Asha Bhosle enriched the idea of the female voice

Versatility, more often than not, is considered proof of competence but not of greatness. For years, playback singer Asha Bhosle, who died at 92 on Sunday in Mumbai, worked in the shadow of her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar’s fame. Mangeshkar’s voice defined the film industry’s ideal of femininity embodied by the heroine. While she idolised Mangeshkar, Bhosle also sought the same summit. The route to prove her mettle took her through the leftovers unwanted by other singers, mostly bawdy pieces picturised on the vamp. Bhosle took them all: The cabaret, the flirtatious number, rhythm-driven tunes and gave them her everything, finding her full expression with composers OP Nayyar and RD Burman. She opened up the idea of the female voice, gave it a new sound and timbre. She used her breath as an instrument, as in “Aaja aaja main hoon pyaar tera” from Teesri Manzil (1966) and “Piya tu ab toh aaja” in Caravan (1971). She made the tipsy song a badge of honour — “Dum maaro dum” from Haré Rama Haré Krishna (1971), among many others.

The nation was enthralled, but Bhosle wanted more. That is when Muzaffar Ali got her to sing for Umrao Jaan, the story of a 19th-century courtesan set in Awadh in its twilight years. The result was a slew of ghazals, Khayyam’s compositions that remain some of the finest in the genre. Bhosle won her first National Award for Umrao Jaan, when she had been singing for more than 30 years. In 1997, she earned her first Grammy nomination for Legacy, a collaboration with the sarod giant and her guru, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Her second nomination came in 2006. David Harrington of Kronos Quartet, her collaborator, presented her at Carnegie Hall thus: “It has been like introducing an Indian version of Elvis to a whole new generation.”

Bhosle made her debut in the Marathi industry at 10 with “Chala chala” in Majha Bal (1943). Her Hindi solo came in Jagdish Sethi’s Raat Ki Rani (1949), but it was BR Chopra’s Naya Daur (1957) and Nayyar’s compositions that catapulted her career to new heights. Bhosle will be remembered, for both her ambition and her playfulness, and for the abandon with which she sang, even at her 90th birthday performance. She was the playback singer who changed the Hindi film industry by staying with her conviction and labouring tirelessly. Her formative influence on mainstream music will endure.