Greeting her happy birthday on her 82st birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933)
Asha Bhosle’s position in the early 1950s was very unenviable. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had debuted as a playback singer (Aap Ki Sewa Mein; 1947) only a year before her (Chunariya; 1948), but the former stormed the music scene in 1949 as a Tsunami wave, emerging soon as The Female Playback Singer. While most of the vintage singers disappeared fast, some of the early era stalwarts like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya and Geeta Dutt were holding their own. In this scenario, it was difficult for Asha Bholse to make a space for herself. The two dominant composers of the era, Naushad and C Ramchandra, were even more firmly on Lata Mangeshkar bandwagon. They gave a look-up to Asha Bhosle very sparingly in the early years. My view is that they came to Asha Bhosle in later years, especially in the case of C Ramchandra, reluctantly.
Hans has used a term ‘Sister Tax’ Asha Bhosle had to pay, but ironically she has to thank her elder sister for the big breaks she got. One of the big five, OP Nayyar, completely excluded Lata Mangeshkar because of some serious spat, as the popular lore goes (or purely for musical reasons, as some would suggest), and having moved on form Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, settled firmly with Asha Bhsole. She was for him what Lata Mangeshkar was for C Ramchandra. Similarly, Lata Mangeshkar’s widely written-about rift with SD Burman created a big opening for her. Further, when her personal relationship with CR collapsed, this also signalled the collapse of their professional relationship, creating opportunities for Asha Bhosle with him, resulting in some prestigious projects like Navrang.
Lata Mangeshkar’s dissociation with Naushad is more subtle. This started at the turn of the decade from 60s to 70s, when the Great Mughal’s reign had all but ended (someone has said she had a sense of timing). But from quite early, he gave Asha Bhosle songs off and on, including some outstanding mujras, that fitted her singing style. Naushad gave some 40 songs for Asha Bhosle, which was about 25% of his songs for Lata Mangeshkar.
C Ramchandra, on the other hand, composed far more songs for her, about 120. In relative terms also, it is significantly higher – about 40% of his 300 odd songs for Lata Mangeshkar. The higher number in absolute terms is because he did many more films and songs than Naushad, albeit with a larger share of indifferent scores. The higher relative share of Asha Bhosle songs is explained by the fact that Lata Mangeshkar severed her association with C Ramchandra at the end of 50s when he was still at his creative best, i.e. at least a decade earlier than she did with Naushad, affecting him severely.
Songs of Yore is celebrating 2015 as the year of Naushad, and is also looking at his most worthy rival C Ramchandra. I have compared and contrasted them with regard to various singers. Asha Bhosle is another singer with whom there are similarities in their association as I have explained. She has a huge fan following, many regarding her no less than her elder sister. I am an inveterate fan of Lata Mangeshkar, but I find that a parallel Asha Bhsole Fan Club has come up on Songs of Yore (that is called true democracy 
). Naushad and CR may have gone to her reluctantly, but they did manage to compose several outstanding songs for her. Here is my birthday greetings to her on her 82st birth anniversary with their songs for her (solos). Since they composed some outstanding duets, too, I would try to present their duets in Part 2.
1. Ik baat kahun mere piya sun le agar tu from Amar (1954), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
This seems to be the first song Naushad did for Asha Bhosle. This was at the peak of Naushad-Lata Mangeshkar association. The melody is typical of what he would have created for the latter. My presumption is that he would have meant it as a Lata Mangeshkar song, and would have done it in Asha Bhosle’s voice for some reasons we do not know. The song is quite good, but not in the class of the songs by Lata Mangeshkar in the film.
2. Ina mina dika from Asha (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra
CR, too, takes Asha Bhosle in 1954 itself, and we find the songs of this combination regularly since then in films like Kavi, Meenar, Pahli Jhalak (1954); Insaniyat, Lutera (1955); Shatranj (1957) etc. None of the songs of the early period I could regard as a landmark. Then comes Ina mina dika, a twin song (male version by Kishore Kumar), in which both CR and Asha Bhosle are in their elements. Listen to this timeless Rock n’ Roll.
3. Tora man bada paapi sanwariya re from Gunga Jumna (1961), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
Naushad now creates a song for Asha Bhosle. A beautiful classical based mujra song. It takes you to the days when the courtesan singers were not only pleasure women (in many cases they were not), but pucca singers, with thorough training in classical music.
4. Lahraye jiya bal khaye jiya from Sharda (1957), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra
This song also lends itself to speculation whether C Ramchandra had meant it for Lata Mangeshkar. By this period their relationship had started coming under strain. But Asha Bhsole does a very competent job.
5. Haye haye rasiya tu bada bedardi from Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
I would call it a great Asha Bhosle song. It is clear Naushad has created this tune specifically for her. The film bombed either because of poor story line, or because of getting hopelessly delayed due to Dilip Kumar’s fetish for perfection, but the songs are memorable, this being one of them.
6. Tum sainya gulab ke phool from Navrang (1959), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music C Ramchnadra
This is a major Shantaram venture after he lost his vision in the bullfight scene in Do Ankhen Barah Haath. The metaphor of nine colours was his way of moving on in life after that mishap, by showcasing the beauty of colours which we see by our eyes. Asha Bhosle has to carry this major project on her shoulders as the lead singer. She has already established her presence in a big way with OP Nayyar’s Naya Daur (1957). Here is quite a fast paced song with her typical khanak, picturised on an ebullient Sandhya, as Mohini of Mahipal’s imagination. As his wife Jamuna, however, she was an irritatingly nagging, plainly dressed woman.
7. Dil haarne wale aur bi hain from Dil Diya Dard Liya
You might wonder why Naushad didn’t compose more songs for Asha Bhosle. It is clear he has discovered her real niche, and could have done an SD Burman. But he had no compelling reason because Lata Mangeshmar didn’t have one of the famous spats with him. Looking at such outstanding Naushad-Asha Bhosle songs, their small number made me use the term ‘reluctantly’.
8. Aa dil se dil mila le from Navrang
If you think Naushad can compose two excellent Asha Bhosle songs in the same film, C Ramchandra does it in Navrang. He, however, switches tack from fast and peppy to a slower classical dance based song. Mahipal has an escape mechanism of seeing his plain, nagging wife as the attractive Mohini of his imagination.
9. Tasweer-e-mohabbat thi jis mein humne wo sheesha tod diya from Sunghursh (1968), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
This is the cut-off year from which, in my view, Naushad was overstaying his welcome. Jignesh does not agree with me. He has sent me links of some “absolutely superb” songs of later years, but I have not been able to gather courage to listen to them (sorry Jignesh, but you should not be deterred by my prejudices). One would not count it as a landmark song, but quite pleasant to listen to.
10. Main teri dil tera re mitwa from Tasweer (1966), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music C Ramchandra
In 1965, CR-Asha Bhosle had a more well known, superb twin song Dil laga kar hum ye samjhe in Zindagi Aur Maut. I wouldn’t be surprised if my friend, Arvind, and some more members of the self-created Asha Bhosle Fan Club, say that Asha Bhosle’s version is better. In my opinion, obviously, Mahendra Kapoor’s is way ahead. But why get into a controversy. In any case that song has been mentioned earlier in my Twin songs. I end with a somewhat less-known song, but which must be a delight for Asha Bhosle fans. It is my favourite too. As a bonus to boot, the song is in two versions, happy and sad.
Happy version
Sad version