"Woh haske mile hamse, hum pyar samajh bhaite..." this line penned by S.H. Bihari for an O.P. Nayyar created song from the film "Baharein phir bhi aayegi" succinctly sums up Asha Bhosale's 92-year-long life. She searched for love through out her life. Except for a brief interlude with R.D. Burman aka Pancham she never found it. That regretful melancholy was reflected in many of her songs. Take for instance "Chain se humko kabhi aapne jeene na diya" from the film Pran jaye vachan na jaye or " Bekasi had se jab guzar jaye" (Kalpana) or for that matter "Aankhon se jo uthri hain dil mein (Phir wohi dil laya hoon) all of them had a deep connect to her own real life emotions.
Asha's personal life was a series of tragedies. She was a part of the drama troupe of her illustrious father Dinanath Mangeshkar which toured towns of Maharashtra. There was not enough money. Her first marriage to Ganpatrao Bhosle was a disaster , to put it mildly. Her elder sister Lata herself was trying to find a toehold for herself n the vast world of Hindi film music and hence couldn't do much for Asha. I remember an anecdote when she went to Ranjit studio at Dadar for an audition. It was pouring heavily and she had no umbrella. Her sari was soaked and she was made to wait shivering in the lobby for hours. A peon took pity on her and offered her a cup of hot chai. That restored her faith in human beings.
Though Asha had sung for several other composers it was her intimate association with O.P. Nayyar which brought out the best in her voice; a voice which Naushad had rather unfairly dismissed for its "bazarupan." It was as if her large body of work was held together firmly in the middle by songs she sang under the baton of Nayyar. Who can forget "Aayiye meherban" ..(Howrah Bridge), "Aao huzoor tumko.."(Kismat), ""Babuji dheere chalna" (Aar Paar), "Bahut shukriya badi meherbani" (Ek musafir ek haseena) , "Balma Khuli hawa" and "Deewana Hua badal" (Kashmir ki kali), "Maang ke saath tumhara" (Naya Daur), "Zara haule haule chalo" , "Meri jaan tumpe sadke" (Sawan ki Ghata), "Humne toh dil ko aapke", "Yeh hai Reshmi zulfein (Mere Sanam)? I once asked Nayyar Sahab how he managed to bring so much oomph in Asha's voice unlike other composers. He winked at me mischievously and gave a reply which I feel is too personal to be recalled.
Here I must say that Roshan too brought out the best in Asha. The two top Qawalis of Hindi films "Na toh karwan ki talash" and "Nighazen milane ko jee chahta hai" were made ever memorable by Asha's inimitable rendition.
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Even as Asha was topping the charts, R.D. Burman gave her a second boost with "Aaja aaja" , "O hasina zulfowale", and "Sona re Sona re" (Teesri Manzil). The musical resurrection of Kishore Kumar with "Araadhana" gave Asha yet another platform with Kishore which saw her musical career zoom up with aplomb.
Even when some critics thought that the fatigue factor has set in Asha's voice she sprang a most pleasant surprise with A.R. Rahman's "Rangeela." Asha also lent her mellifluous voice to songs in Marathi and other languages. She brought in romance, pathos and all the possible emotions as per the requirement of the situation. Her capacity to add "harkats" was next only to Rafisaab's. Often Asha was compared to her Lata "didi". In fact there was no comparison in that the sisters had vastly different styles of singing. Be that as it may the fact remains that three generations of music lovers will be eternally grateful to this great lady in saree who charmed them, wooed them and taunted them with her ever so come-hither voice. In conclusion I can only say "Ashaji...bahut shukriya, badi meherbani."
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