I first met Asha tai for a duet for a film called Dhakti Mehuni (1978). The song was composed by Ram Kinkar. She asked me where I was from and I said though I was from Mumbai, my roots are in Kolhapur. She said she also was from Kolhapur, having spent a considerable time there. She asked me who my guru was, and I said Pandit Jiyalal Vasant. She encouraged me so much. In fact while I was singing, she took my sheet of paper from me and sang in Sudhir Phadke’s style and told me to sing like that because the song was composed in a similar vein to Phadke’s. I sang it like she instructed. She was pleased with my rendition and said she would tell Pancham (RD Burman) about this gifted singer she’d found.
Immediately, Pancham da called me to sing for Kudrat (1981) with Ashaji for Saawan nahi bhadon nahi. Pancham da was another genius. If a singer gave 75 percent he would coax you gently and get 95 percent out of you. He had that gift.
Asha tai was like a mother to me. She took me to the USA on my first world tour in 1983. A limousine would pick her up. She would insist I join her along with her son, Anand and daughter Varsha in the luxury car. Even during the show
she would personally introduce me as this gifted singer who’s like her son.
she would personally introduce me as this gifted singer who’s like her son.
We sang almost 50-60 duets. In Marathi we sang so many duets for Sudhir Phadke and Ram Kadam. One of our hit duets was Tujya maajya sansaaraala (Shaapit, 1982), composed by Sudhir Phadke.
In Hindi we sang so many duets for Pancham da in films like Saveray Wali Gaadi (1985), Hifazat (1987) and Parinda (1989) including Tumse milke and Pyar ke mod par (both Parinda). She would always tell me, don’t just sing plainly, add your own nuances and harkats. I’ve learnt so much just observing her in the recording booth. Both Lata didi and Asha tai have contributed immensely to my career. What astounding songs and range the sisters have. Asha tai loved the way I sang Dayaghana composed by her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar and she would make me sing it often.
The food that she cooked for me, be it mutton or fish, was extraordinary. I still savour the food she made in my mind and it lingers on my taste buds. On a lighter note, she got me many marriage proposals including top actresses but I would tell her that I wanted to concentrate on my career more.
It was pouring when I got married on July 1st. Despite the knee-deep water around my building, all the five Mangeshkars came to bless me.
Be it bhaav geet, natya geet or film songs, look at the way she sang it all with so much ease and facility. I recall recording for a cassette of drama songs called Natya Suresh. I was recording in a studio in Worli and she was recording nearby. She dropped in to see me sing. She heard me sing De haata ya sharanagata and Swakul tarak suta. She really liked what she heard and told me to send me the cassette once it was ready. I didn’t sent it to her out of sheer fear. Have you heard her natya geet like Shura mee vandile?
Once we were recording at Western Outdoor together and she the had to go to Film Centre. She asked me to travel along with her and ask my car to follow. Those days she was getting ready to do the Meraj-e-Ghazal album with Ghulam Ali saab. So she put on the tape in her car. And was listening to the songs recorded by Ghulam Ali for her and practising. I’m telling you I was amazed with her rehearsal in the car. The harkats and nuances she brought. Uff! It gives me goose flesh remembering it. How both sisters rehearsed and rehearsed. If I had worked as hard as them, maybe I would have gone places.
About 12 days before she passed away she called me and said she had begun to do riyaaz again and was asking me how to do this and how I did that. I was absolutely shocked and mortified. What advice could I give a legend like her? Yet she so humbly was asking me questions. I said she needed no advice from me. And within a few days she was gone. I really have lost a mother figure.
