The Lata-Asha sibling rivalry

Balance of Power: The Lata-Asha sibling revelry

By Screen Weekly, September 29, 2006 - 06:43 IST

For decades, the Mangeshkar sisters – Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle – have represented the epicentre of 'playback power'. From the 1950s to the mid-'80s in particular, the male arena was the fiefdom of a handful of master vocalists, but neither Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Suman Kalyanpur nor anyone else could make a dent in Lata's and Asha's supremacy and popularity. The media made much about the love-hate relationship between the two September Siblings , but the sisters have always laughed away the alleged rivalry as a frivolous fetish of the Fourth Estate and a vicarious wish of vested interests. The two Sultanas of sur thus had the perfect balance of power. If Asha Bhosle led in the number of total recordings as well as by a huge margin in Marathi films and the Marathi non-film segments. Lata's lead was more in terms of working for the heavyweight music makers and top leading ladies of Hindi cinema. In the non-film Hindi segment, Lata Mangeshkar has largely stuck to devotionals, light songs and the occasional ghazal album, whereas Asha's middle-name has been experimentation with a gamut from ghazals and classical collaborations to Indipop and albums with Western music groups. Analysing the Divas. ASHA IN LATA'S TERRAIN: Lata Mangeshkar's sweep on Hindi films, especially from the '50s, was so complete that after outclassing the existing top female singers she became a fixture with music directors as varied as Naushad, C.Ramachandra, Madan Mohan, Chitragupta, Salil Choudhury and finally, the men who dominated the music scene till the late '60s - Shankar Jaikishan, despite her famous rift with Shankar. Most of these music makers barely looked beyond Lata, and Asha was a sporadic outing - check C.Ramachandra's 'Phoolon ke mele...' (Devta) and 'Dekh hamein awaaz na dena...' (Amar Deep), a rare Madan Mohan film like Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare and a one-off chartbuster like 'Jhumka gira re...'(Mera Saaya), Chitragupta's 'Jodi hamari...'(with Manna Dey/Aulad) or Naushad's later films like Ram Aur Shyam and Ganwaar. It is virtually impossible to recall a Salil-Asha song worth its weight vis--vis his Lata stunners all the way from Madhumati to Chhoti Si Baat except for the 'populist' Asha-Yesudas duet from this last film. As for Shankar Jaikishan, though Asha sang so many memorable songs, the cream always went to Lata, despite a 'Sooni sooni saans ke sitar par...' (Lal Patthar) here and a 'Dhaani chunari pehen...' (Hare Kaanch Ki Choodiyan) there. The men who took over the S-J mantle - Laxmikant Pyarelal - too did give Asha the occasional humdingers from 'Khat likh de saanwariya ke naam babu...' in Aye Din Bahaar Ke to 'Hungama ho gaya...' (Anhonee) and more. But their obsession remained Lata - come cabaret, disco or semi-classical numbers. Also in Lata terrain were top stars like Nargis, Vyjayantimala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha, Saira Banu and Raakhee. Some of these stars reportedly even had Lata's playback voice as a pre-condition in their contract agreement! Of course, this does not mean that Asha had no worthy songs for them. But it was a landslide lead for Lata all through. Among male co-singers, Mukesh and Talat Mehmood had an overwhelming lead in duets with Lata, led particularly by the Lata-Mukesh duets for Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji. And in the bhajan/devotional arena of Hindi films, there was another Lata grandslam - the devotionals of consequence by Asha Bhosle can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and include the classic 'Tora man darpan kehlaaye...' (Kaajal) and 'Saancha naam tera...' (with Usha Mangeshkar/Julie) and a few lesser songs like 'Acche samay pe tum aaye...' (Bidaai) and 'Kaun kahe apno ke kaam...' (with Kishore/Raampur Ka Lakshman). LATA IN ASHA TERRITORY: For Asha Bhosle, it was S.D.Burman's early grooming that helped a lot, but it was only when she encountered a phenomenon named O.P. Nayyar (who had reportedly sworn never to work with Lata) that Asha really thundered into her own and went beyond idol Geeta Dutt and songs for vamps and comediennes. With Dada Burman, ironically, Asha's cream came mostly in that six-year period between 1957 and 1962 when he had a personal-cum-professional rift with Lata Mangeshkar. However, Nayyar remains Hindi cinema's only major force who never recorded a single song with Asha's elder sister. And Asha's record was finally set right by R.D.Burman when despite his multiple nuggets with Lata Mangeshkar from Chhote Nawab to Libaas, it was Asha who got the exotica that made her zoom forward as the voice of choice of the modern film heroine of the '70s - Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi - and gave her an identity beyond being just Helen's voice or mere Nayyar's muse. Lata Mangeshkar had her Helen moments too, but they were few and far between, like 'Aur mera naam hai Jameela...' (Night In London), 'Aa jaan-e-jaan...' and 'Mehfil soyi...' (Intequam) and 'Iss duniya mein jeena hai to...' (Gumnaam). And so these were also virtually Lata's only intrusions on Asha's fiefdom - the cabaret. As for Zeenat, the few highs (Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan heading a list that also included Heera Panna, Don, Ajnabee and a few others) with Lata were swamped in the Asha deluge. Lata's few good songs for Neetu Singh (like 'Nahin nahin jaana nahin...' from Zinda Dil), and the rare Parveen hit (Kranti, Arpan, Khuddar, Kaala Patthar) were restricted largely to either L-P's prolific output or Rajesh Roshan's affinity to Lata in the late '70s. The third 'champion' of sorts for Asha was Bappi Lahiri, but that was chiefly for '80s heroines like Sridevi, Jaya Prada and Meenakshi Seshadri. There was lots of quantity there, but the calibre was generally below par. As Lata reduced her quantum of work completely from the '90s, Asha continued to sing for the young Turks like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Viju Shah, Sanjeev-Darshan, Sandeep Chowta, Jeet-Pritam (and later Pritam solo) , music makers who have never recorded with Lata in their films, but did get Asha to enter their recording rooms. SIBLING REVELRY: Lata and Asha however struck an equal score with some other young composers, especially Jatin-Lalit, A.R.Rahman and Vishal Bhardwaj. The senior composers who achieved that kind of balancing act included Kalyanji-Anandji, Ravi and Hemant Kumar. Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar, and Usha Mangeshkar among the females, were singers with near-equal scores with both. Mumtaz, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Rekha, Reena Roy, Jaya Bachchan and Sridevi (in her non-Bappi Lahiri films) were heroines in whose songs we also witnessed an equilibrium in the two-pronged Mangeshkar power. LET'S DUET: Statistically, the two sisters have collaborated in about 75 songs, the last one of note being 'Aaina hai mera chehera...' with Suresh Wadkar in Aaina (1993) under Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen and written by Sameer. Their first duet, in all possibility given Hindi cinema's predilection for poorly-maintained records, was 'Yeh rookhi rookhi hawayein...' from Daaman (1951) composed by K.Datta and written by Rajendra Krishan, and the first song of note was S-J's 'Manbhavan ke ghar...' (Chori Chori/1955) under Shankar Jaikishan. Lata and Asha frequently shared the microphone along with other singers as company, like sister Meena Mangeshkar in 'Banno ke haath bhari mehndi...' (Chandni Chowk / Roshan), Mohamed Rafi in 'Muqabala humse na karo...' (Prince / Shankar Jaikishan), Mahendra Kapoor in 'Pyar zindagi hai...' (Muqaddar Ka Sikander / Kalyanji-Anandji), Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey in 'Sun le pyar ki dushmun...' (Pyar Kiye Jaa / Laxmikant-Pyarelal), Laxmikant in 'Aag se aage...' (Jalte Badan / L-P) and finally Usha Mangeshkar in 'Hamre aangan bagiyaa...' (Teen Bahuraniyan/K-A), 'Dulhan maike chali...' (Manoranjan / R.D.Burman) and earlier 'Mubarak hai woho dil jis pe...' (Benazir / S.D.Burman) and 'Khile hai sakhi aaj...' (Grihasti / Ravi). Among other music directors who have orchestrated Mangeshkar Double Bills are Asha's son Hemant Bhosle (who brought mother and aunt together in his debut film Taxi Taxie in the song 'Laayi kahaan yeh zindagi...' ), Naushad, Madan Mohan, Roshan and Hemant Kumar, with the bulk of the share going to S-J and L-P. The distinction of having more than one duet (with both proving hits in both cases) is shared by Mother India's 'Mere mehboob mein kya nahin...' and 'Jaaneman ek nazar dekh le...' (Naushad) and Utsav's 'Man kyoon behka...' and 'Neelam pe nabh chhayi...' (L-P), the last two being among the most exquisite duets on which they ever collaborated. C.Ramachandra's 'Ae chand jahaan woho jaaye...' (Sharda/1957) was a rare scintillating output from this Lata-devotee composer, as was the classicism-studded Madan Mohan duet 'Jab jab tumhein bulaya...' (Jahan Ara) and that simple but toweringly-excellent song 'Pad gaye jhoole...' from Roshan's Bahu Begum. In contrast, Hemant Kumar's 'Kabhi aaj kabhi kal...' from Chand was of humbler calibre, as were R.D.Burman's 'Tere liye jeena...' (Shaan), 'Paake akeli mohe...' (Jail Yatra), 'Manmandir mein preet...' (Sanjog), 'Lavangi mirchi...' (Ashanti) and 'Saare shaher mein...' (Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor) and Laxmikant-Pyarelal's 'Band ho mutthi to lakh ki...' (Dharam-Veer), 'Duniya ke sitam...' (Khoon Aur Paani), 'Kisike prem ka amrit...' (Raaste Pyar Ke), 'Deepak mere suhaag ka...' (Maang Bharo Sajana), 'Sun le meri behna...' (Swarag Se Sunder), 'Tu tu badi qismat wali hai...'(Haar Jeet), 'Aaj ki raat meri...'(Do Waqt Ki Roti) and 'Jhoola jhoolat Kanhaiya re...'(Daku Aur Jawan). While in most one-heroine films, poor Asha was saddled with the supporting artiste and Lata got the heroine, in an unusual case it was both singers singing for Moushumi Chaterjee in 'Baandh le man ko...' from Dil Aur Deewar, with one singer being for the reflection of the conscience. Of a slightly better impact were Kalyanji-Anandji's 'Main haseena naazneena...' (Baazi), R.D.Burman's 'Kis kaaran Kamini sharmaaye...' (Chandan Ka Palna) and Laxmikant-Pyarelal's 'Nandkishor Nandgopal...' (Madhavi). But the bulk of the Lata-Asha humdingers came from Lata-addicts Shankar-Jaikishan through songs like 'Yeh barkha bahaar...' (Mayurpankh), 'Jab se laagi tose najariya...'(Shikar), 'Naach re man badkamma...' (Rajkumar) and 'Ho koi aayega aayega...' (Professor) and 'Kar gaya mujh pe jaadu...' (Basant Bahar). Matching these in excellence was R.D.Burman's cute-n-catchy 'Main chali main chali...' (Padosan) and Laxmikant-Pyarelal's 'Ae kaash kisi diwane ko...' (Aye Din Bahaar Ke) and 'Chhap tilak sab chhini...' (Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki). THE CONCLUSION: Today, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle sing so rarely for Hindi cinema that it is a rarity to even see them as part of the same film's playback team, with the exception of a few films like Lagaan, One Two Ka Four,Mujhse Dosti Karoge! or Page 3. The balance has shifted away from the Mangeshkars, but the power is missing. Maybe today's music directors should spare thoughts and efforts on how to create new sources of power out of the existing or new singers. Will they?

Rivalry with Lata Mangeshkar


Asha's sibling rivalry with her sister Lata Mangeshkar is often talked about, inspite of their insistence that these are just tales.

It is believed that Lata considered Asha's act of eloping with her lover as irresponsible, leaving her to sing and earn for the family. This led to tensions among them. Also, in her initial days in the industry, Asha always played second fiddle to her elder sister.

Some say that Lata had once said something politically incorrect about Asha's relationship with O P Nayyar. This created rift between the two sisters and O P Nayyar also decided that he would never work with Lata.

In last few years, Asha and Lata have often been seen in public, enjoying each other's company. Asha once said - "I remember, sometimes both of us would be at a function and some industry types would ignore me and interact only with her, as if to prove their loyalty. Later, didi (elder sister) and I would have a good laugh!"

Sister Queens of Filmi

Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar give vocal embodiment to the archetypes of Indian womanhood
TEED ROCKWELL, Mar 05, 2004

THE ROUGH GUIDES TO BOLLYWOOD LEGENDS: LATA MANGESHKAR; ASHA BHOSLE. Both CDs available at www.worldmusic.net

Sibling rivalry takes many forms. When the eldest is extraordinarily gifted, the middle child may realize that she cannot beat the eldest at what she does best. So being No. 2, she not only tries harder, but takes more chances and strikes out in new directions. When Asha Bhosle became a film playback singer, she could not escape the fact that her sister Lata Mangeshkar had become the standard by which all other filmi singers were judged. But that did not stop Bhosle from carving out a place for herself that was both similar to and different from that of her sister.

Not that Mangeshkar's ascent to stardom had been quick or easy. When their father died, she became (at age 13) the breadwinner for a family of five. She played child roles in films, but it was clear that her natural talent was for singing. She had a uniquely sweet and rich voice, a three-octave range, superb control of tone and intonation, and could quickly learn both melodies and new languages. But in the '40s, heavier Punjabi-style voices were in vogue, and producers thought her voice was too thin. When film composer Ghulam Haider was told that he couldn't hire her, he arranged an audition that got her playback jobs in four other films instead. Her songs in all of these films became runaway hits, and changed the shape of filmi music forever.

Bombay films had originally tried to hide the playback singers, using the names of the screen actresses on the record labels. But Mangeshkar's singing was so popular that radio stations released her name, and for the first time the public began to see a playback singer as a star. The demand for her voice became overwhelming, both from the public and from actresses who knew that her voice would give them a charisma they couldn't get any other way. Eventually, a female playback singer either had to be Lata Mangeshkar or sound like her in order to find work in Bombay. Mangeshkar met most of the demand herself, usually recording five or six songs a day for several different films. But her little sister Asha was waiting in the wings to take any jobs that were left, as she slowly refined her artistry and her reputation.

Initially, although there was plenty of work, it was usually parts in grade B films, or supporting roles in major films, or duets with her sister. But Bhosle also tackled projects that were considered too radical for her more established sister. Even when accompanied by a Western symphony orchestra, Mangeshkar's voice always sounded deeply Indian. Consequently, the melodies offered her were always reminiscent of some Indian folk or classical style, and she usually did the voices for actresses who played the Good Indian Girl who was devoted to her parents and family.

There were, however, also plenty of parts for the Wild and Westernized Woman, who would sing songs influenced by jazz, salsa, tango, or rock 'n' roll. How does one adapt Indian meend and sruti to song styles that would ordinarily have lyrics in English or Spanish? A trained Indian singer, no matter how accomplished, would have a real challenge singing songs of this sort in Hindi (or the dozen other Indian languages Bhosle was required to sing in). In many ways it resembled the challenge faced by singers like Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra, who had to develop Anglo-American vocal styles that would fit with African-American music. Bhosle embraced this challenge, but to some degree it was also forced upon her by unfortunate circumstances in her life.

In 1950s India, (as in most of the world throughout history) the usual response to a woman who escaped from an abusive marriage was to blame the victim. When Asha Bhosle left the man she had married at 16, and whose last name she still bears, it was her reputation that suffered, not his. But ironically, this "bad" reputation made her the public's choice to play the flirt, the vamp, the courtesan, or the nightclub hostess. She trained her gifted ear and voice to create Indian versions of jazz and rock vocals, mixed with numerous seductive sounds: sighs, breathless Marilyn Monroe moans, girlish laughter, English exclamations like "Hi, Handsome!" Sometimes, when other playback singers were hired for the song itself, she would be brought in just to do her distinctive laugh.

The on-screen actresses who specialized in "bad girl" roles realized that she was co-creating the characters with them and soon a symbiotic process evolved that enabled their performances to inspire each other. The actress Helen would make a point of attending Bhosle's recording sessions, making suggestions for the vocal that she would eventually lip-sync.

To some degree, this typecasting still endures. In the film Lagaan, when they both did playback for actress Gracy Singh, it was Bhosle who sang the saucy thumri and Mangeshkar who sang the devout bhajan. But Bhosle and Mangeshkar have each recorded around 20,000 songs, (they have both been in the Guinness Book of World Records), many of which don't fit their respective stereotypes. And more importantly, these stereotypes should not be uncritically identified with the artists who portray them. Mangeshkar's refusal to marry could be seen as a form of devotion to the Goddess of Music. But it probably also reflects the fact that she was too shrewd to let a man take control of her life, particularly when one remembers that she lead the fight for royalties to playback singers. And Varsha Bhosle's articles about her mother reveal that Asha's motivation for leaving her husband was not hedonism, but the need to protect her children. The roles that these two great singers have separately embodied in the popular consciousness, although fine for the movies, are each incomplete without the other.

Asha TOTALLY rocks!!

I don;t know (care about) whether rumors are true / false. Usually ppl don;t lie in their autobiographies, but again, who knows??
I am glad that all the siblings made their own niche in the indian music industry and succeeded. They lived up to and extended their extremely talented father's legacy. Rising from unbelievable poverty, they all have a very inspirational story to share with the world..

qt

naik ji,
Aapka topic padh ke laga ki... Lataji aur Aashaji "revelry" kar rahi hai !! 😆 😆 I was wondering what kind of revelry can they engage in, at this age.... 😆 😉 until I opened your post and realised that you meant "rivalry" 😆 😆 😆

Whether it is revelry or rivalry....better for this generation to learn about their talent and contributions than anything else.

Originally posted by: SHUBHA99

Whether it is revelry or rivalry....better for this generation to learn about their talent and contributions than anything else.

Shubha ji,

I was j/k😊

Originally posted by: ChameliKaYaar

naik ji,
Aapka topic padh ke laga ki... Lataji aur Aashaji "revelry" kar rahi hai !! 😆 😆 I was wondering what kind of revelry can they engage in, at this age.... 😆 😉 until I opened your post and realised that you meant "rivalry" 😆 😆 😆

Thanks for bringing that to my notice.. I just copy n pasted the orginal article... wl edit it

BTW I am Kavita