Asha Bhosle’s acting debut

Singing legend Asha Bhosle is making her acting debut, in a Hindi film at the age of 77.

MUMBAI:

After singing for decades, legendary Asha Bhosle is making her acting debut with Maaee, a film about a woman who has been abandoned by her only son.”The moment this story was narrated to me, I felt strongly connected to it — as a mother and a human being, even though it was so far removed from my own life experience. I knew then that there was no way I could let the opportunity to essay this character pass me by,” Bhosle, 77, said in a statement.

‘Maaee’ projects the state of a woman who has to live with her daughter and son-in-law.

The film is made in Hindi, coproduced by Subhash Dawar-Nitin Shankar and is directed by debutant director Mahesh Kodiyal. It is scheduled to go on the floors in April this year and will be shot entirely in Mumbai.

According to Bhosle, acting will not be a challenge because it runs in her family and singing too involves a certain degree of acting.

“When I heard about the role, I knew that I would be able to do it because acting is in my family. My father was a drama artist. Also, when we sing, it incorporates acting. If we don’t put some acting in a dance song, no one would be able to dance to it,” Bhosle, who has sung more than 12,000 songs in 18 languages, told IANS.

“We have to put expressions in a song when we sing it. Many a times there are dialogues in songs too. I realised if I can do that, I can act on screen as well,” she added.

Talking about how the role fell into her lap, she said: “I was in Pune for a show. After the show, Nitin came and started narrating the story. I was generally listening without any other inclination.

“He told me that the name of the film is Maaee. It felt really nice, because, I too called my mother by that name. That really touched me. My son joined our conversation and everyone told me that no one else can do this role except me. I was shocked and told them to stop joking, but they said they were serious. I asked for some time to think about it,” said the singer.

Bhosle, who has lent her voice to evergreen renditions like “Dum maro dum” (Hare Rama, Hare Krishna), “Mehbooba mehbooba’ (Sholay), “Mera kuch saaman” (Ijaazat), “Piya tu ab to aaja” (Caravan) and “Chura liya hai tum ne” (Yaadon Ki Baraat), said yes to it because she wanted to try something new.

“I discussed it with my son. He said: ‘You have always tried so many different things, sung all types of songs, done shows around the world, even sung English songs. You have tried so many new things in your career and you have the hunger to do more, so, why not this?’ I realised he was right.”

However, the veteran says that acting is not going to be a regular affair and that the film is only a one-off project.

“I won’t do a film after this. I just wanted to try something new; otherwise, I don’t want to become a full-time actress. I’m happy being a singer,” she said.

Bhosle will also sing a song for the film that costars actress Padmini Kolhapure as her daughter.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2011.