Legendary singer Asha Bhosle conferred the prestigious ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award

The prestigious ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award was conferred on the legendary singer Asha Bhosle on Friday. This was in lieu of her seamless contribution to the field of art and culture. The said award was presented to her by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Also present at the glittering function were dignitaries like Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sachin Tendulkar, Udit Narayan, Anu Malik, Udit Narayan, Suresh Wadkar, Sachin, Jackie Shroff and many other celebs. Also present various ministers like Sudhir Mungantiwar, Rahul Narwekar, Deepak Kesarkar. Vikas Kharge, Anupama Shrivastava and many others. The said award, which carried a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh, a citation and a memento, was held at a glittering function at the Gateway of India.

On his part, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “True to what Sudhirbhau (Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar) said, it’s true that, the respected Chief Minister (Eknath Shinde) and me are truly blessed today that we got an opportunity to honour Ashataai (Asha Bhosle) with ‘Maharshtra Bhushan’ and are really grateful to Ashataai for this from the bottom of my heart. This is Maharashtra’s topmost honour and I had read somewhere that, in the year 1951, there was a film by the name of ‘Gateway Of India’, in which Ashatai was in the chorus in one of the songs. Her journey from there to here and getting the highest Maharashtra award in front of the Gateway Of India itself in such a unique thing in itself. The glory of the award ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ has only got upped, because it has been received by Asha taai". 

He added, We, very often use the term ‘versatile’. But, the real meaning of the term ‘versatile’ is Ashataai Bhosle. The amount of versatility shown by Ashtai in the field of music is immense. Right from ‘Toraah mann darpan kehlaaye re’ till ‘Khallas’, the range has every kind of song in it, including devotional songs, naatya sanget, bhaav geet, ghazal. Classical music, disco, pop and rock music. We have witnessed her superlative singing talent in these songs. She has sung over 1000 songs in more than 20 languages! The ‘seva’ that the Mangeshkar family has done towards music is totally unforgettable. Any award is small in front of this ‘seva’. She even, has to her credit, of having sung as many as 7 songs in one single day! She has always said that ‘Mic is my God’. But, for us, when we see Lata didi and you (Ashataai) behind the mic, we get to see God, through the medium of your voices. Anyone who has heard Asha taai singing before 50 years feels that, Ashataai is the best singer in every decade. And for a person who has heard Ashataai after 50 years also feels that Ashataai is the best singer.”