Chhoti Si Asha...

Shreekant Sambrani tells himself over and over again, don't lose heart in these dire times, there is asha (hope) still, in the divine voice of Asha Bhosle.

Picture these scenes:

A young man is distraught at losing his mother. His girl soothes his troubled brow by crooning softly, "Jahan mein aisa kaun hai, jis ko gham mila nahin..."

A woman prisoner serving a long sentence in a jail with no hope of release, rues wistfully, "Abke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul..."

A courtesan in the nineteenth century Lucknow sings her own composition to earn her living, wiping a tear as her back is turned to the audience, "Yeh kya jagah hai doston...."

A young woman recalls her time with her lover, "Mera kuchh saaman tumhare paas pada hai..."

A nautanki dancer in rural Bihar sings, much to the chagrin of the simpleton bullock-cart driver who has given her a ride, "Paan khaye saiyan hamaro..."

A socialite in a club tries to lure back a simple man whose girl has left him being uncomfortable in the nouveau riche false surroundings, "Mud mud ke na dekh mud mud ke..."

A young hippie girl gyrates to a strong guitar riff in a hash-smoke filled dive, "Dum maro dum"

A young woman complains about her cheating beau, "Chain se hum ko kabhi aap ne jeene na diya..."

The list can fill many another page. What is common to it?

The divine voice of Asha Bhosle, who turns 91 today (September 8, 2024), our very last link to the golden age of classic Hindi cinema, which reached its peak in the 1950s-1960s.

Asha was sometimes considered the lesser of the two Mangeshkar sisters, God's gifts to this poor benighted land of ours. That is simply not true and plain unjust.

In singing abilities, tonal range and voice control, she was every bit as versatile as Lata, and truth to tell, often excelled her.

Unlike Lata, she threw no tantrums, worked with every composer and film-maker, including those often considered B-grade, sang every song offered to her with the minimum of fuss and finally ended up a vastly larger portfolio of songs than her sister's.

And as the above list shows, her voice suited most A-list heroines, from Wahida Rehman to Sadhana to Asha Parekh to Rekha to Zeenat Aman, not to mention Madhubala, Nutan, Mumtaz and everyone else in between.

In fact, Shammi Kapoor is reported to have said that if Mohammed Rafi was not to sing for him, he would have preferred Asha!

But she suffered from the curse of being the second. No matter what you achieve, you will always be the second.

Ask Rahul Dravid. In any other country and at any other time, he would have been considered second to none, but here that spot was permanently sealed for Sachin Tendulkar.

It is the greatness of both Asha Bhosle and Rahul Dravid that they graciously accepted this reality and always bowed to their senior.

I don't mean to make comparisons, because that would be most unfair, but certain facts must be noted.

Lata, almost right from the start of her career with Barsaat, had the best of composers -- Naushad, Anil Biswas, C Ramchandra, S D Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan -- offering her their choicest songs, as if they were waiting for the voice they had conjured up in their best dreams.

Asha, on the hand, was nobody's go-to girl. She got the left-overs of not just Lata, but also of Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum.

And yet, she ended up shaping careers such as that of O P Nayyar and dragged him out of the realm of budget films to the top tier.

When their partnership ended, O P Nayyar was 76 and remarked that Asha was the most important person in his life. That is no hyperbole.

One can easily see the differences between Nayyar's music before his teaming with Asha and after.

The latter phase is much richer and has come to define Nayyar's uniqueness.

The two sisters sang together some memorable songs.

Even a seasoned listener would find hard to tell their voices apart in O chand jahan wo jaye (Sharada) or Chhap tilak (Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki) or Man kyun behka (Utsav).

There is a gem of recordingS of interviews with Asha, R D Burman and Gulzar, which is occasionally broadcast on Vividh Bharati.

Asha asks, with only half a complaining tone, as to why Burman the composer and Gulzar the poet favoured Lata.

The two together answered back that they saved their most difficult compositions for Asha, which no one else could sing.

That is absolutely true. Listen to Mera kuchh saamaan penned by Gulzar and composed by Burman.

Or the Burman pere song, Mera gora rang lai le from Bandini, which was a peace offering to Lata after a five year rift between the two, and Ab ke baras from the same film sung by Asha.

Some songs were just meant for Asha!

And that list must include all five songs of Asha's in Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan: Yeh kya jagah hai doston, Justju jiski thi, Dil kya cheez hai, In ankhonki masti ke, and Jab bhi milti hai.

Khayyam, who had given two memorable Mukesh-Asha duets in Phir Subah Hogi (Woh subah kabhi to aayegi, Dekhiye aapne phir pyaar se dekha mujh ko) asked Asha to lower her pitch by half a note, and magic happened.

Those five songs have a symphonic aura, both in lyrics and music, something absolutely rare in Hindi cinema.

The film is remembered as much for the songs as for Rekha's performance in the title role.

I have often wondered why no one ever thought of dubbing an edited version (keeping intact the songs) in English and calling it The Last Courtesan. It would be an instant hit.

Jaidev is another composer who made wonderful use of Asha. His songs from Hum Dono, Mujhe Jeene Do and Do Boond Paani are uniquely Asha.

And the best of them are Nazar lagi raja tore bungale par and Dil laga ke kadar gayi pyaare (though not credited to Jaidev, as he was assisting S D Burman) are again the best kotha songs ever.

Asha has sung in most other Indian languages as well.

The most memorable ones are her renditions of natya sangeet (songs from musical theatre) of her father Master Dinanath Mangeshkar.

Listen to Yuvati mana darun ran from the play Maanapman.

In just three-and-a-half minutes, Asha reaches the heights of classical singing, accompanied by just the harmonium and the tabla, easily matching any maestro you care to name.

So I tell myself over and over again, don't lose heart in these dire times, there is asha (hope) still, in the divine voice of Asha Bhosle.

Try it. I guarantee it will lift the lowest of spirits.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com