Why Asha Bhosle kept coming back to Kolkata: A forgotten interview with Salil Chowdhury reveals

Asha Bhosle’s relationship with 'Calcutta' was more than just a professional stop. The late singer was fluent in Bengali, and her songs are considered definitive classics of the 'adhunik' Bangla music genre or modern bengali music.

Asha’s tryst with Bengal began in the fifties with her first Bengali duet, composed by Manna Dey. She quickly became a staple of the Durga Pujo season, a time when legendary singers would release "Pooja Specials." She worked extensively with the titans of Bengali music, including Salil Chowdhury, Sudhin Dasgupta, Nachiketa Ghosh, and Hemanta Mukherjee.

Asha Bhosle and the warmth of Bengal: A look back at her 70-year bond Kolkata

Her relevance continued in the 80s and 90s when her signature songs like "Emon Madhur Sandhyay," "Chokhe Naame Brishti," and "Gun Gun Kare Mon" remained radio staples in Kolkata.

In 2018, the Government of West Bengal conferred upon her the Bangabibhushan, the state’s highest civilian award. Asha Bhosle's last-ever recorded Bengali song, "Ebar Pujoy Elaam Phire," was released in 2018.

In an old interview with music director and songwriter Salil Chowdhury, Asha Bhosle had talked extensively about her bond with 'Calcutta' and why she felt so drawn to the city.

"I've read many Bengali books, be it Bindur Chhele, Pather Dabi, Datta, and they made me feel like I was born in that Calcutta," Asha said in the DD Bangla interview.

"When I came to Calcutta in 1952, I would ask people to show me the chabi wala saree (an old style of draping where women would tie the keys of the household at the end of their pallu), show me what sandesh looks like, the fan that is used during meals... I wanted to know what 'maacher jhol', what is shorshe bata diye maacher jhol, what is chingri," Asha revealed.

Bhosle would often spend time in Kolkata with her husband, music director RD Burman stayed at his family home. Asha Bhosle also shared that she loved travelling across Kolkata and its fringes.

"We would travel to several places, I remember we went to see Basirhat and the villages around it. When we are in London or somewhere in the States and we walk into big places, we think about Kolkata. I remember thinking, 'we should go to New Market!"

"Really? But you have these big markets over there," Chowdhury remarked.

"Yes, but we don't get this warmth, there's a love that I find here," added Bhosle.

The late singer also shared an incident which stayed with her. "Many years ago, I was leaving after having performed at a show here, at a venue in Calcutta. An old woman she came to me, and she said, 'Asha ma, Kali maa, Durga maa, kobe phire ashbe (when will you come back?)'"

"And I had tears in my eyes. Because I am an ordinary woman and and elderly woman is calling me Kali maa and Durga ma. I have never received this kind of love anywhere else," the singer said.

Asha Bhosle passed away on April 12, 2026, at the age of 92 in Mumbai, after being hospitalised with a chest infection and complications that led to multi-organ failure

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