Asha Bhosle, iconic legend of playback singing, has added a new facet to her repertoire. Bhosle, 77, has nodded assent to 'Maaee', which will illumine her acting debut in a fictional Hindi flick, wherein she shares screen frames with Padmini Kolhapure. Ajit Ramachanddran engages the veteran in a candid chat…





She redefines feisty. Her tinkle bell laughter echoes naughtily in the suburban Mumbai apartment as Asha Bhosle fields queries from the scribe tribe on Mahashivaratri Day (March 2, 2011). And with good reason, that is.

On the auspicious occasion, Asha Bhosle has chosen to spotlight a new aspect in her over crowded cap of credentials. The crooning diva will soon greenlight her debut as an actress with 'Maaee', a fictional Hindi movie centred around a mother daughter relationship with debutant director Mahesh Kodiyal at the helm of affairs.

Slated to roll in April 2011, 'Maaee' co produced by Subhash Dawar and music director Nitin Shankar (Alliance Entertainment and Rhythm D'vine Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.) will be canned entirely in Mumbai.

Excerpts from a chat with the irrepressible Asha…

You've been a successful singer and are now making your acting debut. At an age when most people retire, why did you agree to act in 'Maaee' which is based on the relationship between a mother and daughter? What did you particularly like about the script?
The film's story is lovely. I really liked it. Why am I doing it? Because I've already sung all types of songs in many different languages. I've sung hit songs in languages as difficult as Tamil and Malayalam. Take any other language. Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, I've sung songs in all those languages. I've been doing this for the past 60 to 65 years. I've gone to Russia and sung Russian songs. I've sung Malay songs. You should always want to do something new. These days I'm singing all my old songs for a rock show in which we mix our tunes with English songs. We do it for youngsters. So that's something new. If we do the same thing again and again, sometimes a person gets bored of the monotony. Maybe my wish to do something new because it gives me joy, is the reason behind accepting the film. I've made quite a few appearances of the small screen and come on stage very many times. Now what else is left? The big screen! So I said, 'Let's give this a shot as well.'

Padmini Kolhapure is playing the role of your daughter in the film. Was that a decisive factor in saying 'yes' to the film?
No. First I said 'yes' and then I caught hold of her and asked her if she'd do it.

So were you responsible for getting Padmini into the film…
Padmini is a wonderful artiste and a great actress. Actually, it's difficult for me to stand in front of her, because I'm not an actress. After listening to the story, she immediately agreed to do the film.

What do you feel is the USP of 'Maaee'?
I feel that 'Maaee' is a good film, with a nice moral. I won't say that it is a commercial film, but it is a good film.

The title 'Maaee' makes it sound like it's a Marathi film, but it's actually a Hindi movie. Don't you think people will get confused?
Everyone uses 'maaee', just as everyone uses 'Sai'. We also used to call our mother 'maaee'. This is not a Marathi film, it's in Hindi but the mother is called 'maaee'.