- Muzaffar Ali credited Umrao Jaan as a career breakthrough for Asha Bhosle
- Ali recalled their last meeting in June during the launch of Umrao Jaan's 4K re-release book
- Asha Bhosle deeply researched Lucknow culture to perform authentically for Umrao Jaan
"Coy, mischievous and endearing." This is how filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, whose 1981 film Umrao Jaan was a career turnaround for Asha Bhosle, remembered the singer.
Umrao Jaan was not only a breakthrough for its lead star Rekha, but also for Asha Bhosle, who until that time had been typecast into singing a certain kind of peppy dance numbers. With the period drama, based on Mirza Hadi Ruswa's Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada, both the industry and fans started taking Asha Bhosle seriously.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Muzaffar Ali spoke about his close collaboration with Asha Bhosle on Umrao Jaan, how she studied Lucknow for the film, and about their last conversation.
"I can't believe that this voice is gone. But I also can't believe that we have done such good work together that this voice has become immortal. Umrao Jaan was a pathbreaking film for her," he said.
Asha Bhosle died at the age of 92 on Sunday at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital due to multiple organ failure.
"Asha ji had become very weak, but she had a fighting spirit. She was very young at heart. A lot of her songs kept her young and vibrant. There were a few special songs that people would demand her to sing. That made her feel young. All in all, she was a spirited woman. She was coy, naughty, mischievous and endearing in her own way," the Delhi-based director added.
Recalling his last conversation with Asha Bhosle, Muzaffar Ali said they last met in June around the launch of the coffee table book on Umrao Jaan which was also re-released nationwide in 4K. The singer won her first National Award for the film.
"We released a coffee table book on Umrao Jaan last year. We had a small card which was printed in the book. On that card, Asha ji wrote, 'Aapne mujhe bahut inspire kiya isliye mujhe ye award mila.' We last spoke around the time of the release of this book.
"I went to her house and she was very keen to talk to me. I played her the songs she sang for me for the film Zooni. She was in tears. She asked me, 'Maine ye gaane gaaye hain kya?' I said, 'Ji aap hee ne gaaye hain.' She then said, 'Ye toh bahut hee achhe gaane hain'. She was very moved."
Besides Umrao Jaan and Zooni, the filmmaker and Asha Bhosle also collaborated on a film called Daaman.
"She had recorded another song for me for a film which remains unreleased till date... I talked to her about doing a Farsi music album with Amir Khusrau and Rumi's work. She was very excited. She said, 'Maine har bhasha mein gaaya hai par Farsi mein nahin gaaya hai'. It would have given her a new lease of creativity," he recounted.
Asha Bhosle has often said that she was initially supposed to sing only one song for Umrao Jaan, a claim the director describes as her mischief. She sang gems such as Dil Cheez Kya Hai, Ye Kya Jagah Hai Doston, In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke, Justju Jiski Hai, and Jab Bhi Milti Hai, which were composed by Khayyam and penned by Shahryar.
"It wasn't like that. I was initially looking for another singer with Jaidev ji as music composer. We realised Umrao Jaan needed a different kind of an oomph which Jaidev ji, through his choice of person, was not able to bring about. Then, we moved to Khayyam sahab and it was a unanimous choice that she will sing all the songs. There was no question of one song like that.
"We also realised how to make it very different from the Asha ji we know. We changed her scale, to half a scale. She was very happy and comfortable about it. She brought about a new feeling. But what she said about one song and not all songs was her own mischief. Woh saare hee gaane unko jaane the."
Muzaffar Ali, 81, also remembered how Asha Bhosle went in depth to prepare for Umrao Jaan.
"She was interested in not just the songs, she was interested in Lucknow. She wanted to know how people behave there, how they talk, all about the tehzeeb (culture) and tameez (etiquette). But Lucknow was lost to Bollywood. It was for the first time that Lucknow was getting an opportunity to present itself on screen as the real Lucknow of the bygone era whose glory was at its peak.
"She wanted to get a feeling of that. She made me read the book to her, she made me explain the character's journey through poetry. She really understood that she would have to bring out many shades of the character: mischief, optimism, disillusionment, and frustration. I could have done nothing if she was not inquisitive, curious, and eager to be different," he added.
Muzaffar Ali's son, filmmaker Shaad Ali is expected to attend Asha Bhosle's funeral in Mumbai today.
Also Read | 80 Years, 20 Languages, 12,000 Songs: Asha Bhosle Was India's Love Language
