Asha Bhosle Adopted Western Singing Style To Avoid Comparisons With Sister Lata Mangeshkar, Still Struggled For Acceptance: Maine Bahut Kuch Saha Hai...

Padma Vibhushan recipient and Dadasaheb Phalke awardee, legendary singer Asha Bhosle was a guest on Legends and opened up like never before about her musical journey in a freewheeling chat with Republic Media Network's Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami. Bhosle and her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, dominated the playback singing era from the 1950s to 1980s. Bhosle delivered iconic singles as "voice of the actresses" Madhubala, Helen, Urmila Matondkar and Karisma Kapoor and crooned timeless duets with Mohd Rafi like Maang Ke Saath Tumhara, Saathi Haath Badhana and Uden Jab Jab Zulfein Teri and many more. 

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In her expansive music career, Bhosle has sung over 12,000 songs in multiple Indian languages. Starting out, however, she faced constant comparisons with her elder sister, given their training in Indian classical music. However, Bhosle shared that when she "changed" her voice to sound distinct and different from Mangeshkar, she still faced criticism for sounding too "westernised".

Bhosle also expressed dismay over how her recordings would be stopped midway and her songs taken off from radio as she struggled to find her footing.

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"Mere jab gaane ka style badal gaya tab logon ne mujhe bahut gaaliyan di. Maine style change kiya apne gaane ka. Jaise Eena Meena Deeka gaya toh logon ne bola yeh kya hai? Sab ne bola yeh kya gana hai... Aisa gana nahi hona chahiye. Yeh English logon ke liye thik hai, hamare liye nahi. Toh unhi ki copy karte karte, awaaz change karne ke liye, mujhe bahut gaaliyan padi hai. Bahut kuch acha nahi tha. Gaane bhi band ho jate the jab recording pe jao. The songs used to be taken down from the radio. Maine bahut kuch saha hai. But main dil se ekdum mazboot aurat hoon. Nahi shabd meri dictionary mein nahi hai. Haan hai bas," Bhosle said.

She added, "Sab composer ke gaane ka style alag alag hota hai. Toh apne aap ko change karna hota tha. Yeh bahut difficult hota hai aur yeh sab sikhna padta hai jo bahut mushkil hota hai."

Bhosle's renditions with OP Nayyar, Khayyam, SD Burman, RD Burman and Shankar–Jaikishan remain iconic.