Chennai: In 1987, a song drifted out of tea shops in Tamil Nadu’s smallest towns, wound its way through wedding halls, and settled into the dusty transistors of remote villages. “Shenbagame Shenbagame” from ‘Enga Ooru Pattukaran’, had the unmistakable lilt of singer S Janaki — except it wasn’t her. It was Asha Bhosle, the Marathi-speaking legend from Bombay, singing Tamil as though she had been born to do it.For a generation, it was a revelation. And for maestro Ilaiyaraaja, it was a vindication. He got some great Tamil numbers out of her — “Oh Butterfly” for ‘Meera’, “Saatha Nada Saatha” from ‘Sethupathi IPS’, and “Mazhai Megham” from ‘Sakkarai Pandal’. During her Kollywood career, Asha recorded just 20 songs, but the roll call of composers Ilaiyaraaja, A R Rahman, S A Rajkumar, reads like a who’s who of the industry. It wasn’t that Ilaiyaraaja was easily convinced. Remembers Ilaiyaraaja’s brother and lyricist Gangai Amaran: “When I asked my brother to use Asha for ‘Enga Ooru Pattukaran’, he refused, saying her voice wouldn’t be apt for the film with a rural theme. But the score sat well.“Amaran also wrote “Enga Ooru Kadhala” for ‘Puthu Paatu’ (1990), tailored for a heroine playing a girl raised abroad with a sophisticated accent. “I was thrilled to write for her,” he says. “The lyrics and voice matched the song perfectly.” He remembers Asha weeping after recording the pathos version of “Shenbagame Shenbagame.” “She made the effort to understand the lyrics. Not knowing Tamil didn’t stop her. She would clear her doubts, make the corrections, and pronounce the difficult words well.“The Mangeshkar-Bhosle family’s bond with the south ran deeper than music. Sivaji Ganesan’s son, Ram Kumar Ganesan, traces it back to 1961, when Lata, Asha and the family watched ‘Paava Mannippu’. In a scene, Sivaji wore a Marathi topi that stirred memories of their late father.“Every year, till my parents were alive, the sisters would get saris for Diwali, and they would tie rakhi for my dad,” says Ram Kumar. “After his passing, I followed the tradition for some time.” He also remembers Asha the cook. “Whenever I visited her in Mumbai, she would fix a mouth-watering meal,” he says.Actor Rekha, who lip-synced “Shenbagame Shenbagame” as a teenager, counts it as her career-defining moment. “I think I did justice to her voice. The music directors and the singer did their part, and I had to match their caliber,” she says. Actor-producer Chitra Lakshmanan, who met Asha on the sets of ‘Lovers’ (1983) and ‘Saveraywali Gaadi’ (1985) — Bharathiraaja remakes with scores by R D Burman — remembers her as a star without airs. “She was a top star, but humble, always approachable and amiable,” he says.
