Asha Bhonsle: Ten Duets, Ten Co-Singers: Part 2

When I posted this list  of ten Asha duets last week, the plan had not been to post a follow-up list as well. But then, blog readers began commenting on the post, and several of them posted songs that I really like, with playback singers I hadn’t mentioned. After all, when you’re doing a list of just ten songs, the tendency—and I admit I succumbed to this temptation—is to include your favourite songs. All the duets with Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, et al, featured there. And those songs with these singers that didn’t actually get listed, I at least made it a point to mention.

Even when I’d posted that list, I was ruing the fact that I had still not got around to writing about Asha’s songs with, say, her sister Usha Mangeshkar. There were, in addition, a few rare songs with relatively little-known singers, too, that I had had in mind, but hadn’t written about.

So many good songs on the back burner. I decided a Part 2 was in order. So here it is. Ten duets sung by Asha Bhonsle with a fellow singer who wasn’t listed in the earlier post. As always, these songs are all from pre-1970s Hindi films that I’ve seen. These are in no particular order.

Continue reading

Ten of my Favourite Ravi Duets

Another birth centenary, and another list of favourite songs from the 1950s and 60s.

Today, March 3, 2026, marks the 100th birth anniversary of the composer mononymously known in Hindi cinema as Ravi, and in Malayalam cinema as Bombay Ravi. In the course of a long and illustrious career, Ravi composed music for a very wide range of films, first in the Hindi film industry and later mostly for Malayalam cinema. I will leave those who know his work in the latter to compile lists of his Malayalam songs; what I would like to focus on here are the songs he composed for Hindi films. For films like Gharana and Khandaan, yes (both of which won him Filmfare Best Music Direction Awards); but also for many other films—both hits like Waqt and Chaudhvin ka Chaand, and films that were otherwise duds but the songs of which have far outlived the films themselves.

Continue reading