By admin on March 16, 2008
| Posted in Asha Bhonsle, Hindi Cinema, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, RD Burman
Asha Bhonsle – The Heavenly Female Voice!
Something common ran through the trio of Kishore Kumar, RD Burman and Asha Bhonsle. What was this common factor? Was it the ability to break norms, leave aside classical rules and sing without any hesitation? Was it their fondness for the alien music styles, mostly the western ones, to which they would often fuse in with the Indian sounds? Or were they simply genetically coded to give each other run for their money, whenever it came to performing together? If they sang of love, they did so full throttle and not hiding behind the usual veils of Indian-ness that you might experience while listening to Rafi and Lata, the other two stalwarts of the Indian playback arena. Though, this Indian-ness and the two dazzling names in Rafi and Lata had its own charm and romance, which even the hardcore KK, RDB and AB fans like me will not deny about or choose to part away with.
KK, RDB and Asha gave together some of the best duets, that my generation would vouch for. Songs like Jaane jaan, dhoondhta fir rahaa hun tumhein and Aapke kamrei mein koee rahetaa hai (even RDB could be listened to in this one) are a couple such in many. They enjoyed a very great chemistry among them indeed. At the same time, it was only Asha who could give KK a run for his money in the duets she sang along with him. At times she seemed to edge ahead of KK, the way Ganguly at his best would overshadow Sachin on occasions, with his maverick stroke-making. “Did any healthy rivalry run among this Bollywood trio?” I forwarded this question to somebody who is trying to produce a new documentary on Kishoreda. I may or may not succeed in getting its answer, but the fact is Kishore Kumar, Rahul Dev Burman and Asha Bhonsle were several notches above the rest in entertaining the Indian audiences, once they formed up as a team in the post-1970 era.
Tagged bollywood, kishoreda, playback singer
This is true that products of Asha-Kishore-RD,that became prevalent in post 1970s were different from traditional Rafi-Lata duets. They carried a flavor of modern style with latest musical instruments. On the other hand Rafi-Lata and in some cases Rafi-Asha duets were based on traditional indian music which in many cases were characterized by classical touch and were an intregal part of the 1950s and 60s. Great musicians like SJ, SD, Naushad,LP, Madanmohan, Roshan set tunes with the finest melodies ever conceived. These songs have already become legends which in the opinion of many shall never be old. Asha-Kishore definitely brought a new style in indian music. But in overall judgement I don’t think they can match the standard set by Rafi-Lata.
Yes neither can KK-Asha match the “standard” desired by Rafi fans, nor could Rafi-Lata that by KK fans. Btw, I plan to set up a separate forum for debating all stuff in my blog soon. Rafians can feel much at home once that takes place, since I’d be taking a backseat in that arena. The overall idea needs a little more fine tuning though, before I can make it online.