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Chala Chala Nav Bala (Maze Baal, 1943)
With more than 12,000 songs to her name, Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle is one of the most recorded and well-known voices in Bollywood cinema. Born into a musical family, with her father Deenanath Mangeshkar working as a singer for regional Marathi theatre and film throughout the 1920s and 30s and her older sister Lata Mangeshkar becoming a Bollywood playback singer in her own right, Bhosle entered the industry at just 10 years old with this debut performance in the Marathi film Maze Baal. Duetting with Lata, Bhosle’s melismatic falsetto in the song gives voice to the playful innocence of the film’s central love-child. Keening and crystal-clear, her vocal immediately cuts through the rollicking instrumental and already displays the yearning emotion that would become her signature as her voice matured.
Aaiye Meherbaan (Howrah Bridge, 1958)
Throughout the 1950s – the so-called golden age of Hindi cinema – Bhosle established herself as one of Bollywood’s most prominent playback singers thanks to her collaborations with composer OP Nayyar. Casablanca-influenced Howrah Bridge is a classic example of Bhosle and Nayyar’s musical chemistry, pairing Bhosle’s vibrato-laden higher register with melodramatic trilling strings and undulating hand percussion to embody the film’s noirish atmospherics. Seductive set-piece Aaiye Meherbaan is one of Bhosle’s earliest performances singing for a leading lady, lending whispered intimacy to cabaret singer Edna’s attempt to charm leading man Prem Kumar. Lilting and alluring, Bhosle’s voice soars through the song’s slow tempo.
Aao Huzoor Tumko (Kismat, 1968)
One of Bhosle’s most popular performances, Aao Huzoor Tumko became a chart-topping smash following the release of romantic thriller Kismat in 1968. Opening with a remarkable series of solo vocal runs over a finger-picked flamenco guitar, the song develops into a perfect showcase for Bhosle’s range and dexterity, reaching a lower register on the chorus that breaks away from the typically shrill sound of a female Bollywood playback performance. It’s also a great example of Bhosle’s capacity to act behind the mic, adding languorous phrasing and the occasional hiccup to embellish actor Babita’s performance as our drunk onscreen heroine.
Dum Maro Dum (Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, 1971)
If Aao Huzoor Tumko is one of Bhosle’s most popular songs in India, Dum Maro Dum is perhaps her greatest crossover hit, and one that has since been sampled by the likes of rappers Busta Rhymes and Tricky. Marking the beginning of her collaboration with composer RD Burman – who she would go on to marry in 1980 – the pair’s music for the hippy-influenced 1971 film Hare Rama, Hare Krishna skewers the Maharishi and Krishna Consciousness movement through a pastiche of Beatles-style psychedelia and Hindi vocals. Channelling the driving groove of the Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows, Dum Maro Dum sees Bhosle in new territory, singing over western instruments without dropping a beat, highlighting a new ability to cross genres away from Hindi classics as Bollywood itself opened up to newer influences.
Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan, 1971)
Continuing the western fusion theme, on Bhosle’s second 1971 collaboration with Burman, Caravan, the pair delve into jazz cabaret territory, creating numbers replete with horn fanfares and bombastic swing, as well as dramatic Ennio Morricone-style reverb-laden guitar lines. The film’s central number for actor Helen, Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, was controversial at the time thanks to Bhosle’s breathless and sexually suggestive vocalisations between lines, yet beyond the innuendo is another expertly nimble performance that veers between animalistic urges and soaring falsetto to longing, drawn-out notes, all serving Helen’s lithe performance as the film’s vamp.
Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973)
A key early example of masala film in Bollywood cinema – where genres like drama, thriller, romance, musical and crime are all mixed together – Yaadon Ki Baaraat has gone on to achieve cult status since its release in 1973. Its soundtrack is equally ambitious and set-piece Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko showcases new, down tempo territory for Burman and Bhosle. Over a softly strumming guitar, Bhosle hums a longing melody and beautifully tender lines, displaying her ability to sing through quiet intimacy as much as explosive drama.
In Ankhon Ki Masti (Umrao Jaan, 1981)
Following her marriage to Burman in 1980, Bhosle embarked on a series of new collaborations, including with composer Khayyam in an entirely different genre – Urdu ghazals. Based on ancient Sufi poetry, ghazals are fiendishly complex and typically performed following decades of training, yet in the 1981 film Umrao Jaan, Bhosle gives a pitch-perfect performance of the ghazal In Ankhon Ki Masti. Gliding through melismatic runs and displaying a huskier, lower register in her middle age – thanks to Khayyam pitching the composition down a half-step – Bhosle’s turn on In Ankhon Ki Masti highlighted that, as the singer approached 50, she was still as creatively expressive and experimental as ever.
Bow Down Mister (1991)
Continuing this journeying ethos, as the 90s dawned, Bhosle took a newly international approach and began collaborating with artists from further afield. An early example is her song-stealing turn on Bow Down Mister, a track taken from Boy George’s first project post-Culture Club, Jesus Loves You. Although the first two minutes of the song play through a somewhat bland interpretation of Hare Krishna chanting, it’s when Bhosle comes in with soaring wordless vocalisations over a thumping drum beat that the track is transformed into a New Age, rave-influenced banger. Uncredited on the initial release, Bhosle deserves her dues for this unexpected turn.
Radha Kaise Na Jale (Lagaan, 2001)
By the new millennium, Bhosle’s status as an elder legend was cemented and her collaboration with young composer AR Rahman on 2001’s historical epic Lagaan served as an anointing. In a duet with male singer Udit Narayan, the celebratory love song Radha Kaise Na Jale showcases Bhosle’s indefatigable vocals, which are still capable of coy intimacy and gentle melody, as well as full-throated power and a stunning closing riff that vocalises at speed through classical Hindustani scales. Singing over a tabla and flute backing, the song comes full circle back to Bhosle’s Indian musical tradition.
The Way You Dream (2002)
REM frontman Michael Stipe delivers an unexpectedly perfect melding of vocal tones with Bhosle on this expansive New Age collaboration. Taken from the debut album by electronic duo 1 Giant Leap, featuring Faithless co-founder Jamie Catto, The Way You Dream undulates beautifully through tabla rhythm and minimal guitar melody as Stipe and Bhosle interweave their English and Hindi lines. The extraordinary turn comes five minutes into the eight minute song, though, when Bhosle’s aching solo vocal heralds a hammering jungle breakbeat and soaring strings. It’s a joyous late-career example of how Bhosle’s vocals fit over almost any genre and provides the surest indication that they will continue to be discovered, sampled and enjoyed by generations to come.
