Asha Ki Koi Umr Nahi Hoti, Asha Hamesha Jawaan Rehti Hai

Ali Peter John

How does one describe a fable ? How does one talk about a woman who has assured herself of a place in the history of modern India ? How do I repeat the story of  one of the most talked about and written about legends of our time ? How do I compete with the growing number of authorities and self -proclaimed experts ? On the joyful occasion of the 88th birthday of Padmavibhushan Asha Bhosle ,I can only write about the little that I know of her and not like many others who claim to know more for everything about her .....

Asha Bhosle was the third daughter of the classical singer and musician Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Mai Mangeshkar . The father who was never in a good financial position at any time could not give his children a proper education (Lata , the elder sister of Asha could only study till the second standard and had to drop out of school because her father couldn't afford to pay her fees ) But he taught all his children the basics of singing and music before he died at a very young age....

Situations and destiny took the family in all kinds of directions till they found themselves in Bombay , the city of dreams and settled down in a place called Walkeshwar  which is now a part of South Mumbai . The family had to go through many hardships till Lata started finding work as a playback singer .To add to Ahsa's problems she got married to one Mr.Bhosle and they had three children , Hemant ,Varsha and Anand . Lata had already started singing her way to success and Asha too hope to follow in her foot steps ....

Asha walked from one recording studio to another with a child in her arms hopping to be noticed and heard by some composers who were ruling the world of Hindi film music those days , but no one was willing to fulfill her hope .

However, her hope was destined to be fulfilled . She met the leading composer O.P.Nayyar who not only recognised her talent , but also gave her all the recognition and a status with one successful film after another especially the early films of Guru Dutt and a new filmmaker like Shakti Samanta . Her success sang  a new tune for her when Nayyar opted for her to sing all the songs in B.R.Chopra's "Naya  Daur". And then there was no stopping her with established composer like S.D.Burman and Jaidev backing her as their singer .

Burman had chosen her because there was some tiff between Burman and Lata and when the misunderstanding between them was solved , Burman went back to Lata .

Burman's only son Pancham (R.D.Burman who was assisting his father was the music director of Dev Anand "Hare Rama Hare Krishna ". There was a song which went ,"Dum Maro Dum "in the film which Dada Burman was against composing and Dev Anand wanted the song as it was the spirit of the film . When Dada Burman was not very keen of tuning the song , Pancham took over and provided the music for the song and his first choice for the singer was Asha Bhosle . The song created a major sensation and Asha who was going through a bad patch zoomed to dizzy heights and accepted that the song gave her a new life .

The success of the song brought Pancham and Asha closer and she stopped singing for her mentor ,O.P.Nayyar and switched her loyalty to R.D.Burman and together they wrote a glorious new chapter in Hindi film music and music albums (their favorite lyricist was Gulzar)

Her leaving Nayyar led to his downfall and he was never the same Nayyar again.His condition worsened and he was homeless at one time when even his family is said to have deserted him and he was "adopted "by a middle class family living in the distant suburb of Virar where he died a broken- hearted man and no one from the industry attented his funeral , not even Asha .

Asha had now married R.D.Burman and even their working relationship was at its peak . Asha kept going from success to more success while R.D.kept falling till he had no work.The last big chance he had to prove his calibre as a composer was when Vidhu Vinod Chopra who still had faith in him asked him to compose the music for his "1942 -A love story "Pancham saw a new ray of hope for him when his music in the film was appreciated by one and all at a party hosted by Vidhu . He was very sick and was not supposed to drink , but he was so happy that night that he drank like he used to once and died of a massive heart attack the same night and the first celebrity to see his dead body was Dev Anand who had by some strange coincidence had also  seen the dead bodies of Guru Dutt and S.D.Burman first besides his favorite singer Kishore Kumar.... It was too shocking when Asha Bhosle who had been visiting Pancham in his apartment often revealed after Pancham's death that she could only find  five rupees in the entire apartment !

Asha was now busy with recording song for films , but was busier performing her own shows all over the world and was soon one of the richest working women in the country . She had a chain of hotels in cities like London , Singapore , Egypt and in almost all the Gulf Countries and all the hotels were named "Asha's ". There were photographs of every one she had worked with as  the backdrop of the lobbies of these hotels and the only name and face that was shockingly absent in this gallery was O.P.Nayyar , the man who had opened the golden gates of success for her.

Asha has always had a now love and now indifference  relationship with her elder sister , Lata . There are many   thaws in their relationship . But, according to a family source , it all began when Asha was supposed to sing the song "Ae mere watan ke logo"and the song as we all know was sung by Lata Mangeshkar who had brought tears to the eyes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru . She has been openly mocking and imitating her elder sister at her shows.The well known filmmaker Sai Paranjpye even made a film called "Saaz"which was about the relationship between the sisters , who openly made a statement that the film had nothing to do with them.

Tragedy has been a close relative of Asha . She first lost her husband ,

Mr.Bhosle . She was performing at a show in Singapore when she received the news about the death of her elder son Hemant ,who died of cancer in Switzerland . She heard the news ,but continued with her show . Her only daughter Varsha who was an outstanding journalist and writer had suicidal tendency  finally surrender to it and committed suicide when Asha was not at home .And the man who she said not only loved her but understood her , Pancham also died leaving her alone with millions of her admirers and fans all over the world.

There are too many achievements of this great woman to be mentioned in just one article.But her determination to achieve more and more can be seen from the way she decided to play the title role in "Aai" ,a film produced by my friend Subhash Dawar who lost so much money that he went back to Surat and continued with his bussiness of dealing in expensive sarees.

Asha lived with all her other siblings at Prabhu Kunj  at Peddar Road for more than sixty years . And only two years ago , she moved out and bought one of the most expensive and luxurious apartments in a multistoreyed building  in the now posh locality of Lower Parel , where there were only a number of leading mills till twenty years ago . What a dramatic close for the woman who once lived in a chawl in Walkeshwar and went begging for work  !

JINKE HAUSLE BULAND HOTE HAI AUR JINKE SAATH ASHA ZINDA REHTI HO , WOH SIRF AMAR HO SAKTE HAI AAJ BHI  AUR AANE WALE KAHI YUGON KE BAAD BHI