Suraatle-Naate

8/13/2019 Suraatle-Naate

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Suraatle Naate....NaatyatleSur

bin sune rahaa nahin jaaye re

Author: Lata Mangeshkar

Translated by Dr. Veena Nayak.

The following is a translation of a chapter from PhuleVechita. The book is not an autobiography in thestrictest sense of the term; it is a collection ofarticles penned by Lata since 195 . The editorialeffort is by !adhu"anti #apre and $inkar %&ngal. !yonly pee"e regarding this book is the complete lackof bibliographical information 'other than authorship(on these writings. $etails such as dates) sources)etc. would ha"e been useful in placing thesecompositions in a critical conte*t. +nstead) we ha"e


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to make do with the sycophantic dribble of theeditors going gaga o"er $idi.

The 1 5,page book comprises of eighteen chapters. +

ha"e chosen the one titled) - elations in !elody;!elody in elations- 'belie"e me) it does not soundtrite in !arathi(. There is indeed a faint odour of the'in(famous sibling ri"alry. /owe"er) the lastingimpression that one comes away with is that ofcherished bond between a fond elder sister) and ane*tremely endearing) generous younger sister.Therein lies the charm of this piece for me. + hope it

is not lost in the translation. Veena


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SUratle NAte, NAtyatle SUr

from "Phule Vicheta"

I was very young when Baba admitted me in school !he school was niceSituated near the urlidhar tem#le I went on my first day !he teacher was reallyty#ical $onning the brahmaN%style #agdi and a shawl, he made us write"ShrigaNeshAya namah" on our slates I wrote it& he was ha##y andcongratulated me "!en mar's to you", he said

I came home (oyous and the ne)t day, I too' Asha to school with me !he teacherwas furious and said, "She is too young She cannot sit in the class" I got veryangry and, returning home, said to Ai, "I am not going to school again" "*hy+*hat ha##ened+", Ai en uired "!he master won-t let Asha sit in class and that

I sim#ly cannot tolerate "

I had to leave school for good I remember some events from childhood Somehave been forgotten But I do remember that Asha was nicely #lum# ande)tremely naughty .nce eena and I were standing on a stool, trying to get atsome s#icy edibles stored away by Ai Asha came on the scene and said, "Ihaven-t eaten any of it, o'+"

$ue to the drama com#any, we used to stoc' #lenty of mil' at home Asha wouldeat all the cream So what if she wi#ed her mouth clean+ She would have somes#ilt on her feet !hen Ai would #unch her on the bac'

/ight from the beginning, Asha too' great #leasure in household tas's Shewould massage Baba and Ai-s feet every night Any chore, whether she wasassigned to it or not0 washing, cleaning dishes, swee#ing Asha would cheerfully#erform it 1ater, when we moved to 2olha#ur, our house was on the secondfloor 3veryday she would draw buc'et after buc'et of water from the well and fillit at home

Around 4567%68, we moved to Bombay-s Nana 9how' At that time, Asha-savtaar was that of a tomboy $onning a 'ha'i shirt, 'ha'i #ant and to#i, shewould gather all the children of Nana 9how' and #arade with them !here used

to be dharamshala ad(acent to the Shan'arshet tem#le After our com#anyclosed down, we used to stay there In the tem#le yard, Asha would teach thechildren to #arade She used two words0 Attention and Shoe art She used tothin' that she had issued very im#ortant orders and if the 'ids made mista'es,the fisticuffs would begin


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Asha-s schooling too came to an abru#t end :er teacher once got angry withher She was so furious that she sla##ed his face She never went to school afterthat

Asha married at the age of fourteen *e were all o##osed to it I even beat her

u# and she left home in anger Ai and everyone else at home were very u#set Asha began living in Borivili :ence our relations were almost severed for uite afew years Subse uently, I heard that she had started #laybac' singing 3arlieron, Asha had sung with me for the film, " A;he Baa1" in 456< But none of ushad ever imagined that she would become a singer =>> ?ollowing her marriage>>@, I had seen her in the studios a cou#le of times But she didn-t s#ea' to usBecause her husband did not a##rove of it In that same #eriod, we sang five toseven duets But she would be very fearful of s#ea'ing due to Bhosle-s #resenceoutside .ne day he was absent, so I said, "1et-s go to drin' coffee" *e wentand I reali;ed that Asha did not have a single #enny in her #urse I was shoc'edIt meant that she did not en(oy any sort of economic inde#endence

*e used to hear from outside sources that Asha was being made to record asmany as three, four songs from morning to evening :e would ta'e her by trainfrom Borivili to various studios for sittings with music directors, and after returninghome at night, it was "coo' thhis, coo' that" :e really ill%treated Asha I evenheard from a chorus girl that she was recording even a few hours before :emantwas born *e were unable to #rotest and since she had left in a huff after fightingwith us, she felt that she could not return home without losing face 3ventually,this #eriod ended and we bought houses ad(acent to each other

/egarding Asha-s singing talents, I must say that there is no other artist as

versatile as she is In the earlier stages, she would sing without #ro#erly o#eningher mouth :ence her voice and enunciation were totally different !oday if youlisten to the first three or four records of hers, you will not recogni;e them as

Asha Bhosle-s voice Perha#s she did not receive a##ro#riate guidance Ashatold me that she observed the singing styles of Samshad and eeta and therebyfound defects in her own singing She then decided that she must change herown style

After that she started getting assignments with e)cellent music directors usic issuch that the more one sings and the more varied the music directors that onelearns from, the more one-s voice develo#s It also builds e)#erience and self%confidence


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Asha-s voice soon gained firmness and weight !he credit goes to her natureShe is never willing to acce#t that she may not be able to #erform a #articularfeat All of us angesh'ars #ossess this trait, but in Asha-s case it is more#ronounced uslim students learning classical music from the ustads are#ersistent in their #ursuit of a #articular s'ill !his is true in Asha-s case as well

She is e)tremely stubborn *henever she had cold, cough or fever, I would tellher not to go =>> for recordings >>@ She would agree But half an hour later, whenI as'ed, "*here-s Asha+", I would find out that she had gone for recording !hisha##ened several times I am not li'e that It is all right if one is unable to sing#ro#erly in front of fifty #eo#le But tomorrow, fifty thousand #eo#le are going tohear it and what if they call you names+ !his thought ma'es me cautious But

Asha goes, because she gives an e)cellent recording even though it may ta'emore time ?or many #eo#le, I would consider such stubbornness to be a faultBut in Asha-s case, it is indeed a virtue

As I said, Asha can sing all ty#es of songs very well :owever, western stylesongs or semi%classical awwalis fit her voice #erfectly

any of Asha-s arathi songs have become famous 3ven though I do not li'elavaNi, Asha-s "Bugadi mA(hi" from Sangtye Ai'a is a very nice song, which shehas rendered in an incom#arable manner

She has sung all of Baa1-s songs very well ?irstly, all of those songs havebeautiful #oetry Secondly, Baa1-s semi%classical tunes and thirdly, Baa1-se)#ertise in e)tracting whatever he wants from a singer oreover, he never feltthat 1ata%Asha are his elder sisters and that there is no need to ma'e them redo

small things over and over again

Besides Baa1, Asha has sung a lot of songs for Sudhir Phad'e !hose songswere very successful and are very sweet :owever, I feel that she has imitatedBabu(i =>> Sudhir Phad'e >>@ in those songs She had no choice as he made hersing the way he wanted to *hen Babu(i himself sings, the songs sound sweetbecause his voice is suited to that style Asha would sing in her own style forVasant Prabhu, Vasant Pawar, Baa1 Pa1sule, Srinivas 2ha1e or $atta $aw(e'arIf she had done the same with Sudhir Phad'e, those songs would have beenmore beautiful Anyway, this my o#inion and observation, because I listen withminute attention

In the field of :indi music, two com#osers suited her very well .P and /$ :ervoice was utili;ed very well in " Aiye aa# 'ahaan", "yeh hai reshmi ;ulfon 'aandhera" and the songs that she has sung for Pancham are all e)cellent Allsongs from !eesri an;il are among my favourites She has also sung well for/oshan and Salil 9howdhury =whose tunes are difficult, with many highs andlows@ and again, for Baa1 in "Prarthana" and "1e'in" Although she has sung for


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all music directors, her songs with aidev and 2haiyyam are in a class of theirown She has #oured her soul in them

Now I feel that she should be a little choosy !here is no need to sing everything (ust because she can sing and the offers come in I have decided to sing only for

about 6%C music directors with whom I get along and who have been #roducinggood music

Nowadays, she #erforms in arathi #rogrammes with Baa1 and those are highlysuccessful .f course, receiving live a##reciation from an audience is very#leasing to any artist But I 'ee# telling both of them not to overdo it .therwise,#eo#le will say, "No #roblem even if we miss this #rogram *e can catch anotherone in five days" Peo#le should be left wanting for more .nly then will it bevalued

Asha-s tolerance is endless She dee#ly loves all of us and the children and

comes runnung to hel# in times of need She is com#lete as a mother And as Imentioned before, she ta'es immense (oy in serving family members 3ven afterrecording for the entire day, she is eager to coo' various dishes for the childrenin the evening

If I have to find fault with her, then it is that she is over%imaginative Sheunnecessarily gets affected by trivial things and broods over them and thusu#sets herself She is moody too :er mercurial tem#er rises as uic'ly as it falls

Since we are sisters, all this #raise may be viewed as hollow But I have onlysincerely said what I #erceive to be Asha-s strengths and wea'nesses !rulyD

=Note0 Baba is $inanath angesh'ar Ai is Shuddhamati angesh'ar, theirmother and Baa1 is :ridaynath @

Lata Mangeshkar : A livinglegend...

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