Asha-Hridaynath remember Dinanath
sandesh prabhudesai, panaji | 29 December 2000 00:07 ISTIt was an interview with a difference, for the audience as well as for them.
Asha Bhosale, the most versatile singer of Indian music world, was interviewed by none other than her own beloved brother - Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
Listeners were not just the general audience but also the Mangeshkar sisters - Latadidi, Meenadidi and Ushadidi, enjoying it thoroughly and even participating from the first row.
The occasion : Concluding ceremony of Master Dinanath Mangeshkar birth centenary celebrations, organised by Chaturang. The venue : Goa - birthplace of their father, who died in a pitiable condition in 1942, leaving the family struggling behind.
More than an interview, it was a free, frank and informal chat, remembering their father, his 'raagdari' and the hard life they lived throughout to reach the height of success they are today.
"The 'dard' which we find in Lata and Asha is the result of the hardships they went through. In fact our whole life has been full with tears, which creates the 'karun ras', taking it to the ultimate height of self-searching and 'shanti' (peace)", said Pt Hridaynath.
Both of them tried remembering their father, but could not succeed more than the faint images registered in their mind as kids. "The soul normally gets freed once a person dies. But Baba's soul is not free. It's living among all of us", said Asha proudly.
Asha, in her mid-60s, said she is still struggling hard to take her father's music to the people but has not succeeded till date. Concentrating more nowadays on researching the experiments her father made in the classical music, she is planning a special album.
"We would have not reached the stage where we are today if 'Maai' (mother) had not put her foot down and struggled to bring us up in music", said Asha in a choked voice, while both of them remembered how Latadidi used to make them sit in one line and sing while there was no food in the house to survive.
"In fact it is Baba's voice and Maai's firmness which has made Lata Mangeshkar", said Asha proudly amidst applause. She even proudly told her brother how she has inherited not only her father's features but determination.
Replying to a question of how she created her separate identity by countering two musical legends of those days - Lata and Noorjahan, Asha said the only way was to give something different to the audience though she had little choice. "Beggar cannot ask for a sweet dish", she quipped.
Thanking profoundly the western singers of those days which helped her emerge with her own identity, Asha also felt that reading great writers - if not formal education - showed her the way to come up in life independently.
The one-and-a-half hour chat was just not a nostalgia they went into, but the whole audience was moved with different songs they went on singing. Rather than a mere interview, it was a musical journey - from Dinanath to Hridaynath.