Lalit Pandit Reminisces About Asha Bhosle

Our family belongs to the Mewati gharana. The Mangeshkars knew our family even before I was born. My dad Pratap Narayan Pandit was our guru and Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar even learnt under him. We were really like family she showered us with so much love and affection.

My first brush with Ashaji must have been while singing Sa re ke sa re for Parichay (1972) with the other kids for Pancham (RD Burman). She tells me because I was the youngest and smallest she would lift me up and place me on the table. She would give us choco ice cream as a treat after the song. I also sang the chorus for Rona kabhi nahi rona (Apna Desh,1972) with Kishoreda and another song for Yeh Gulistan Hamara (1972) with Dada Burman.

Then I went away to boarding school and years later I met her when we became music directors. Me and my brother Jatin went to meet her for one of our earliest films, Khiladi (1992). She sang three songs in it.

I recall the song sitting for the first song for Khiladi… Dekha teri mast.. She liked what we sang to her and she then went for the take. Music sessions with her were always fun, we would have lunch, chat and then record by around four pm.

Coming back to our first song Dekha teri, She instinctively sensed we were nervous and put us at ease. She said it had a Pancham quality to the song. Look at the way she sang it. There is a line, Kaanp utha mera badan… the way she added a tremulous quality to kaanp utha was just out of this world.

On a side note, Panchamda had loved our Loveria song from Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) and Pehla nasha from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992). He would really praise us and whenever we had some technical difficulties at the film centre where he also used to record we would call him up for advice.

When Panchamda passed away we went to his Merryland residence to pay our respects to Ashaji and we were chatting with her. Then she asked us about work and by then Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and Khiladi had been released. So we were getting work. She out of the blue asked us if we had worked with Yash Chopra and we said no. So she called him up and they chatted about Panchamda and then she told Yashji about us.

We later went to meet him and had a three and a half hour sitting where we played so many songs including the Mehndi laga ke rakhna tune with dummy lyrics and also hummed Mere khwabon mein jo aaye tunes. Months later Aditya Chopra called us for Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) So in a way Ashaji is instrumental in getting us the film.

Coming back to DDLJ, we had recorded all the songs in Lataji’s voice so when the Zara sa jhoom loon situation came we immediately said Ashaji must sing this song. We were feeling guilty that she had got us this film but we hadn’t recorded with her. When we went to her with the song she pulled our legs and said sarcastically, “Oh so all songs done why have you come to me!” But then she heard Zara sa. Look at how she added nuance to the song, especially the Thandi thandi pawan. She would from the beginning never do a take without rehearsing for days on end. That’s the culture these greats came from. From OP Nayyar to SD Burman they would ask the singers to rehearse for days until it was a perfect song.

She and Lataji are so sur ki pakki. They know music inside out. So it becomes difficult for us to work with other singers sometimes. Let me explain. Since we did it with the other singers, sometimes when we would record with Asha didi we would break the mukhda, then the antra, then record alaap separately and make her sing. And she would do just as we said. And get quite frustrated that we were breaking up the song. But then she was so used to singing in one take that she would say let me do it my way and please don’t break up the song. That’s how we recorded O jaan jaan jaani and the title track of the film Return of Jewel Thief (1996) with her. First we recorded bits and pieces. Then she sang the whole song her way and we kept her take as the final one. She would always pay attention to the lyrics written by Majrooh saab and Anand Bakshi and tune accordingly to what they are trying to say, to get the spirit of the song.

Another great album she sang for us was Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998). She sang Ajnabi mujhko itna bata and Aashiq hoon main. She sang the latter song at a low pitch and I remember Udit Narayan was not able to keep pace. I recall Kajol and Ajay Devgn at the recording and Kajol jumping and clapping seeing the way Ashaji was doing wonders to the scale of the song.

When I go on long drives to Pune, I listen to all her songs from Teesri Manzil (1966) to Khel Khel Mein (1975). What joy they give me.

I had called her about four weeks ago but she wasn’t keeping too well. I wanted to meet her and bless my sons Rohansh and Abeer. We spoke for a long time but we couldn’t meet but promised to meet up soon and bless my kids. She was happy that another generation of musicians was here. Alas! Our meeting never happened and she passed away a couple of weeks later.

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