that is a world record. A 91-year old artist performing to a packed house on a world stage, for a long concert is a rare occurrence.
I don’t think that after she made sure the family was taken care of, Lata ji or Asha ji ever stooped down to singing only for money.
Anand shared this story with me last year, “So this very famous, very wealthy person – one of the well-spoken people in the world at that time – was having a wedding of his son in Calcutta. So he said, ‘I want to do a function that nobody has ever done.’ Somebody suggested that both the sisters sing at the wedding. Nobody’s done it. He said, that’s it. That’s what I want. Get them. I will pay them well!” So one gentleman came to us. I was there in the room. My aunt was sitting. My mother was sitting. And he came and said ‘Lataji – so and so wants thi,so would you perform?’ So she very politely, ‘I don’t perform in weddings. I don’t do private parties at weddings..”
“And my mother was sitting there also. So he said, ‘Okay, think about it. Because he’s offering you… (Now this is, I’m going back 25 years ago…) he’s offering you $1 million and your sister 1 million. So $2 million he is willing to pay for this 30-minute function of yours. He just wants you all to do two songs.’ And Lata ji said, ‘No” She said, ‘I will come on the streets, but I will not sing in a wedding’. And the man saw that she was now getting angry. So he quickly got up and he said, ‘Okay, okay, I’ll convey your message to the gentleman.’ He left. So I was standing there, I was a young guy at that time. I said, ‘Auntie and to my mother, it’s not even half an hour’s job. You are going to go there, sing two lines or one song or whatever. And you’re going to have a million dollars each’ – a lot of money in those days. And both of them were looking at me like, ‘Haven’t you learnt anything from us?’ Lata ji said, ‘Nandu. I have never worked for money. I worked, I did music. Money followed later. Fame followed later. I didn’t think of that. I just sang because I liked it.’ And my mother said, ‘This is what we are. They can give us 10 million, 20 million. We are not going to do it. We want to do music. It’s not the money that attracts us. Yes, it comes. But it’s not what we chase.’ That’s ethics, that’s integrity”
I noticed Zanai is the same way. She focuses on her work and wants to do her best. She is humble, grounded, extremely smart and surrounds herself with positive people. Her grandmother has been her greatest inspiration. She told me she learns so much on a daily basis.
Zanai is an academic ace, and she got into every college of her choice in both USA and UK. While her twin brotherRanjai, left to study in the US, something happened that shows Zanai’s thoughtfulness. Anand said, Zanai came to him and said “Can I ask you something? Is it okay if I stay in India and don’t go?’ Anand said “ In my heart I was very happy. But then I asked her why? You have always wanted to go to Kings… You wanted to go to Brown.” And she said something that really was a very deep thing. She said…” Ashai (she called my mom, her grandmother. Ashai). Ashai is getting old now. I want to spend as much time as I can with her. If I go to America or UK, I’ll distance myself and I won’t be able to spend that time with her. And that I thought was very deep”, .
Zanai calls Asha ji a fearless rebel. “She’s someone who defied every odd. And if you really want to look up to how individual you can be, you’ve got to look up to her. Because she’s the person who says, “Oh you think I can’t do this? Oh, well, I can do this. And she absolutely did not care what other people thought. And that’s exactly my mentality.
“If she had the courage and if she had the strength to take these decisions all the way back in the 1940s and 50s, we live in an extremely empowered world. We live in an extremely easy world where, and I’m not saying this as a feminist or anything, but we have a lot more options. We have a lot more choices than they did. And so if she can do that back then, then who are we to say that it’s tough today to do anything? It’s almost like it was handed to us on a platter when your ancestors have fought this whole thing for you. And even if today we can’t stand up for ourselves, and say that this is who I am, you’re not making use of the resources you have because this is a world where everybody is individualistic.
“Being with my grandma on stage has been a lot of learning. It’s been a great boost of confidence because it allows you to truly understand how it is to be a performer, not just an artist who can stand and sing. You’ve got to be a performer. She does jokes. She interacts with her audience. She does Tauba Tauba. She does all sorts of songs. She grows with the people around her, her fans. Seeing her live – still, sometimes I cry behind the scenes because I just look at her in awe… especially when she sings Mera Kuch Saaman. Whenever she sings that I’m just crying. There are certain things she does in every performance. Maybe it’s the texture of her voice, I don’t know what it is… but it just makes me go crazy.”
“She’s always doing things in the house that she’s never done on stage, or anywhere else. And she’s just humming. From that humming is what I pick up most. She’s just always doing it. always subconsciously.”
Asked how she would like to be remembered, Asha ji said, she wanted to be remembered as someone who spoke the truth, who forgave readily and who never wished anyone ill, even those who have hurt her terribly. She just wanted to be remembered as a good human being. As the love poured from everywhere globally and memories of her flooded the internet, I think Asha ji can be assured, her kindness, empathy, generosity have returned in full measure through that love, of not just for a master musician but a good human being.
A few months ago Anand and I were texting each other on how families like the Mangeshkars are really celestial being, Gandharvas, and Anand said “Ancient culture speaks of Gandharvas, as celestial musicians, renowned for their exceptional singing and musical skills, often performing in the courts of Gods and have a deep connection with nature.”
I read that the Gandharvas often come down to earth as a penance for some mischief and being cursed by the sages as a result. They have to go through suffering until redemption. Even when not under a curse if they are on earth, they come down with the apsaras, tied by music and dance.
Many experience mourning, grief, loss of family and other intense human emotions. They are very noble and artistic, and some scholars say that they play an important part in advancing human DNA.
Asha ji has gone through a lot of it. The loss of two husbands, the second probably her musical soul mate. The loss of two children. And the road to success was a steep mountain. But then her strength was not that of a mere mortal.
Anand said, “Maybe the thought is true.” He cannot explain the uncanny grasp on the art forms in his family for four generations.
But then he said something that was such a beautiful thought. He said, “The Gandharvas, they don’t really die -they just become one with music and live around us as music.”
For all of us who love Asha ji,its such a beautiful thing to imagine.
Asha ji lives on, one with music, through her voice, her melodies, her laughter, her loving heart… in Anand, Zanai and her brother Ranjai. And I’m sure she will return back in the same family, to lead yet another generation of the Gandharvas.
