It was Bharat Ratna nightingale Lata Mangeshkar’s 86th birthday on Monday. Though the phone kept ringing off the hook the whole day with the who’s who calling to wish through the day, there was quiet in the Mangeshkar household in Prabhu Kunj, Peddar Road, where planned celebrations and cake-cutting in the evening with the whole family were cancelled. The family gathered solemnly over news that Asha Bhosle’s second-born and music director Hemant Bhosle, 66, had lost his long battle with cancer late on Sunday, in Scotland where he lived since five years.
Asha Bhosle, who had just flown in from a concert tour to Singapore where she performed at the packed 5000-seater Star Performing Arts Centre on Friday, chose not to comment. Other members too chose to refrain. “Both Lata didi and Asha tai met quietly, held hands, consoling each other,” said a family friend who was present on the occasion. “On Sunday, even as she packed her bags to leave from Singapore for Mumbai, came this news,” she added choking on her words. “It reminds me of her own angst ridden song by Suresh Bhatt, composed to music by Shridhar Phadke, Bhogale je dukh tyaalaa sukh mhanaawe laagale / ewadhe mee bhogile kee maj hasaawe laagale (I was forced to count the sorrow that came my way as happiness/ It came in such waves, that I had no choice but to laugh).”
It will be recalled that on 8 October 2012, Asha Bhosle’s daughter, singer and journalist Varsha committed suicide at her residence in Mumbai by shooting herself in the head at her Prabhu Kunj residence in Mumbai.
Hemant who had composed music for over 15 Hindi films over two decades from 1977, had also composed several evergreen Marathi tracks like 'Sharad Sundar' and 'Yeu Kashi Priya' which were sung by his mother.
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