Lata n Asha

Two sisters and
two rival institutions in music.

In 1997, Lata Mangeshkar considered taking director Sai Paranjpye to court for making "Saaz". The film starring Shabana Azmi told the story of two sisters, both singers, whose relationship became strained because of intense rivalry. The inspiration for the film wasn't lost on anybody, least of all Lataji. The film was bound to made one day. Everybody loves a good story. The more drama and conflict, the better the story. And if the story is true, you've got yourself a winner.
For forty years, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle were 'competitors' in the playback singing industry. While scores of singers came and went, the forerunners when it came to any kind of discussion of talent in the industry were really only the Mangeshkar sisters. However, for a hefty part of those forty years, the upper hand had belonged to Lata. That itself made her the villain in the story. And Asha after all did have a better looking success story.
Lata and Asha were born to Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi stage actor and singer, Lata in 1929 and Asha 1933. Both began studying music under their father at a very early age. Lata got a two- year headstart on Asha, making her playback singing debut in 1947 with Joglekar's "Aap Ki Sewa Mein". The song did nothing for her. It was only with 1949's Barsaat and Mahal that her career took enough. Strangely enough, 1949 was when Asha made her singing debut with Jagdish Sethi's "Raat Ki Rani".
By 1950, there was no stopping Lata. She had worked hard on her Urdu, fiercely determined to slaughter all critics who had dismissed her as being incapable of doing any justice to the poetic language since she was a Maharshtrian. One of those critics being Dilip Kumar. Together with Naushad, Lata showed them all with her vocals on "Uthaye jaa unke sitam" and " Tod diya dil mera" in Andaz. There finally was serious competition to Shamshad Begum and by the beginning of 'the golden Era' of music (1951- 1960), there was absolutely no competing with Lata.
The Golden Era of music, therefore, was professionally the most depressing and frustrating period for Asha Mangeshkar. The top music directors in the country, like Madan Mohan, Naushad, C. Ramachandra and Anil Biswas were sold on Lata and she was their first choice for everything. While some people have suggested that Asha was second in the line of preferences, she actually came third after Geeta Dutt. She needed music directors in her camp desperately and she got them. S.D.Burman and O.P. Nayyar would groom Asha and extract from her all that was innately unique and magical about her talent. These two of three music directors brought out and defined her 'style'. The third would come later.

courtesy: 3to6.com