Asha Bhosle: Encyclopedia II - Asha Bhosle - Personal Life

Asha Bhosle - Personal Life

Asha's house is situated in Peddar Road area of Mumbai. She has three children and five grandchildren. The eldest of her three children is Hemant Bhosle (named after Hemant Kumar), who initially dabbled in music direction but then quit to become a pilot. Asha's daughter Varsha, who is younger than Hemant, works as a columnist for The Times of India and Rediff. The youngest child is Anand Bhosle, who has studied business and film direction. He manages Asha's career. Her grandson, Chaitanya (Chintu) Bhosle (Hemant's son) also ventured in the world of music, as a member of a successful boy band, "Band of Boys". Her sisters Lata and Usha Mangeshkar are playback singers. The other two siblings, sister Meena Mangeshkar and brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar are music directors.

Asha is an excellent cook and cooking is her favorite hobby. She often gets flooded with requests by Bollywood celebrities for kadai ghosht and biryani and has rarely turned down a request. In fact, her paya curry, Goan fish curry and dal are very popular with the Kapoor family of Bollywood. Once, when asked in a Times of India interview, what if her singing career hadn't taken off, she said "I'd have become a cook. I would have cooked in four houses and made money."

Asha is a successful restaurateur and runs a restaurant in Dubai, called Asha's. Asha's offers traditional north-western Indian cuisine. It has a presence in the Wafi City development in Dubai and in Kuwait. Asha Bhosle has a 20 per cent stake in the business. Asha is not be involved in day-to-day running of the restaurant, which is looked after by the Wafi Group. She takes care of the kitchen and the decor. She personally trained the chefs for almost six months. According to a December 2004 report in the Menu Magazine ([8]), Russell Scott, a former head of Harry Ramsden's (the fish and chips chain), secured the UK rights to the Asha's brand and planned to open up to 40 restaurants over the next five years.

Asha's fashion statement is white sarees with sparkling embroidery, pearls around her neck and diamonds. Harrington of Kronos Quartet said "The first time I met Ashaji she was dresssed in the most beautiful sari with diamonds and looked very regal. Then I looked down and saw that she was wearing tennis shoes! I thought I love this woman."

Asha is a good mimicry artist as well. At a concert at World Trade Center Duabi, on April 22, 2004, she mimicked the song Kabhi To Nazar Milaao in the voices of Noor Jehan, Lata Mangeshkar and Ghulam Ali. [9]

Nowadays, apart from singing and her restaurant, Asha is also working on her autobiography.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Personal Life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki