Legendary playback singer Asha Bhonsle, who carved a niche for herself with light classical, raunchy numbers and Indipop, was Thursday named this year`s winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest honour given in the film industry. Asha has been chosen for the Phalke award for 2000, an official announcement here today said.
The girl, who started singing at the age of ten for movies, turned to re-mixes and albums in the nineties taking her to dizzying heights as an unrivalled queen of Indipop.
From lilting songs like Jaaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge, Ye Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka Asar and Ude Jab Jab Zulfen Teri to the seductious Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, Dum Maro Dum and Kambaqt Ishq, Asha was at home singing sizzling cabaret numbers or intense ghazals during her 57-year career. Reacting Asha Bhonsle, who has been regaling music lovers for last five decades, termed as a great honour her selection for the prestigious Phalke award for outstanding contribution to the Indian cinema. “I am very happy. It is great honour for me,” Asha, who began her career by lending her voice in the 1948 film `Chunariya`, said in Mumbai. She was attending to a close relative undergoing an operation in a city hospital when the news came.
Bureau Report