The queen of versatility and indipop, Asha Bhosle was nothing less than an institution for every Indian out there. While her prowess lied in the musical field, the impact and significance she held spanned all across. On Sunday morning, the golden voice of India bid farewell and the nation mourned the immeasurable void she has left behind.
Asha Bhosle was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in South Mumbai on Saturday evening for suffering from extreme exhaustion and chest infection, as revealed her granddaughter Zanai Bhosle. She breathed her last on Sunday morning and was 92 at the time of her passing.
Born into the musical family of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, Bhosle and her late sister, the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, ruled the Indian music scene for decades. She sang her first film song, Chala Chala Nav Bala for the Marathi film Majha Bal (1943), and made her Hindi film singing debut with Saawan Aaya for Hansraj Behl’s Chunariya (1948).
Known for not conforming to the norms, Bhosle’s life, both personally and professionally, was filled with unusual instances. At the age of 16, she eloped with the 31-year-old Ganpatrao Bhosle, who was working as her sister’s secretary at the time, and married him against her family’s wishes. The marriage even created a rift between the sisters but eventually, the two patched up. And Bhosle even found love again with the late composer Rahul Dev Burman aka RD Burman. The two married in 1980 and faced challenges in their marriage too, but were each other’s support system till the latter passed away in 1994.
Professionally too, Bhosle broke new grounds as she didn’t limit herself to just playback singing for films. In her career spanning over eight decades, she dabbled into over 20 languages, even did international collaborations, got nominated for the Grammys, and by 2006, had recorded over 12000 songs. She also gave some of the most memorable ad jingles to the Indian audiences including the ones for Rasna and Hindustan Unilever. At the age of 80, she ventured into acting with the 2013 movie Mai.
Bhosle was known for being an icon to every generation as she never limited herself. Be it performing actor Vicky Kaushal’s hookstep of Tauba Tauba (Bad Newzz, 2023) on stage or just revving up the crowd with her voice modulations, Bhosle was, is and will always remain an icon that the world would never forget.
