Asha Bhosle

As a young girl of 16, Asha became involved with an older man, 31 year old Ganpatrao Bhosle. She eloped with him and married him. The marriage which produced three children was a disaster from the very beginning and ended in divorce.

Later on she started a relationship with Rahul Dev Burman and married him in 1980. This marriage lasted till Burman’s death.

Tragedy struck the doting mother when her daughter Varsha committed suicide in 2012.

Asha was born into a musical family in Sangli, Maharshtra. Her father Deenanath Mangeshkar was a theater actor and classical musician. She has three sisters and one brother.

Her father died when Asha was just nine years old. The burden of supporting the family fell on her and her elder sister, Lata’s shoulders. The girls began singing in films to make ends meet.

In 1943 she sang her first film song, ‘Chala Chala Nav Bala’ for the Marathi film ‘Majha Bal’. It would be five years before she made her Hindi film debut with the song, ‘Saawan Aaya’ for the movie ‘Chunariya’ in 1948.

Even though she was highly talented, her initial years in the film world were a struggle. By this time her sister Lata had made it big in Bollywood and so had singers like Geeta Dutt.

During her initial years as a struggling singer, Asha took up assignments which the more famous singers including Lata had refused. She earned her livelihood by singing for vamps and in second-grade movies.

Throughout the early 1950s she sang many songs but failed to get much recognition. It was in 1954 when Raj Kapoor signed her to sing ‘Nanhe Munne Bachche’ for the film ‘Boot Polish’ that she began to get famous.

In 1957, she got her first big break when she was selected to sing all the female lead’s songs in the movie, ‘Naya Daur’. Her duets with Rafi like “Maang Ke Saath Tumhara”, and “Uden Jab Jab Zulfein Teri” became very famous.

Hailed to be a highly versatile singer, Asha Bhosle has sung over 12, 000 songs in more than 20 Indian and foreign languages till now. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.