SHOCKING: When a sound recordist rejected Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar saying, “Inki awaaz gaane ke laayak hi nahin hai”

By Fenil Seta -

August 16, 2023 - 8:00 PM IST

Asha Bhosle will turn 90 years old and during this special occasion, she’ll be performing live in Dubai, UAE. She spoke about it extensively with Rajdeep Sardesai of India Today. During her 48-minute-long conversation, she went down memory lane and shared fascinating trivia. One such episode is about how she and Kishore Kumar were rejected by a prominent sound recordist. The incident took place when the singers had gone to record a song for Raj Kapoor and Nargis-starrer Jan Pehchan (1950) in the year 1947.

SHOCKING: When a sound recordist rejected Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar saying, “Inki awaaz gaane ke laayak hi nahin hai”

Asha Bhosle said, “We were at Famous Studios. It was Khemchand ji’s (Khemchand Prakash) song, ‘Armaan Bhare Dil Ki Lagan’ (sings the song in her melodious voice). Nowadays, the studios are air-conditioned and have a lot of machines. Those days, there used to be two-track machines. Ek track musicians ke liye hota tha aur ek track singers ke liye. There used to be just one mic and singers had to sing standing in front of it together.”

She continued, “Kishore da and I started singing. The sound recordist was Robin Chatterjee. He said in Bengali that ‘This won’t work. Aap logon ki awaaz mic mein acchi nahin lag rahi hai’. Kishore da understood as he knew Bengali. He told me, ‘Asha, gadbad hai’. I didn’t say anything. I was too young. Robin Chatterjee told Guru ji (Khemchand Prakash), ‘Aap dusre singer laao. Inki awaaz gaane ke laayak hi nahin hai’!”

Asha Bhosle then said, “We left. We walked and reached Mahalaxmi railway station. Our shift was at 8:00 pm. By the time, it ended, it was 2:00 am. We sat on the seat. Kishore da was angry. He even felt sad. I consoled him, ‘Aap jaise gaate hai, aap yodeling karte hai, aapki Hindi bahut acchi hai. Aapko toh koi rok hi nahin sakta hai.” She revealed, “We both were hungry. We ordered batata wada and a small cup of chai. Some tea even spilt on us. Then we both left.”

At this point, she revealed, “Some years later, Kishore became a hero. I was also a bit famous. We met for a recording, this time at Film Centre. But the recordist was the same - Robin Chatterjee! I told him, ‘Dada, Robin da baithe hue hai’. He remarked, ‘Villain baitha hua hai’ (laughs)! I told him to leave it.”

Also Read: Asha Bhosle opens up on Lata Mangeshkar’s demise: “She was my elder sister and also my mother. My mother had told me, “Agar main nahin rahungi toh yeh tumhari maa hai”