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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 06 May 2025

Diva and Devi

Her Puja releases have played incessantly at pandals across Bengal but "Bangal ki bahu" Asha Bhosle had never seen Durga Puja here. Her wish was granted when she walked into the Sreebhumi pandal on Thursday night. She was accompanied by grandson Chintu, family friend Mili Bhattacharya and Mahua Lahiri of Asha Audio. "She was very excited at the prospect of coming to Durga Puja. She landed in Calcutta straight from a concert in South Africa via Mumbai," Chintu told Metro. His grandma was then seated in front of the idol, blissfully watching arati. Then she offered incense to each deity and touched the priest's feet, before partaking of prasad.The experience left her visibly overwhelmed. " Keu dharona korte parbe na eto sundar.

TT Bureau Published 07.10.16, 12:00 AM
Her Puja releases have played incessantly at pandals across Bengal but "Bangal ki bahu" Asha Bhosle had never seen Durga Puja here. Her wish was granted when she walked into the Sreebhumi pandal on Thursday night. She was accompanied by grandson Chintu, family friend Mili Bhattacharya and Mahua Lahiri of Asha Audio. "She was very excited at the prospect of coming to Durga Puja. She landed in Calcutta straight from a concert in South Africa via Mumbai," Chintu told Metro. His grandma was then seated in front of the idol, blissfully watching arati. Then she offered incense to each deity and touched the priest's feet, before partaking of prasad.The experience left her visibly overwhelmed. " Keu dharona korte parbe na eto sundar. Ma jeno amar songe katha bolchhe (No one can imagine how beautiful She is. It is as if Mother is talking to me)," she said, on being asked about her reaction.Her sense of humour was also in evidence. When her host Sujit Bose gifted her a packet of khaja that is being prepared by confectioners from Puri, Bhosle turned towards the crowd and gestured that she would develop a paunch on eating the sweets. The legendary singer also waxed eloquent about her love of Bengali culture. "I have read a lot of Saratbabu (Chattopadhyay). Rabindranath (Tagore)...mujhe bahut pyar hai Bengali sanskriti se. Aadhi Bangali toh main hoon hi," she said, referring to her marital ties with R.D. Burman. There was no letting her go without a song. After a quick consultation with friend Mili, she took off her slippers to sing a Devi stotra before launching into a stanza each of Jete dao amay deko na and Chura liya hai, sending the crowd outside into hoops of joy. Asked by Metro to reminisce about her Puja hits, Asha said her first Puja release was Jabo ki jabo na. "Gauriprasanna Majumdar was writing the lyrics and Pancham was composing the tune at a hotel. At midnight, he telephoned me and hummed the song, asking if I would sing it. I said yes immediately. Another song that did very well was Chokhey chokhey katha bolo. HMV was forced to give me a silver disc," she chuckled.Text: Sudeshna Banerjee. Picture: Amit Datta
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