Asha Bhosle’s Dubai concert was a breath of fresh air

The Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle's Dubai show was a breath of fresh air – a far cry from the dancer-heavy, smoke-machine laden affairs the Indian entertainment industry is used to.

When my best friend told me a few weeks ago about Asha Bhosle’s concert in Dubai, I didn’t need much convincing. It’s Asha Bhosle, of course, the Bollywood playback singer who’s voice we have grown up listening to. While our favourite film actresses – everyone from Rekha to Madhuri – have been the ones prancing around on-screen, they have opened their mouth to have the sweet voice of Asha swell from their throats.

That this was to be more than just a concert made it impossible to say no. So we – like several hundred other fans – flocked to the Dubai World Trade Centre on Friday the 13th.

“I hope you don’t mind, but today there will be no troupe of dancers, no laser lights and no smoke machines,” Bhosle primed her audience. “It is just me, with this microphone, these few musicians and Farooq Shaikh. Today we will talk just like we are at home. Like I have come to visit you and we are in your living room and we are having a chat.”

I am not sure what Bhosle was pre-emptively apologising for, because the evening turned out to be a proper slice of heaven. Such a far cry from the dancer-heavy, smoke machine-laden (and absolutely mismanaged) affair held earlier this month that featured some of the Indian film industry’s biggest stars, but sent everyone home with a frown.

At the Friday show, we spent a couple of hours with Bhosle and Shaikh, listening to the two tell stories about the life and work of Asha tai (as she is affectionately referred to), with her singing some of her most memorable songs. After growing up listening to them on the radio and tape recorder over and over again, I can’t tell you what a joy it was to hear classics such as Dum Maro Dum and Monica in Bhosle’s own voice.

The best part was when she was talking about the early part of her career and how, before she found her own voice, she tried to emulate the reigning singers of the time, such as Shamshad Begum and Noor Jehan. She actually did impressions of them that had the audience in stitches. So much energy and such good humour at the age of 80? Asha tai blew everyone away.

Another Bollywood living legend joined them on stage towards the end of the show. In her bronze kanjivaram sari and bold red lipstick, with her long black hair flipped over one shoulder in her signature style, Rekha was a vision. That hair, that smile, that sensuality at the age of 59. I can safely say that half the auditorium fell in love with her all over again.

Seeing the two ladies interact on stage in a totally casual manner was a breath of fresh air from the over-choreographed performances we are so used to seeing. Asha tai would tell Rekha off for not coming to see her in a long time and Rekha would make some joke about running away from the people she loved the most. The repartee back and forth made us feel like they were one of us. Be it for a brief moment, the whole auditorium got a glimpse that night, of what it must be like to be one of these Bollywood behemoths.

The writer is an honest-to-goodness desi living in Dubai