“I was walking around Durbar Square in Kathmandu, admiring the architecture of the temples, when I saw a man in a colourful shirt and quirky sunglasses standing in a café there. He looked familiar. I walked in and to my surprise found that it was Pancham (R.D. Burman). ‘Hello Ashaji, come listen to this,’ he said, excitedly. He was listening to a record with just different kinds of sounds.
Back in Bombay, after a month, I got a call from him for a recording. It was a marvellous, peppy composition. While rendering it, I remembered the sounds I had heard at the Kathmandu café and reproduced some of them. Pancham was delighted with the song. But two days later, he informed me that the song had been deleted from the film.
I was extremely upset and headed straight to director Dev Anand saab’s house. I told him it’s a wonderful number and should be retained at any cost. He thought for some time and said, since you are saying so I shall. But the problems didn’t seem to end. All India Radio banned the song. Fortunately, Radio Ceylon began to play it. ‘Dum Maro Dum’ became a super hit and was the Sartaj Geet on Binaca Geetmala.”
Cut to the present. Asha Bhosle, the trailblazing playback singer who made every song her own with iconic flourishes, is now taking music lovers on a journey into her life and an era gone by.
“With the lockdown halting our hectic pace of life and making us stay indoors, I have been on a nostalgia trip. I’ve often been talking to my son Anand about interesting moments in my career. One day he told me, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely if you let the world know about these moments?’ And I thought, yes, this is the time, when we are in the grip of a pandemic, to share some nice thoughts with people,” says Asha.
Thus, the mother-son duo launched the YouTube series ‘Asha Ki Asha’. The title track says it all, ‘Baatein purani yaad aati hai.’
“It was Anand’s idea to keep the episodes short because I can get carried away reminiscing about the past. The great musicians, singers, lyricists and actors I have worked with have enriched my music and soul. Over the last three weekends that we have been streaming this series, I realised that young aspirants in the field of music should know what it takes to gain expertise in an art and make a mark,” says the 86-year-old singer, who launched her YouTube channel this May.
“Even at this age, I enjoy discovering new things. It could be a tune, a dish (her love for cooking led her to launch Asha’s, a chain of restaurants) or technology. I am often asked what I think of contemporary film music. And my constant answer is, accept change, whether or not you like it.”
With over 20,000 songs in almost 18 languages, Asha, who has been the muse of composers O.P. Nayyar and R.D. Burman, has always challenged herself by exploring genres and collaborating with a range of musicians such as Ali Akbar Khan, Sultan Khan, Boy George, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and the Kronos Quartet. Over the years, she has kept listeners guessing about what she would do next. They have marvelled at the way she moulds her voice to match the mood of the composition — the playfulness of pop, the melodic sophistication of classical, and the ache and sensuality of romantic geet and ghazal.
“Recording studios were nothing but extended filmsets then. There would be 50 to 60 musicians in the live orchestra. Work would begin by 10 a.m. and go on sometimes till late evening. I would only have tea and biscuits through the day. If the singer coughed or missed a note, one had to start all over again. It was tough yet enjoyable. There was so much interaction among singers, musicians and composers that every recording was a learning experience,” recalls Asha, who has travelled across the globe performing stage shows to full-house audiences.
Her appeal lies in her accessibility to all ages. If she comes across as an artiste with deep musical sensibilities, with the flip of a tune, she can transform into an entertainer with her spontaneous improvisation and joviality.
Asha comes from a family of performers. Her father, Pt. Dinanath Mangeshkar, had a travelling music and drama company. As a child, Asha sang for the troupe. After his death, she eavesdropped on her elder sister Lata’s classical music class, before she herself underwent training in it.
“I sang my first song in 1943 and then began a long struggle. I have faced rejection and failure and several personal crises. Despite singing difficult and different songs that were hits, there were times when I wasn't offered projects. With every setback, I emerged stronger. I learnt to believe more in myself and my dreams. Jaise sangeet mein kabhi neeche ke sur lagte hain, aur kabhi upar ke, zindagi bhi waisi hi hai. (Life is like music, there are both high notes and low),” says Asha.