87th Birthday Interview

ASHA BHOSLE

Today Asha Bhosle has turned 87. To celebrate Ashadidi’s birthday, we wish her and reproduce this old but rare two hour long marathon interview with ASHA BHOSLE by JYOTHI VENKATESH which appeared first 33 years ago in the now defunct STATUS dt March 1987 for the readers of bollyy.com and Mayapuri.

Asha Bhosle strikes you as a long known acquaintance when you visit her at her modestly furnished but spacious apartment at Peddar Road. She has no pretensions about her, whether she is at the recording studios or at her abode. Clad in a white sari, Asha was in a mood to talk the day I landed at her place. Her secretary had informed me that I could talk to her for at least two hours without any interruption because her recording for the day had been cancelled as R.D. Burman, her husband had to go to Calcutta for some urgent work.

Asha has always been a bit of mystery to me because at every stage of her life, she has been at the centre of one controversy or another. If the new singers accuse her and Lata Mangeshkar of monopolizing the  field of singing, the music directors, if not all, at least a few of them are angry with her because of her statement on Doordarshan that al her music directors are her slaves. Her passionate involvement with O.P. Nayyar has also figured whenever there has been a discussion about Asha.

“Ask me whatever you want to ask”, said Asha as she sat opposite me in her drawing room. What followed was a no holds barred free and frank interview during which Asha answered a volley of questions. “No doubt, I have several years of experience as a playback singer, but, tell me, why should I bother to take up assignments as a music director when the going as a singer is so good? You see, every playback singer cannot be a good music director and when I am commanding a good draw as a playback singer, I’d certainly hate to do the running around as a music director”, she said.

“Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey etc have composed as well as sung their own songs. Take Hariharan, for example. He is a very good composer. If you are a good singer, you tend to make a difficult composition. And if the numbers that you compose are sweet, they do become popular. Like Ghulam Ali’s. You see, it is difficult to compose popular and simple tunes but very easy to make difficult tunes. Every raga has seven swaras. We can work our way by expanding on the classical ragas and showing our mettle as music directors.

“I started singing in 1947, the year India got her independence. During the past 40 years. I have sung in almost every language like Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, Sindhi, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Avdhi, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Bengali, Marwari etc. Actually, I have lost count of the number of songs that I have sung. Besides film songs, I have also sung bhavgeets and bhajans in Hindi and Marathi.

“It was my first husband Mr Bhosle, who encouraged me to become a playback singer. Believe it or not, I was 13 or 14 when I was married off to him. He was then working as a rationing inspector. It was an arranged marriage because I hardly knew what love is. Hemant, my first son was born when I was 15. I would call my marriage at that young age, an accident.

“Hansraj Behl gave me the break as a playback singer with the film Chunariya. After that I sang in the film Raat Ki Rani for Munawar Sultana and in Lekh I sang for Sitara (“who was a top actress at that time, like Rekha or for that matter Sridevi is today”). Suraiya had also acted in that film besides singing for herself. My song with Mukesh- Yeh Kafla hai pyar ka chalta hi jayega became very popular at that time. You see, the break was easy but it was difficult to get further opportunities to prove my talent. There were several competitors around. Like for instance Shanti Sharma, Ambaladidi and Geeta Dutt. They were all popular and right at the top but I was a raw new voice. Khayyam was also there during those harrowing days of my struggle. Actually Khayyam had come to Bombay to try his luck as an actor. He was quite a handsome guy.

“Do you know I acted in a film, that too with Latadidi. The film was Mazha Bai in Marathi. I and didi acted and sang several songs. In Badi Maa, though I had also acted along with Noor Jehan, didi had only sung songs in the film along with her. Didi started her career as a playback singer five years before I did. It was in 1942 when didi and I met Noor Jehan who had come down to Kolhapur where we stayed.

“When I was a tiny tot, I never had any ambition as such. Frankly, I never ever dreamt that a day would come when I would be hailed as a playback singer. I believe that ambition is a never ending phenomenon because human beings are never satisfied with whatever they have. When I was a child, whenever I saw a train, I wanted to be the driver and whenever I saw a shop with golis, I yearned to be a shopkeeper.

“HMV was the only recording company those days. Today these new girls who cry hoarse and shout from rooftops that Latadidi and I are monopolizing the field at least get a break after some music director or the other listens to a song of theirs. In our times, no music director used to give a break after hearing a record. Music directors make it a point to hear the singer ‘live’ and only then decide whether or not to give him or her a break. Today different record companies vie with one another to present new singers and their cassettes because it has become a commercial game.

“Latadidi and I had to sing in the studios. We had to use a mike and sing. There was no facility for acoustics. Today there are facilities for a 6 track and 8 track in a recording studio. During those days there was no such thing as dubbing at all. And whenever a music director wanted a retake, you had to sit with the entire set of musicians and sing the song all over again. There was no question of any of us cultivating any Godfather, like the girls do these days, in order to survive in this rat race.

“Today things have become very easy. You need not even sing the whole song at a stretch if you are in a hurry to catch up with some other pressing engagement because you can even sing bit by bit and complete the entire recording. Life was not so easy in those days. Dilip Kumar, Latadidi and Rafibhai used to go to Malad to record their songs, and that too by the local train since they could not afford cars at that time. Today, if a new singer does not have a car, the producer sends his chauffeur driven car to his or her residence if he or she is required for a recording.

“Even today, we stand up when Lata didi enters the room. We sit only after she sits and asks us to sit out of respect for a senior singer and her age. Why, take the Kapoor khandan. Chintu, Dabboo and Chimpu – each one of them bows down and touches my feet whenever I meet them, say at a recording or a function. But the new generation does not seem to believe in these niceties or proprieties. I would not like to name them but there are singers today who do not even get up when didi and I walk into the recording room though they are juniors to us by years. I have no complaints though.

“Believe me, neither I nor didi have the time to go to a music director and order him or her not to take a new singer. Yet I am baffled why didi and I are accused of monopolizing the musical scene. You see our experience in life adds to our work. Every music director wants a playback singer who is able to vibe with him or her on a professional level. Music directors have got confidence in me because they know my caliber and the timbre of my voice. Didi is five years senior to me in the profession as well as by birth and I do  not even have the guts to ask for a song which I know for sure that didi is going to sing for some music director or the other. That’s the way we have been brought up. What is ordained in your kundali has got to come to you. Nobody can snatch it away from you, by hook or crook.

“To sing with Lata didi is like attending a grand feast to celebrate some tyohar. I have sung along with didi for films like Utsav andSwarg Se Sunder. Didi has just to look at me and her expression will convey whether I have sung the song properly or not. Touchwood, even today Lata didi and I are busy, day in and day out, with recording after recording. On an average, I sing three to four songs every day though didi has reduced the number and sings only one song every day. Earlier we used to sing not only on Sundays but during nights too. However, nowadays we have stopped working after 8 pm because it is no use taxing you day and night. Even today, music directors come to me or didi on their own because they know that they can rely on us. It is only those singers who do not get work who get ‘worked’ up and crib and complain about our alleged monopoly.

“When I began my career as a playback singer, I had to sing in a style different from that of Lata didi because there was the danger of being compared with her. I hate to be compared to anyone. I wanted to establish a style of my own and people started calling it the Asha Bhosle style. I succeeded in proving my versatility in singing any type of song. But it’s dangerous to be complacent.

“I am a muh-pat. Yet I will never say that the quality of music has deteriorated. I only attribute it to changed circumstances. The cycle always changes. Earlier there were cabaret numbers followed by cha cha cha, disco and qawwali and now there are break dance numbers. It is more of a cacophony these days and classical content is becoming less and less. I refuse to sing vulgar songs and hence insist on being given the song in advance. In fact, I had turned down Raam Lakshman’s offer to sing in Dada Kondke’s Andheri Raat Mein Diya Tere Haath Mein because I did not quite like the double meaning vulgar lyrics.

“What I do not like about this industry is that it gives you a chaap, no matter which department you are in, whether you are an actor or a singer. After people liked the ghazals which I had sung in Umrao Jaan, everyone wanted me to sing ghazals. They couldn’t believe that the same singer who sings breezy run- of- the- mill numbers could also sing soulful ghazals, which are so soothing to the ear. Look at Amitabh Bachchan. He gives a good comedy performance, sings and yet people especially the journalists have dubbed him as the angry young man. Isn’t it rather unfair? Every artist should be free to give a varied performance.”

“Earlier all these unsuccessful new playback singers accused me of monopoly and now I am involved in yet another controversy which I hope you will clear through your magazine. You know Padma Sachdev had interviewed me for Doordarshan. In the course of that interview, I had told her that just as a wife knows the needs of her husband, wins him over and makes him her slave forever with her love and affection, I too have won the hearts of my music directors by singing songs in whichever manner they want. Khayyam rang me up and asked me how I dared to call him and others of his ilk as my slaves.

“I was terribly pained because what I said in the interview was misconstrued and twisted and it sounded as if I was calling the music directors my ghulams. This is far from the truth. I will not even dream of insinuating anything like that. How can I do so when I consider each and every music director as my guru? I learn from them and jis thali se main khaathi hoon usee thaali mein kaise chhed karoongi?

“The best thing that has happened to me is my marriage to Pancham. It was not a love at first sight kind of marriage. I am not a teenager. Nor is he. We needed each other as companions. Sex was not the primary motive which prompted me to marry Pancham. My children also understand and have accepted Pancham as a part and parcel of our family. I share a warm professional relationship with Pancham when I am in the recording studio and when we are at home we forget that he is a composer and I am a singer. What I like about Pancham is that he is cool and composed and totally devoted to his profession. He dreams about music and hardly gives me any time. But I have no complaints.

“People often ask me where Hemant has vanished because he has stopped composing music for films. Remember films like Taxi Taxi for which he had given music? Even when he wanted to enter this field, I frankly told him that he was not cut out for a competitive field like this and advised him to pursue a career as a pilot but he did not listen to me because music attracted him to Bombay’s tinsel world. After giving music for a few films, he told me on his own that it was only hard work day in and day out which did not bring him any money. Hence he opted for a career as a pilot as per my wish and is now in Scotland. What’s more, he is happy and has no regrets.

“I have not bothered so far to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records. I think in the past 40 years I may have sung over 25,000 songs in various languages. I remember, once in Bombay, I had recorded for six different songs in different theatres. In Pune, I sang seven songs, all in Marathi, in one single day. I have no unfulfilled ambition. I am happy with the way my career has shaped. I have not looked back ever since I sang in Naya Daur which was my major break. Today I do not want to relax because I want to be busy round the clock doing something or the other. At home, I do cook and wash my clothes, besides looking after the needs of my daughter Varsha. Ah yes, I remember now. I want to sing thyagaraja kritis. In London I had recorded Ave Maria songs for which I had combined English and Sanskrit. I feel that Indian classical music should be popularized in London and America, just as their music is popular here. I am keen on helping the poor and downtrodden through music, by undertaking charity programmes every now and then.”

That is Ashatai at her best ever!