TAG | bollywood song
Of all the bollywood song artists, Asha Bhosle is undoubtedly the greatest bollywood singer of all times. Although, Asha got her due that she actually deserved much later, the way Asha managed to carve her own niche at a time when prominent playback singers like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Lata Mangeshkar (her sister) monopolized the singing for the big films.
Asha Bhosle used to sing song which they discarded thus singing for the bad girls or songs in the second-grade movies. At the age of 16, Asha married Ganpatrao Bhosle, against her family’s wishes who was the then secretary of Lata Mangeshkar. The marriage failed miserably. In the 1950s, Asha struggled as a singer, getting oppurtunities only in low budget B or C-grade films.
She also managed to sing a few songs in the mainstream bollywoood movies, but unfortunately didn’t do well. However she got her recognition as a chance to to sing in the movie Parineeta (1953). Then Raj Kapoor signed her to sing the song Nanhe Munne Bachche with Mohammed Rafi in Boot Polish (1954). These two movies acted like a launchpad for Asha.
Everything in bollywood changed, She gave a unique voice to the bollywood songs. Movies like C.I.D. (1956), Naya Daur (1957), Waqt, Gumraah, Humraaz, Aadmi Aur Insaan, Dhund etc. made Asha the most sought after singer in the bollywood film industry. She started working with the legendary music composers like S.D Burman, Ravi, R.D Burman. In 1960s and 1970s, she became the voice of Bollywood’s most famous dancer, Helen. Helen would attend her recording sessions so that she could understand the song better and plan dance steps accordingly.
She won the first National Award of her career for the song “Umrao Jaan” in which she proved her versatility by singing ghazals like Dil cheez kya hai, In aankhon ki masti ke and Justuju jiski mesimerizing the audience with the great music director Khayyam. Her second National Award for the song Mera Kuchh Saamaan from Ijaazat (1987) proved her mettle loud and strong.
