We have known for a while now how Asha Bhosle loves doling out during her live performances, the stories about her struggling days in Bollywood over five decades ago.
However, during her current live shows in America and Canada, she has been going further back in her life, recalling the singing training her father Dinanath Mangeshkar, classical musician and stage actor, had given her.
Asha, who sang one of her father's hit Marathi songs, mimicked her father instructing his pre-teen daughters, Lata, Meena and herself. First she sang in her father's voice, and then how Lata followed him.
As for her, classical singing did not hold much interest at that time, Asha said, adding that she was more of a free spirit right from her childhood.
Her father used to call her a pehlwan, she confessed chuckling. She said that her aim was to finish the singing lesson and get out of the music room as soon as possible.
Text: Arthur J Pais | Photographs: Paresh Gandhi
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