She has done it all her life. And now the diva of the ditties is again pinching the purists where it hurts their sense of the status quo the most. In her new album, Asha, which has been released to a rousing response, Asha Bhosle has done the unthinkable. She has actually re-recorded the ghazals of the indisputable greats of the genre.

“I knew I was looking for trouble when I decided to re-do the ghazal greats Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khannum, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh. But my life is nothing, if not a series of challenges. The danger of purists taking offense was always there. Ab dekhiye na. Aaj kal kya hota hai, koi bhi kisi ka gaana utthaa ke gaane lagta hai. They just take any big singer’s number and make it small ? with clothes to match on the music video, matak-matak ke.”

Asha Bhosle insists she hasn’t done any remix songs in Asha. “I haven’t tampered with one note, one lyric?no changes at all. Only the instruments have been modernised. As for the cynics, they’re bound to have their say. When some years ago I did my songs of R.D. Burman in the album, Rahul & I, I was criticised even by those who were my admirers. But I remember a four-year-old boy at a restaurant coming up to me to sing, Piya tu ab to aaja. I was so happy that a new generation would be familiarised with RD’s tunes.”

Asha is hopeful that the new generation will appreciate her efforts to pay homage to the ghazal greats. When it comes to re-doing the classics she’s no stranger to controversies. Laughing, the diva recalls, “I had once done an album of Noorjehan’s songs in Kashish? Main bahut dar gayi thi. I phoned Noorjehan in Pakistan to take her consent. She retorted, ‘Badi himmat hai tum mein’.”

Ashaji does a flawless imitation of Noorjehan’s booming voice. With a laugh she continues, “After recording the songs I took the cassette to her home in London. She looked at me angrily and told me to come back the next day. The next day she complimented me, ‘Shabaash beta! Jo cheez main nahin keh saki woh tum keh gayi ho.’ I touched her feet and sought her blessings. I hope after listening to Asha the ghazal greats will respond the same way.”

She ends hopefully. “I’ve tried my best to retain the original flavour. I heard every number at least 50 times.” Incidentally, her sister Lata Mangeshkar had done her homage bit to the playback singing greats of Hindi cinema. When the senior Mangeshkar sister’s Shraddhanjali was released the cynics accused the Nightingale of trying to be one-up on her colleagues who had sung the originals. But such was the popularity of Shraddhanjali that Lata actually recorded a sequel a year later!

When it comes to encores, you can’t beat the Mangeshkar sisters.