The ‘prima donna’ of Bollywood playback music Asha Bhosle will be honoured with the ‘5th Yash Chopra Memorial National Award' on February 16 according to multi-faceted luminary Dr. T. Subbarami Reddy who announced the annual award on behalf of the jury. This year, the jury comprises Pamela (Yash) Chopra, veteran filmmaker Boney Kapoor, noted singer Alka Yagnik, actress Padmini Kolhapure, director Madhur Bhandarkar, writer Honey Irani, and Anu and Shashi Ranjan.
Incidentally, Asha-tai’s elder sister, the legendary Lata Mangeshkar was previously honoured in the past with this same award. Iconic actress Sridevi’s husband Boney Kapoor said, “My association with Asha-ji has been since childhood – she sang playback songs for my producer-father Surinder Kapoor’s movies and also for my films. It was a unanimous decision, when her name cropped up.” Meanwhile, multiple National Award winner maverick director Madhur Bhandarkar who has worked with the exuberant Asha-tai, in several of his movies including the landmark media-centric ‘Page 3’, said that he also spoke to the melody-queen and she seemed ‘delighted’ to know the ‘khush khabri’.
The candid Alka Yagnik reacted saying, “Asha-ji is too huge a legend and I look up to her as an inspiration, because she is so youthful, energetic and so versatile.”
Senior actress Padmini Kolhapure enthused, “Asha-tai deserves this award and much more. In my case, I have had the privileged honour in the past to sing ‘playback’ as a chorus-singer and lead singer with the legendary Asha-tai. Among my Asha B favourite tracks are ‘Do Lafzon Ki Hai’ and ‘Yeh Toh Hona Hi Tha'.”
