The playful audacity of Asha Bhosle

Asha Bhosle, who died at 92 on Sunday, was one of India’s most enduring, prolific, and audacious playback singers.

Her voice offered not just sweetness but also teasing, departing from a style pioneered by her elder sister Lata. If Lata was pitch-perfect and honeyed, Asha presented a bolder, more playful portrayal of Indian womanhood.

Born Asha Mangeshkar on September 8, 1933, near Sangli in Maharashtra, she grew up in a family steeped in music. Her father Dinanath Mangeshkar was a well-known classical vocalist and stage actor. He trained all his children—Lata, Meena, Usha and Hridaynath—in classical music.

When Dinanath died young, Lata began supporting her siblings through her singing. Asha made her debut as a child artist in a Marathi film in 1943 and recorded her first Hindi song in 1948. That makes her singing career about eight decades long, a record by any world standards.

The two Mangeshkar sisters—Lata and Asha—ruled the Hindi film industry for about half a century, and produced some of India’s biggest hits. Lata’s songs were impeccably sung, but her post-’80s songs, even in the estimation of her most ardent fans, were not her best. Asha, on the other hand, reigned longer and with far greater versatility. Where Lata’s voice embodied the conventional ideal of the Indian woman—pious, long-suffering, and self-sacrificing—Asha infused Hindi film songs with intoxication and seductiveness.

Asha’s breakthrough came with O P Nayyar, who openly preferred her over Lata. Their collaboration produced some of her most memorable early hits: the sultry ‘Aaiye meherbaan’ (Howrah Bridge, 1958), and the lilting ‘Deewana hua badal.’ Nayyar’s Latin-inflected rhythms suited Asha’s lively expression. ‘Jaaiye aapa kahan jaayenge’ (Mere Sanam, 1965) is perhaps the crown jewel of their collaborative work.

Her later partnership with R D Burman—whom she married after a long personal and professional association—pushed her boundaries further. Together they brought pop energy and dramatic flourishes into film songs. The pulsating Aaja aaja from Teesri Manzil (1966) remains an evergreen favourite: in it, Asha’s exaggerated breathing becomes its unforgettable hook.

Asha’s most famous songs now represent the rebellious girls of another era, and that is how we continue to hear the cabaret classic Piya tu ab to aaja (Caravan, 1971), the psychedelic Dum maaro dum (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), the charming ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko’ (Yaadon Ki Baarat, 1973), and songs millennials have enjoyed on the big screen--’Tanha tanha’ and ’Hai Rama mein kya karoon’ from Rangeela (1995). Asha was 62 when she sang these youthful songs for A R Rahman.

Not many may know the full extent of her versatility. Her 1996 album Legacy with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan showcased her effortless command of classical ragas, drawing on the training she had received from her father. She handled ancient bandishes and taranas with the same ease she brought to her dance numbers.

Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali gave her some of her most complex tunes; on their joint album Meraj-e-Ghazal, Asha matched his intricate improvisations unerringly, proving yet again that her music, often massy, could switch to being classy without missing a note.

Any list of greatest Indian film songs is sure to feature Asha’s solos, as also her duets with other stalwarts. Although she sang with Mukesh, Manna Dey, and Talat Mehmood, she was paired more often with Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi.

Asha overcame personal hardship—an early, unhappy marriage to Ganpatrao Bhosle ended in separation. She raised three children, travelled the world for her live shows, and ran a chain of restaurants in West Asia and the UK. She was recording well into her last years.

A record book ranks her as world’s most recorded artiste. Her achievements--about 12,000 songs in 20 languages including Kannada--place her among world’s most loved and celebrated singers. Her songs—naughty, theatrical, defiant—will play on for a long time to come.

(The author is a music buff)