In a male-dominated industry, the female of the species is a compartmentalized into two clear departments - the female character and the female playback voice. And yet, if ever there was a human synonym for Indian music and Indian cinema, it is Lata Mangeshkar. A Thesaurus would list Asha Bhonsle next. Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle are two of the strongest foundations on which the edifice of Hindi film music stands tall, and probably unmatched among any pop (as in popular) music in the world. Their saga of struggle in a man’s world has few parallels, especially as Lata was thrown into the male-oriented showbiz whirl at the tender age of 13, when she faced the camera as child artiste for a Marathi film, Pahili Mangalagaur (1942) as the bread-earner of the family of a widowed mother, her three kid sisters and a brother.

Lata’s steely determination won when she was - after a stint as an actress - accepted as a playback singer in the face of Dilip Kumar’s contempt for her Maharashtrian accent, and studio baron S. Mukerji’s ‘considered’ opinion that her voice was too thin. By sheer hard work and her quest for excellence, she won over them all and forged a trail that revolutionised music.

Known as Didi, Lata even turned out to be a mini-dada in the industry, turning down giant composers on issues, and singing for them again only when they approached her, avoiding duets with Rafi for a few years as they disagreed on the matter of royalties.

“She could make or break a composer!” was the hushed statement made by many an industry observer and analyst, and indeed, Lata’s constructive and negative participation in the careers of men like Shankar-Jaikishan, C. Ramachandra, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Madan Mohan, the early Rajesh Roshan and Raam-Laxman are only too well-known. Her unmatched tally of hits made her so powerful that Raj Kapoor had to eat humble pie, part ways with Shankar, and get Laxmikant-Pyarelal to engineer a rapprochement so that Bobby and Satyam Shivam Sundaram could be made possible.

Asha Bhonsle too made it by sheer hard work and versatility. Her struggle in the male-dominated industry was a saga probably more challenging than Lata’s (who just swept away the ruling singers when she arrived) because she had to make a mark with Lata getting the cream right from the ’50s to the mid-’80s. Two men with whom she also shared a personal relationship - O.P.Nayyar and R.D.Burman - helped her relentlessly, and later there came a stage when Nayyar was totally lost without her.

Anuradha Paudwal stands out in the singers’ hierarchy on the grounds that she became the first singer to take up music as a career after marriage (to the late musician-composer Arun Paudwal) and at the behest of her in-laws, who still stand solidly behind her. Here is a woman whose career-strategies may have been a shade questionable, but who proved to be the queen of a mini-empire in her own way- even if only a while. Today, she has managed to groom daughter Kavita into a singer who is liked by A.R.Rehman (Sapnay, Love You Hameshaa) and son Aditya who became a composer before the age of 10.
Ila Arun is another singer who took to professional music with the complete encouragement of hubby Captain Arun.

Do these ladies face discrimination, harassment or any such problem by virtue of their being of the faiver sex? Says Kavita Krishnamurthi, “I have been

fortunate to see the industry only through rose-tinted spectacles. I had the good fortune to begin with Laxmikant Pyarelal, who were perfect gentlemen. Then gradually I sang for R.D.Burman and others. After singing for LP and RD, I was automatically considered to have reached somewhere. No one could term me a struggler and take advantage fo me. Besides, in the early phase of my career, my mother would accompany me.” Kavita feels that people in the industry stay clear of you if an artiste projects herself as a no-nonsense, confident girl. Your attitude is determined by how you conduct yourself. A coy, flirtatiouso behaviour can send the wrong signals. Luckily for me, most of the men in the music world, even the musicians, are very protective towards me and look on me as a sister-figure. I am addressed either as Kavitaji or as didi.”
The only hiccups come in the non-sleaze department. Kavita’s insistence on a chaperone for a concert tour abroad, resulted in a permanent professional break-up with Anand-Milind.

Alka Yagnik agrees wholeheartedly with her colleague on several points. “I guess it’s how you conduct yourself that decides how people look at you as a person. I would work on my terms and conditions right from the time that I was struggling, which is why when someone planned a tour, they accepted that I would go unaccompanied, or not go, no matter what it cost me in terms of career”.

And yet Alka points out to a clear area of discrimination in another field. “They expect you to charge less just because you are a female singer, and give the example of how the top heroines all get paid less than the top heroes. But once again, price is a factor that I have never compromised on. I fail to see the logic of paying males more than the females for doing the same job. Today I am paid more than the top male singers. And today even my male colleagues jokingly complain that I get away with anything!’ Cont’d?

Rajiv Vijayakar

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