Comparisons are odious but they are also inevitable- particularly if you happen to be the two most celebrated Indian singers over last five decades and who, on top, happen to be sisters in real life! Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. With thousands of songs and countless awards between them, theirs has been the most productive and popular sibling rivalry world has ever witnessed. As yet another September makes its way into the history books, making Lata a sedate 73 years old veteran and Asha, close at her heels at a sober 69, it is the perfect time to take a deep look into intricacies of their fascinating duel for musical supremacy.
The Saaz story:
Some years ago, film-maker Sai Paranjape came out with a movie – Saaz, a movie that blatantly presented fiction posing as fact about the love-hate relationship between the two singer sisters. After portraying the elder sister as a scheming manipulator sabotaging the younger sister’s career, Paranjape coolly washed her hands off by saying the movie had nothing to do with Lata and Asha’s lives – a statement which was truer than the twisted portrayal in her film, where the elder sister pushed the younger one off the mike and married her off to get her out of the way! All in all, the entire episode smacked of a deliberate attempt to distort history.
The real story of Lata and Asha began a long, long ago.
The family drama:
It was 1939 when the untimely death of their father Pt Dinanath Mangeshkar – an acclaimed Marathi stage singer-actor- threw their lives in turmoil. Lata who was barely ten then had to be the breadwinner for the family and for that she started off with bit roles in films. Music was the only thing bequeathed and that was to prove the source of fame and fortune. All the Mangeshkar sibs – Lata, Usha, Meena, Asha and Hridaynath were to become singers and composers of repute but Lata and Asha – first and fourth in the lineage – were destined be the real chosen ones!
To complicate matters further, Asha – barely fourteen - ran off with a neighbour, into a marriage that turned sour in end. Predictably, the family headed by a stern mother – Mai Mangeshkar- severed ties with this errant sister. These ties were to restore almost after two decades.
Rise and Rise Of Lata:
When Lata and Asha entered the playback singing in the late 40s, they had stiff competition from established singers like Noor Jehan, Amirbai, Rajkumari, Geeta Roy (Dutt) and Suraiya. Before establishing their unique identities, Lata followed in Noor Jehan’s footsteps and Asha in Geeta Dutt’s. But the moment Noor Jehan left for Pakistan, suddenly Lata was off the blocks in a flash leaving the younger sister far behind in the race, becoming the undisputed numero uno with super-hits like Mahel, Barsaat and Andaz.
To be frank, she deserved that. Lata’s voice in the 50s and 60s was at a totally different plane compared to rest. Her exceptional ability to transform even an ordinary tune into a memorable one made her the proverbial Melody Queen of India. Anarkali, Naagin, Madhumati, Mughal-E-Azam, Amrapali, Woh Kaun Thi? – soundtrack after soundtrack proved her virtuosity, versatility and ability to succeed with any composer.
Soft and sweet; serene and soothing; soulful and spiritual - her voice became the identity of archetypal post-independence idealistic Indian woman. Even connoisseurs and critics hitherto allergic to film music, acknowledged her outstanding contribution in uplifting standards of popular music by her superb portrayal of Indian classical and folk music through her film songs. In an ultimate tribute, legendary classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan praised her as ‘Ustadon ki ustad’ (Master of masters).
Therein lay Lata’s place in history as the singer who made both, masses and classes, realize that quality film songs had infinite musical and cultural worth and they weren’t mere tools for entertainment. She raised the standards of film music to a fine art level, bringing dignity and decorum to a once tainted medium – a feat no other artist in her field could lay a claim to.
Asha comes into her own:
While Lata was conquering all that came her way in that golden era of film music, Asha was struggling to make a mark, singing petty songs for B- grade movies, side heroines and character artists. Come 1957 and the picture changed when O.P.Nayyar – the ‘Rhythm king’ composer of that era who never ever worked with Lata, created a sizzling, savvy and sensuous vocal image for Asha and made her the premier singer in his music. Now the categorization was complete. If Lata was ‘Sugar’ then Asha was ‘Spice’. If Lata was epitome of composed restrain, then Asha was a symbol of gay abandon.
Asha’s exuberant cabarets, club songs, Mujras and Qawwalis brought her big success but they also did a great disservice to her talent. By consistently outnumbering and outshining her mellow, melodious songs, they denied her the due critical acclaim and kept her out of reckoning for more refined, more challenging tunes. Throughout her career, her much appreciated versatility was wasted, thanks to this ‘sexy’ vocal image. People just lapped her sensuous numbers but almost always ignored her soulful songs.
Reflection of personalities:
Her almost immediate success and her top position made Lata a choosy singer, who selected the songs carefully on the basis of composer, tune and lyrics, becoming a barometer of class and quality. At the same time, she had the guts to pick almost any newcomer composer and ‘make’ his career, just by singing for him. (Ask Laxmikant – Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Ram Laxman and Uttam Singh!) In fact, such was her confidence that she never shied to lock horns with industry bigwigs like C.Ramchandra, S.D.Burman, Mohammed Rafi or Raj Kapoor on various issues and almost every time came out the winner. She was an uncrowned empress in a male chauvinistic film industry. But all this also took its toll. Rumour mill never stopped churning nasty stories turning an already introvert Lata into a stoic loner. She became an iron-willed lady of few words and fewer friends.
Asha’s long drawn battle for survival in early years didn’t leave much scope for choices. She sang whatever came her way, initially just to keep the home fires burning. But sadly this lack of judgment was to become a norm for her entire career, even after she had attained the stature to choose. She was an extrovert, ready to share her deepest pains and pleasures with almost any sympathizer. (Read any of her interviews!) Initial lack of success had made her edgy about her own ability. Throughout her career, to make her musical mark she always needed a proven maestro like O.P.Nayyar, S.D.Burman, R.D.Burman or Khayyam.
Seventies and later:
By the mid-70s, Lata had lost her steam and was sounding jaded. It was a combined effect of ageing and an increasingly commercialized attitude of composers that provided little creative impetus for her musical genius. In contrast, Asha – a late bloomer, was singing better than ever. Albums like Umrao Jaan, Meraj-e-Ghazal and Ijaazat had proved beyond doubt that she could do justice to ‘serious’ singing.
If Asha had a chance of surpassing Lata in final analysis, it was here, like Kishore Kumar came back from behind and snatched the throne from Rafi in 70s. Yet she fumbled. It wasn’t as if she did not try but the composers simply lacked enough faith to let her entirely shoulder the responsibility of handling quality soundtracks on a consistent basis. So popular was her exuberant vocal image that soon she was forced back to what she had been doing since years- churning out populist raunchy numbers in films like Sharaabi, Himmatwala and Mawali.
Lata, in spite of losing that ethereal touch and sounding almost ordinary at times, was proving more than a handful – not in artistic or aesthetic sense but certainly in commercial sense. Resounding success of albums like Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Betaab, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge and Dil To Paagal Hai proved that her matchless ability to carry entire soundtracks to success was still in tact. Add to that some quality work like Razia Sultan, Lekin, Rudaali and Maachis and she had handled her lean patch with élan.
The Pop Era:
Then in the mid-nineties, a most sensational turn-around saw Asha Bhosle coming back with a bang. Her brand of flashy, frothy music was in demand and Asha became a hot proposition in music market with successful Indipop albums like Jaanam Samajha Karo and Kabhie To Nazar Milao and bold ‘item’ numbers like Kambakht Ishq and Khallas. In today’s funkier music scene, an over- the- hill Lata might be passé but a down- the –hill Asha still remains a force to reckon with – a minor consolation win for the younger sis after losing out in the big picture.
Final word:
There are many who feel that both of them should have quit long back but I don’t entirely agree with them. One thing is they are still in demand. That in itself is quite something in this fickle film world and even though their latter day songs are no patch on their earlier songs and many a time, are even demeaning to their earlier lofty standards but these very ‘mediocre’ present day songs have given the new generation a reason to venture into the gold-mine of their past music.
So when I listen to Lata singing Andekha Anjana Sa and see Asha Bhosle pick an award for Radha Kaise Na Jale, I don’t try to nitpick. I just salute these two great ladies for defying time and showing the will to fight, the will to survive and the will to win!
Quick Fact File: Lata
Quick Fact File: Asha
Kesariya Balam