Asha Bhosle at 92: Why Her Rafi Remarks Matter Beyond Nostalgia

Asha Bhosle’s swipe at Rafi stirs old rivalries, dimming the glow of her legendary voice.

Asha Bhosle’s recent comments on Mohammed Rafi have reignited debate in the music world.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Age is no guarantee to maturity of thought. Had it been so, then Asha Bhosle, the legendary playback singer, would not have been committing hara-kiri of her own will.

Her utterances prove she is ignorant of the Biblical maxim: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips, is esteemed a man of understanding" (Proverbs 17:28).

Speech is always fraught with danger since, many a time, people employ speech to conceal their thoughts but end up exposing their weaknesses. Indeed, the recent exclamations by Asha Bhosle, celebrating her 92nd birthday on 8 September, have reconfirmed that the insecurities of the Mangeshkar sisters are real and alive.

I am a long-standing admirer of Asha Bhosle’s singing prowess. Despite being equally talented in vocal brilliance, Asha Bhosle always stood in the shadows of Lata Mangeshkar, more due to age and tradition rather than talent.

What made her journey extremely admirable was her gracious acknowledgement of Lata’s artistry, even though the sentiment was never publicly reciprocated by her sister.

Given the painful struggles of her personal domain, any lesser artist might have been discouraged, but not Asha who transformed the struggles into delivering unforgettable songs. To me, her voice is youthful, effervescent and a source of joy.

I publicly applauded her supremacy and indomitable spirit when Guinness Book of Records recognised her as the most recorded artist in music history. Although her artistry never needed a numerical validation, the staggering number of over 11,000 songs reaffirmed her as the queen of Indian playback singing especially as her versatility and modulations are superior than Lata Mangeshkar.

Controversy over Rafi Sahab

That is why it perplexes as to why she stoops low in speaking ill about the perennial favourite singer of the masses, Mohammed Rafi. That too almost four decades after the demise of the genial artist, who is widely regarded as “God’s Own Voice”.

Her shocking statements on TV channels and media interactions about Rafi Sahab lacking the skill of improvisation and that she outdid him in many a duet is as laughable as the gross allegations made against Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru by Narendra Modi. Clearly, she too has not learnt that self-praise is no recommendation.

Understandably, her utterances have evoked taunt from thousands and Rafi Sahab’s son, Shahid Rafi, has termed the statement as absurd since it belies the truth. In fact, Asha contradicted her earlier taped interviews wherein she had hailed Rafi Sahab as “a singer par excellence”. I recall the statement by singer Manna Dey that “male singers had a great bonding and lauded each other for their fine renditions, but the female singers carried a lot of grudges.”

Asha Bhosle’s statement falls flat as Manna Dey, renowned for his mastery of classical ragas, said on record that “Rafi Sahab was the best playback singer ever in the world, one who initiated a unique way of articulation that could not be emulated by any singer, male or female.”

Dey named the mesmerising virtue as “Rafi Gharana” or “Rafi School” that emerged and died with its creator!

The inanity of Asha Bhosle in targeting Rafi Sahab lends weight to the belief that the sisters manufacture needless, acerbic controversies to garner attention. It is inexplicable as to why they were always trapped in petty controversies that belittled their statures and why despite their faultless singing, the siblings are rarely lauded by people, within and outside the film industry?

Although Asha’s frivolous comments about Rafi Sahab have been confined to dustbin by the public, it is appropriate to analyse and lay bare the reasons for the pettiness of these two celebrated siblings.

Old timers recall the sisters had a graceless split in the early 1960s upon “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon” song when Asha Bhosle was edged out of singing before Pandit Nehru by the machinations of the elder sister! Daggers drawn for several years, the details of this personal story were revealed over the years by the two singers themselves through selective leaks to discerning media persons!

Rivalries, Polls, and Public Memory

Obviously, the fresh comments do not surprise avid cinegoers since tarnishing reputations has been a long-standing habit of the siblings who negated the role of many fine composers in making their careers while praising others of lesser credentials.

If Lata Mangeshkar was guilty of rarely acknowledging the contribution of Husnlal Bhagatram and C Ramchandra to her career, Asha Bhosle’s banishment of OP Nayyar into oblivion is too well known to recount again. Surely, some blame must rest upon those composers for dismantling the “intimate relationships”, but the disdainful attitude of the siblings towards these composers has only stained their own status.

It seems the sisters could never reconcile to the fact that their own popularity paled before the overwhelming adoration for Rafi Sahab even decades after his demise.

The revelations came through public polls and surveys by esteemed TV channels and media publications, whereby if Outlook magazine survey chose him as the best loved singer of all time, the CNN-IBN survey hailed Rafi Sahab as the “Singer of the Millennium”. Even the three best songs ever, as per Outlook, belonged to Rafi Sahab, while CNN-IBN feted him as the “Greatest Singing Voice of India”.

The CNN-IBN survey stated that “Rafi secured nearly 12 percent more votes than Lata Mangeshkar and 17 percent more than Kishore Kumar. The combined vote tally of Asha Bhonsle and Mukesh - both eminent singers - was insufficient to match Rafi’s total, underscoring his immense admiration across the globe.”

A Cine Blitz poll too named Rafi as the “most popular person of the Indian film industry”, revealing his appeal had transcended beyond his death.

The Royalty Feud and Other Contradictions

However, in a bizarre statement a few years before her death, Lata stated that she had started singing duets with Rafi Sahab, after the much-publicised music royalty issue, after receiving a letter of apology from the Maestro! This was an appalling statement, as most industry insiders know that the rapprochement came about due to efforts of actress Nargis and composer Jaikishan and that the real loser in the feud was Lata Mangeshkar, since she received a lesser number of duets in her kitty.

On the contrary, Rafi Sahab hogged the limelight and, in the process, helped boost the careers of Asha Bhosle and Suman Kalyanpur. Threatened with a legal notice by Shahid Rafi to show the letter, Lata withdrew the statement. Lata’s varied disclosures on the royalty issue and her tall claims of rapprochement and apology too were mocked by the public, leading to embarrassment and loss of face for the female singer.

Many know how Lata Mangeshkar’s fallacious claims had also misled the Guinness Book of Records in publishing the erroneous figure of twenty-five thousand recorded songs in her name.

That figure, in the era of limited studios and elaborate rehearsals, was improbable but lack of scrutiny from the media led to the grave mistake as none calculated that 25 years equal roughly 9,131 days and Lata that sang nearly three songs a day was blatantly untrue! Reality is that Rafi Sahab had the highest number of recorded songs in the world – approximately 5,700 – until he died in July 1980.

Practising What They Preached?

If censure for the sisters has sprung out on several occasions, it is because their actions have been contrary to their stated postures. Though both sisters condemned the ugly trend of cover versions, Lata herself brought forth the disc “Shraddhanjali” in the garb of a tribute to deceased singers.

Apart from offending the connoisseurs, Lata’s renditions were rightly ridiculed for poor renditions of the originals, but it defies explanation as to why she created them when she was so vehemently opposed to defiling the old songs? Similarly, after drubbing remixes of old songs by others, Asha too astounded everyone with her pop versions of “Chura Liya Hai Tumne” and “O Meri Sona Re, Sona Re”, thus legitimising the irreverent operation. Clearly, few people practice what they preach.

One wishes for many wonderful songs from the throat of Asha Bhosle on her birthday, yet, she must realise that while there is no harm in loving yourself, conceit only leads to doom and diminishing of stature in the public eye.

And yes, it must be remembered that however powerful or well-known a person may be, spitting at the sky only leads to dirtying your own face.

(Deepak Mahaan is a documentary filmmaker and an author. A specialist on Cinema and Sports, he has published numerous pieces in prestigious publications in India and abroad. He tweets at @mahaanmahan. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)