Born in 1933 as the second child of Deenanath and Shevanthi Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle always had to face the tag of being the ‘second best’, with Lata Mangeshkar as the ‘number one’ playback star in Bombay cinema. Both sisters entered the industry in the 1940s at a time when the playback system was getting established as standard practice in the industry. The first ten years of Bhosle’s career were marked by struggle, both in her personal and professional life. By the early 1950s, Lata Mangeshkar had established her vocal prowess in the industry and only a few songs came into Bhosle’s kitty. This is the time when Bhosle established a foothold in the industry by singing for contingent bodies and marginal figures. For instance, Bhosle became the preferred voice for children’s songs: ‘Nanhe munne bachche’ and ‘John chacha tum kitne achche’; (Boot Polish), ‘Dedi humein azadi bina khadak bina dhaal’ (Jagriti); and ‘Chanda mama door ke’ (Vachan) became popular on radio countdown shows. Interestingly, the first Filmfare award that Bhosle received was for ‘Garibon ki suno’, a song filmed on children seeking alms in Dus Lakh in 1966.
By the second half of the 1950s, Bhosle was slowly making her mark in the industry by singing sultry mujra numbers and nightclub songs. In Raj Kapoor’s Sri 420, she sang ‘Mud mud ke na dekh’ for Nadira, playing the role of a westernised vamp that left an indelible mark. Over the years, it was this genre that helped her forge her own unique style of singing, distinct from all the other female playback singers of her time. With an emphasis on tone and rhythm and by foregrounding non-verbal expressions, Bhosle became a rage with her uninhibited style in songs like ‘Aiye meherbaan’ (Howrah Bridge), Jiyo aur jeene do (Taxi Driver), ‘Kya ho jo din rangeela ho’ (Nau do Gyarah), and ‘Ui itni badi mehfil’ (Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi). This era was the time when singers recorded live with the musicians, and one can feel how Bhosle attuned herself to the Afro-American beats and the jazz-inflected sounds of the accordions and the brass bands. Her partnership with O.P. Nayyar brought her into the limelight as the heroine’s voice in films like Naya Daur, Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Howrah Bridge, Mere Sanam and Kashmir Ki Kali.
Two composers who played a seminal role in her career through the late 1950s and the ‘60s are Ravi and S.D. Burman. In Waqt, Asha sang ‘Aage bhi jaane na tu’, a five-and-a-half-minute song for Ravi with Sahir Ludhianvi’s lyrics that encapsulated the entire philosophy of the film. Bhosle’s voice expresses a range of emotions, including desire, vulnerability and an uncertain future. Bhosle became the chosen voice for S.D. Burman when Lata Mangeshkar and Burman fell out with each other. This five-year period gave us some of Bhosle’s greatest songs filmed with the leading stars of the industry: ‘Deewana mastana hua dil, Dekhne mein bhola hai’ (Bambai Ka Babu), ‘Kaali ghata chhaaye’ (Sujata), ‘Ga mere man ga’ (Lajwanti), ‘Achcha ji main hari’ (Kala Pani) and ‘Aaja panchi akela hai’ (Nau Do Gyarah). In Bandini, Lata came back into the fold, but Bhosle left her mark with ‘O panchi pyaare’ and ‘Ab ke baras bhej’.
Duet songs became her forte as her animated and teasing voice brought out the best in her co-singers in a reciprocal form of singing, listening, and responding. Bhosle’s duets with both Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar in songs like ‘Ude jab jab zulfein’ (Naya Daur), ‘Abhi na jao chod ke’ (Hum Dono), ‘Haal kaisa hai janaab ka’ (Chalti Ka Naam gaadi), ‘Chod do anchal’ (Paying Guest), ‘Ina mina dika’ (Asha), ‘Arre yaar meri’ (Teen Deviyan) and ‘Deewana hua baadal’ (Kashmir Ki Kali) are etched in our memory because they brought a dynamic quality to the performance of the actors on screen. In ‘Jaanu jaanu re’ (Insaan Jaag Utha), Bhosle added peals of laughter as Geeta Dutt responds with her pronounced nasal twang, adding to the pleasure of the song performed by Madhubala and Minoo Mumtaz on screen.
In dance-based numbers, her facility with rhythm and voice modulation helped actors to create a repertoire of micro-gestures, emphasising facial expressions, hand gestures, and eye movements, as seen in songs like ‘Nazar lagi raja’ (Kala Pani), ‘Meri jaan o meri jaan’ (Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam), ‘Nadi naare na jao shyam’ (Mujhe Jeene do) and ‘Khat likh de’ (Aye Din Bahaar Ke). An unforgettable number in this category is ‘Jhumka gira re’ (Mera Saaya), a playful song that describes a woman’s dalliance with her lover in a bazaar. An interesting moment in the song is an intrusion of a male voice to ask ‘phir kya hua’ (then what happened?) towards the end of each antara. Bhosle’s vocal rendering while replying to that question brought out the thrill of the song through a variety of expressions.
The 1970s were marked by an explosion of Bhosle’s cabaret songs. This genre got a fresh lease of life with Teesri Manzil (1966), a musical chartbuster by R.D. Burman. A hallmark of Bhosle’s style in cabaret numbers was the use of obtrusive breathing, volatile shifts in the pitch and elaborate use of non-verbal sounds and vocal inflections like whispering, breathing and grunting sounds, adding to the edginess of songs like ‘Piya tu ab to’ (Caravan), ‘Aao na gale’ (Mere Jeevan Saathi), ‘Kaanp rahi mai’ and ‘Sharmana yun’ (Joshilay), ‘Mera naam hai Shabbo’ (Kati Patang) and ‘Aaj ki raat’ (Anamika), ‘Sapna mera toot gaya’ (Khel Khel Mein). But Bhosle’s dynamic, creative partnership with R.D. Burman yielded innumerable iconic songs beyond the space of the night club. Songs such as ‘Dum maro dum’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), ‘Chura liya’ and ‘Apke kamre mein’ (Yaadon ki Baraat) quickly gained popularity among the youth in the ‘70s, propelling Zeenat Aman to iconic stardom. A few years later, the defiant registers in Bhosle’s voice found a new expression in ‘Hum kisi se kam nahin’. Almost five minutes into the qawwali, Bhosle’s aural intrusion adds drama as Zeenat Aman starts walking towards the stage, declaring her love for Rishi Kapoor, singing lines like ‘yeh nahi samjho, samjho, ki hum mein dum nahin dum nahin.’
A unique form associated with Bhosle’s vocal style is the sound track of opening credit sequences of R. D. Burman’s films like Caravan declaring a new sensibility that combined urbanity with modernity. In Raja Rani, the voices of Bhosle and Bhupinder Singh map the cityscape with ‘Jab andhera hota hai’, marking it as a place of danger, anxiety as well as adventure.
If the 1970s were a decade of defiance for women as vocalised by Bhosle for stars like Zeenat, the 1980s brought her in creative partnership with Rekha in Gulzar and R.D. Burman’s Ijazat and Muzaffar Ali and Khayyam’s Umrao Jaan. In the latter, Bhosle agreed to sing at a lower pitch to bring out the right tonal inflections to match the character’s performance on screen, and the result was magical in songs like ‘In ankhon ki masti’ and ‘Justju jiski thi.’
The songs mentioned above point to Bhosle’s versatility as well as her unrivalled command over sensuous numbers. However, this list would be incomplete without referring to songs that she sang for queer and contingent bodies. Bhosle was always the preferred choice for songs performed by men and women during acts of cross-dressing. Notable amongst these are ‘Kajra mohabbatwala’ (Kismat), ‘Reshmi salwar kurta jaali da’ (Naya Daur), ‘Chahe koi bandook chalaye’, filmed on O.P. Ralhan (Pyaar ka Sagar) and ‘Chuk chuk chak chak’, performed by Paintal (Rafoo Chakkar). These songs display Bhosle's availability for all types of gendered bodies, eschewing in the process the anchoring of the female voice exclusively to a normative female body. Undoubtedly, Bhosle’s corporeal style of singing operated as a transgressive sonic and visual force not only for a diverse range of female characters in Bombay cinema but also for all kinds of gendered and contingent bodies on screen.
(Views expressed are personal)
Shikha Jhingan is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University
