Late Lata Mangeshkar and her sister, Asha Bhosle, have always been two of the most evergreen singers in the Hindi film industry. The relationship between the two sisters was seen as one of rivalry as Lata and Asha were in the same music industry. However, do you know there was a time when Asha Bhosle had admitted to feeling overshadowed by Lata. Sister, which had made her rethink her future as a singer.
Asha Bhosle had to change her voice as she sounded similar to Lata Mangeshkar, which proved to be a threat.
A report by the SCREEN noted that when Asha Bhosle was young, she had to learn to change her voice and experiment with a variety of songs, including film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalisand Rabindra Sangeet. Asha is a Guinness World Record holder for recording 12,000 songs in, like, 20 varied languages and has also been a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Vibhushan.
When Asha Bhosle’s voice was mistaken for Lata Mangeshkar’s and vice versa
Earlier, in an interview with India Today, Asha Bhosle had remembered how a production man had made a silly mistake that had turned her entire life. Asha had said that she came from a family of musicians. Right from her sister to her father, everyone was a singer. She remembered an incident in which her voice was very similar to Sister (Lata Mangeshkar). Initially, when she crooned, her voice sounded the same as Didi’s. In her words:
“Once a man called me. During those days, music records would not have the name of the singers but actors. So the actor in that particular film was Asha (Parekh), and so the record was tentatively titled Asha Pictures. He mistook Didi’s voice to mine. He said, ‘Yeh Asha ka gaana hai’, I clarified right then, ‘No, its not me. Its my sister’s song. Then he apologized and was like, ‘My bad’.”
Asha Bhosle was scared of not getting work till the time Lata Mangeshkar was in the business
Asha Bhosle further revealed that this incident had given her many sleepless nights. Asha has been the voice behind classic songs such as Come on come on from Teesri Manzil, Oh my gold again from the same movie, Piya tu ab to aaja (caravan), Do Lafzon Ki Kahani Don). Asha, speaking on seeing Lata as a competitor, had said:
“I thought to myself, if I will continue to sing in a similar voice to didi, then I will never get work as long as didi is in the business. I won’t have a name and fame of my own. After this incident, I began to change my style of singing. I started to watch English movies to learn western songs, observe how they would sing in English. I also learned how to sing Qawwali, Ghazal, the voice modulations needed in different form of singing. I started to learn it all.”
Asha Bhosle had admitted to having competition with Lata Mangeshkar
Well, in the same interview, Asha Bhosle revealed that whenever she recorded with Sistershe had to be extremely conscious. Asha had mentioned that she had to be prepared for what different thing she would add to this song this time. The Disco Station The singer noted that they had a thing for adding their own touch to the songs they crooned, so she used to be worried about what new thing she would add. There was pressure to make an equal effort to add something new to the song, to leave her indelible mark. In her words:
“There was definitely a competition between us. It was a healthy one. This (competition) enhanced our songs.”
What are your views on Asha Bhosle’s revelation of not getting work till the time Lata Mangeshkar was in the business?
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