Sorrow and song as Asha Bhosle cremated with full state honours

Mumbai: “Abhi Na Jaao Chhodkar...” The strains of that wistful song played in the background at the Shivaji Park crematorium on Monday as hundreds of people gathered inside -- and outside -- to bid music legend Asha Bhosle a final sayonara.

A gun salute rang out as the last rites of Bhosle, perhaps the last of the singing greats who ruled the soundwaves for decades and still do, were held in accordance with Hindu rituals and with full state honours. Her son Anand performed the rituals.

Bhosle, one half of the legendary Mangeshkar sisters, passed away on Sunday due to multi-organ failure. She was 92 as was her Lata didi when she died in February 2022.

Priests recited mantras around the funeral pyre, decorated with vibrant yellow and orange marigolds.

Granddaughter Zanai was inconsolable. Sister Usha Mangeshkar, also a singer, and brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, a music composer, were there too.

Among those gathered to pay their last respects to India’s singer nonpareil were Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, director Ramesh Sippy and actors Aamir Khan and Vicky Kaushal.

It was a moment of sorrow and song too.

Before the pyre was lit, singers Shaan, Sudesh Bhosle and Anup Jalota paid a musical tribute to the enduring legend who sang some 12,000 songs in an incredible eight-decade career that started when she was just 10.

While Sudesh Bhosle crooned “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana”, Shaan sang “Pyaar Ke Mod Pe”.

And they were not the only ones.

Many fans, their hands folded in prayer, were heard singing the many numbers that made Bhosle the star that she was for music lovers of all ages and through many generations.

Snatches of “Aaiye Meherbaan”, the languid song of love filmed on Madhubala, and “Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Pe”, romance of another hue pictured on Zeenat Aman many decades later, and many others, could be heard. Some softly crooned, others louder.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Asha Tai. She has had songs for every mood and occasion. Our Tai, and her songs, will live forever in our hearts,” said one ardent fan.

The irrepressible, exuberance of the versatile Bhosle, who was compelling whether she was singing classical or cabaret, was inspirational, said another.