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Asha Bhosle: Lata Mangeshkar
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According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bhosle is the world's most recorded artist. Born in 1933, her career began when she was a very young girl, as she and her sister worked to support their family after their father Dinanath Mangeshkar's death. However, her first taste of real stardom came in 1957 with the release of the film Naya Daur, whose music was composed by OP Nayyar; the same year, when popular composer SD Burman had a falling out with his favorite singer, Asha's sister Lata Mangeshkar, Bhosle became Burman's muse of choice. Over the following decades, she went on to collaborate with such luminary composers as RD Burman—her husband from 1980 until his death in 1994—and AR Rahman; in fact, one of her biggest films was 1995's Rangeela, the first Hindi-language movie for which AR Rahman wrote the score.
Bhosle was always made to feel second fiddle, described more often as a plodder than a genius -- even, albeit unintentionally, by her family. Says younger brother and composer Hridayanath Mangeshkar: "She was not gifted like Lata tai, she had an ordinary voice but she worked at it, and has carved her own niche after a long struggle." There have been exceptions. Like music director Naushad, who says: "The sum total of Asha's achievements could be more than Lata's. Time has not touched her voice, she can please pop lovers with rap and remix. At the same time, she has the ability to match the tunes of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan." Yet, son Anand feels she has still not been given official recognition in the form of, say, a Padma Shree. Anand, who navigates his mother's career, says: "Unlike mausi (aunt), she doesn't think with her mind, but with her heart.
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Asha has worked with Lata-patrons like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Naushad, Ravindra Jain, N Dutta, Hemant Kumar. Once when Naushad was asked to sum up the essential difference between Lata and Asha, he said that Asha "lacks certain something which Lata, and Lata alone has". Later he accepted in an interview, "May be I said it because I then had a closed ear on Asha".[9] Naushad, later in his life... admitted that he has been unfair to Asha Bhonsle. Asha has also worked with other noted Bollywood composers like Jatin Lalit, Bappi Lahiri, Kalyanji-Anandji, Usha Khanna, Chitragupt, and Roshan.
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It was like virtuosity that Asha brought to the rendition of 'Mera Kuchch saamaan tumhaare paas pada hai', the R.D. Burman composition for Gulzar's 'Ijaazat' that won her the National Award as Best Singer. At this point, there were quite a few who felt that Asha was not just Lata's peer, but had forged ahead of her. It had taken Asha the best part of 35 years to do it, for decades she had laboured under the complex that she was the lesser singer, because she was the lesser sister.
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Like her older sister Lata Mangeshkar, Asha ... initially did a small stint as a child artist. But being trained in classical music by her father Dinanath Mangeshkar it was more natural she too turn to playback singing like Lata did.
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Moving to Bombay after the death of her father, nine-year-old Asha and her elder sister started singing and acting in films to support their family. Lata got a head start on the “heroine†roles , while Asha did not hesitate to sing for the bad girls and vamps.
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Lata Mangeshkar