PICTURE TALK
Asha Bhosle, a legendary playback singer of the Indian film industry, is the younger sister of better-known elder sister Lata Mangeshkar. Asha started singing in 1943, the year before I was born. In 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most-recorded artist in music history. The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
If I remember correctly, I was introduced to her by a Marathi-speaking journalist (then an assistant editor) friend of mine, RM Kumtakar, who worked for Bombay (now Mumbai) film weekly Screen. As the weekly never indulged in any gossip-mongering, it was highly respected by all top production houses, actors, directors, writers, and music directors – in short everyone who mattered in the film industry.
So, Mr. Kumtakar’s praise of my work worked wonders for me, as I started having quick and easy access to the top guns during those nascent years of my career.
I first met Asha briefly in a recording studio, when my friend Kumtakar was showering me with praise in Marathi, a language I do not understand, though I could clearly make out from the expressions on Asha’s face that she was very impressed. She became so friendly and fond of me that she not only invited me to her house, an extremely kind gesture on her part for a beginner, but she also prevailed upon RD Burman, the music director of the song, to let me stay inside the small rehearsing cabin to take pictures, something RD didn’t like. He wanted me to leave.
Later, during the actual recording of the song, I had easy access to take all the pictures I wanted. So much so that RD, who had earlier wanted me thrown out of the recording cubicle, requested that I take a picture of him with lyrics writer Majrooh Sultanpuri, who had come inside to greet him at the end of the recording.
A few meetings later, when I again met Asha at a recording studio, she asked me if I was interested in taking the cover photo for an album she was expecting to record soon. I couldn’t believe my ears, hearing this godsent offer coming my way. Seeing how elated I was, she immediately promised me, saying, “I’ll make sure that only you do that cover for my album.”
After the recording, she asked me to accompany her to her house if I had no other work that day. That day was perhaps my luckiest day. I went to her house with her and took this and other pictures. Alas, that was to be my last meeting with her, because for some reason I had to return to Delhi, and the album cover I was so keen to do never materialised.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and The News Porter bears no responsibility for the same.
