Sunday, September 28, 2003		In The Spotlight

I have known Ashatai all my life, since I was born, in fact. There was this Marathi lori of hers called Bala jojore which I remember hearing right from childhood. Marathi films were very much a part of our culture, as also Hindi films. I’ve always adored her because I felt hers is a voice with a face similar to Barbara Streisand or Mariah Callas. Whether it is a stage natyageet, a classical number, a geet or a bhajan or even a cabaret number, she does justice to it because she pours her heart into it. She holds the record for being the highest recorded artiste ever in the history of recorded songs. At the age of 70, to do 14 shows in three weeks all over the USA and the Caribbean speaks not only of her energy and youthfulness, but also to a large extent her zest for life. I feel she deserves far more recognition. Sadly, she hasn’t got a single official citation apart from the Dadasaheb Phalke award.

Ashatai is a wonderful human being, not to mention her versatile musicality. The complexities of various musical forms, whether Indian classical, Latino, opera or jazz, are stored in her mind and whenever she gets an opportunity she asks the permission of the composer and tries to impart a little bit of it to enhance the quality of the song. She is a superb stage performer, her concerts are never dull. The beautiful recounting of anecdotes makes Asha Bhosle shows so very special.

Through the years she has changed her style. She was a classically trained singer, who did a lot of filmi songs and then moved to doing rather avante garde music with Pancham (Rahul Dev Barman). She has moved with the times. She doesn’t think that remixes of her old songs, which she does herself, is a bad thing.

I remember, I was about 10 when I heard her natyageet which was a reinvention of what her father sang. Then when I was in college I heard Dum Maro Dum from Hare Rama Hare Krishna and I thought, ‘God! This is not the regular kind of Hindi music.’ Then in the mid-80s, there was her ghazal with Ghulam Ali. It was a period when I was just leaving Lintas and starting off as a freelance photographer. Apart from that, she has also always been there---with those favourite O.P. Nayyar melodies, the Kashmir Ki Kali songs, duets with Mohammad Rafi--it’s too rich a tapestry to pull out one particular thread.

It was in 1983 around her 50th birthday that I had met her. I had called her about an article with pictures for a magazine. She agreed immediately. To be very honest, when I had to photograph her she was nervous in the beginning. After the second session, I suggested that she come over to my flat because I had many accessories which I couldn’t possibly bring over. I gave her a little makeover and the result was stunning. Today, she’s a wonderful model and it’s a pleasure shooting her. She has gained a lot of confidence. Meanwhile we’ve gone long past the photographer-celebrity journalist relationship. She’s like an aunt to me. I lost the aunt who had brought me up and Ashatai assured me, ‘As long as I’m alive you don’t have to worry, you’ll always have an aunt.’

I have been to a lot of Ashatai’s recordings and I know that she can detect a flaw even when the music director passes it. You know that voices get tired after sometime but she’s like Rekha. Rekha warms up after a few hours of work and becomes better. With Ashatai it’s like that, her voice gets mellower and richer while other voices get tired.

Though the Mangeshkar sisters’ voices may have been God’s gift, they have sweated to be where they are today. However, because of her stormy personal life, Ashatai had a very hard time in the 50s. About twelve years of her career just went past. Later, she made up the loss by teaming with Pancham and the new composers like A. R. Rahman. Her non-filmi songs are sensational too.

Ashatai is talented in many other ways. Though it’s singing that has brought her fame, she’s a great cook, a good writer too. She loves to feed people.

I have met many celebrities but I find that she’s the only person who does what she says. Her lack of diplomacy is endearing to me though it may have hurt a few others. On the other hand, I’ve never heard her say a nasty word about anyone. TWF

(As told to Lata Khubchandani)