Asha Bhosle Birthday 2023: Why the icon will forever be in the 'G5 of Hindi Film Music'

Singer Asha Bhosle who carved out her own independent niche and ruled the roost over the world of music turns a ripe old 90 on Friday and notwithstanding a long and eventful musical journey of eight decades neither her vocal cords are tired nor has she retiredhellipIt was back way some 80 years ago when a petite 10yearold girl Asha Mangeshkar earnestly stood before a studio microphone and recorded her first playback song for composer Datta S Davjekar lsquoChala Chala Nav Balhelliprsquo for a Marathi film Majha Bal ndash 1943Though it came just a year after her father Pt Deenanath Mangeshkarrsquos passing 1942 Asharsquos maiden number did not exactly set the film industry on fire but she continued to get humdrum singing assignments and like her older sibling Lata Mangeshkar continued the uphill musical sojournAfter many Marathi songs she finally landed a Hind film song assignment for Chunariya 1948 and then a solo in Hindi for Raat Ki Rani 1949 but the struggles were yet to endShe continued to render sidey type of songs for junior artistes or dancers and mostly for tierII films or composers many frowning at her voice which would not jell with most heroines of the day or getting overshadowed by other popular voices in those timesThe big moment and number came with an established male singer Mohammed Rafi for Boot Polish 1954 when they crooned the evergreen number lsquoNanhe Munne Bachche Teri Mutthi Me Kya Hairsquo which caught and turned the nationrsquos ears to Asharsquos voiceThat was an era dominated by female stalwarts like Noorjehan who later moved to Pakistan Suraiya Geeta RoyDutt Shamshad Begum Zohrabai Ambalewali Mubarak Begum and more and even Lata had to jostle through the crowd to make her voice heardPerhaps it was the legendary Omkar Prasad Nayyar who proved to be the turning point for Asha when he made her sing Leke Pehla Pehla Pyaar lsquoCIDrsquo 1956 with Rafi and it was a runaway hit along with other songs by Shamshad Begum and Geeta DuttPresumably patting himself for his choice Nayyar deployed Asharsquos voice in all the female lead numbers for Naya Daur 1957 which bagged him his first Filmfare Award 1958ldquoThen I worked extensively with Ashahellip People ask me why I never signed Lata to singhellip I found Latarsquos voice lsquotoo thinrsquo and unsuited for my style of music unlike the other female singers of that erardquo chuckled Nayyar in a 1997 interview with this correspondentHe spoke with pride how he was ldquothe onlyrdquo music director to achieve heights of success without ever using Lata Mangeshkar but exploited the silvery rich voices of others like Asha Bhosle Geeta Dutta Shamshad Begum etcKhayyam once narrated to this correspondent how composing for Umrao Jaan 1981 was a big challenge for him coming barely 9 years after the megahit musical Pakeezah 1972 both centering around the shunned theme of lsquotawaifsrsquoldquoThe filmmakers and I decided that not only would lsquoUmrao Jaanrsquo look different but also sound differenthellip So I made Asha sing all the songs with certain changes in her singing style Fortunately it was received very wellrdquo Khayyam said modestly the occasion was when Asha was named for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2000However compared with Pakeezah not only did Umrao Jaan stand on a different pedestal in public minds but also won four National Awards 1982 including for Khayyam as Best Music Director and Asha Dil Cheez Kya HaiOver the decades Asha soared the musical skies with strength with her unique singing gait flitting from notes to melodies to symphonies to fusion winning hearts and minds and edged firmly into the formidable lsquoG5 of Musicrsquo RafiKishoreMukesh LataAshaUnshackling her voice from traditions Asha reached heights of popularity effortlessly singing in different genres ranging from regular songs ghazals bhajans qawwalis paceyhuskysexy numbers cabarets pop fusion et alIn fact one of her qawwalis composed by Roshan Nigaahen Milane Ko Jee Chahta Hai Dil Hi To Hai 1963 remains among among the Top 5 in the genre sinceSo much so that other lsquoconservativersquo composers like Naushad Ali Madan Mohan Jaidev Roshan composed songs specially for her or took her voice for certain difficult ones besides of course Nayyar Mohammed Zahur Hashmi lsquoKhayyamrsquo lsquoRavirsquo Shankar Sharma S D Burman ShankarJaikishan Laxmikant Pyarelal KalyanjiAnandji SonikOmi Rakesh Roshan R D Burman and Ravindra JainThen came the era of the modern brigade of Bhappi Lahiri Ilaiyaraja A R Rahman Anu Malik JatinLalit and many othershellip even as music tastes shifted from the soothing melody to sheer cacophonyhellipSimultaneously her sister Lata also became a trailblazer as the senior singers faded away and she competed with the younger era of women croonersAsha made international waves too becoming the first Indian Grammy nominee 2006 collaborating with albums with global artistes and cricketer Brett Lee lsquoYoursquore the One for Mersquo ndash 2006 belting songs in nearly two dozen Indian and foreign languages bagging the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Padma Vibhushan among many other awards and honours et alBesides the recording studios she is ranked a MasterChef par excellence dishing out yummy gourmet cuisine for celebs and runs a global chain of restaurants Asharsquos for over a decadeOn the occasion of awarding the lsquoLata Deenanath Mangeshkar Awardrsquo to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2022 Asha apparently gathered courage to open up her heart before the audience and regaled them oft tongueincheek with many little known or unknown facets of her Bharat Ratna Didirsquos life and timesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever