The Voice Eternal

“Asha was like Neil Armstrong’s companion in the space rocket that touched the moon. After Lataji touched down on the moon, Ashaji could only be the second one to get there’’ -- Gulzar

The other day, I happened to hear a track from Ram Gopal Varma’s under-production film, being directed by Rajat Mukherjee. The song, composed by Sandeep Chowta, goes Kambakht ishq. And Asha Bhonsle sings it as though every yesterday is encompassed in all her todays and tomorrows. It made me think of all the kambakht composers who are missing out on her magical vocals.

Sandeep, whose career is now on the verge of a new explosion, can’t stop raving about his new muse. “I tell you, she makes all the other singers on the scene sound like kids. Ashaji’s vocals are addictive. Once a composer has worked with her he wants to get only her for his tunes.”

Last year, it was Asha Bhonsle making magic with A.R. Rahman in Rang de for Thakshak. This year, it’s going to be Asha Bhosle and Sandeep Chowta making waves with Kambakht ishq. What’s it about Asha Bhonsle that makes her such a fighter? In an industry that was, and to a large extent still is, totally taken up by Didi Lata Mangeshkar’s wondrous wizardry, Asha Bhonsle invented her own idiom of ‘sylph’ expression.

Impish and authoritative, she made do with whatever came her way, never stopping to question the merit of her song. In a score like Woh Kaun Thi, where the ‘Nightingale’ made her presence felt like a presiding deity, Ashaji held her own with the lone Shokh nazar ki bijliyan.

Only recently, at a gathering in the memory of Madan Mohan, Asha Bhonsle spoke about her own small, but substantial contribution to Madan Mohan’s music, when she pointed out that the biggest hit of the composer’s career Jhumka gira re was sung by her. Whether it was the odd song in any composer’s repertoire, or a whole block of melodies that Sachin Dev Burman made her sing in the last years of the 1950s, Asha always grabbed every opportunity with famished excitement.

Even at the peak of her popularity, when Rahul Dev Burman made the best possible use of her vocals, she once expressed regret about missing out on the really Indian songs in Burman’s repertoire. “He didn’t give me Raina beeti jaaye, did he?” she asked rhetorically in an interview. No, R.D. Burman didn’t give her Raina beeti jaye or Beeti na beetayi raina. Not because she couldn’t do justice to them, but because there was another singer who could do optimum justice to such intricate numbers. Raina beeti jaye was seldom Asha’s prerogative.

Like Gulzar once said, “Asha was like Neil Armstrong’s companion in the space rocket that touched the moon. After Lataji touched down on the moon, Ashaji could only be the second one to get there.” That’s why she created the fighter’s persona, the outspoken diva who took on the music industry on ‘HER’ terms.

Once Asha Bhonsle accepted that her Didi was ahead of her, she settled down to creating her own niche where no one, not even the mighty ‘Nightingale’ could touch her. To my mind, Asha Bhonsle’s greatest achievement is to have held her own for so many decades in a country and industry where there was Lata Mangeshkar. And then there were the rest of the singers. Asha Bhonsle rose above the rest to prove herself one of the best.

Today her vocals are in better, more supple, sensuous and inviting shape then ever before. If we listen to her singing R.D. Burman’s Teri meri yaari badi purani, right before going on to Sandeep Chowta’s Kambakht ishq, we notice no perceptible difference in the rendition of the two tracks, even though they are separated by 30 years.

Today, Asha Bhonsle sounds better than ever. So why isn’t she singing more? Why is her precious talent being allowed to languish, while mediocre female singers, with not even an atom of her explosive talents, are painting the tune red (blue, green and every possible garish colour)?

Vishal Bhardawaj, who lately recorded some songs with Asha Bhonsle for Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar, Jackpot and his first directorial venture Barf, can’t stop raving about the fabulous condition of Ashaji’s vocals. “Her grasping power, her voice throw, and her ability to give seductive shapes to words still remain unbeatable. I was in seventh heaven when Ashaji agreed to sing some of my songs.”

Why aren’t the hyper-busy Nadeem-Shravan and Anu Malik coming forward to
record in the voice that can make all the difference to their upbeat, peppy, sensuous compositions? Has Anu forgotten what wonders Ashaji worked with Daler Mehndi in Ladti hai to ladne de in Khauff? Why hasn’t he recorded any more songs with her after Khauff? Why are our composers making do with left-overs, when the original meal ticket is ready and available?


<<<Subhash K Jha

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