Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (Part 1, Up to 1959)
In this first Asha SurveykshaN, covering songs from her beginnings through 1959, participants were asked to select up to 40 solos (including solos, "mostly" solos, and solos with chorus) sung by Asha for Hindi films and non-film albums, envisioning a desert island scenario..
The results showcase some standouts. Lajwanti (1958) is by far the most popular album for Asha during this period, accumulating a total score of 72 between four of its songs selected by the participants. Another standout, even more overwhelmingly, is the year 1958 itself. Songs from this year were selected 537 times, more than the next three years combined. It's also a qualitatively dense year - almost every other song was chosen by someone (79 out of total ~184 she sang).
The top spot for the most widely selected song is shared by two songs: aaiye meharabaa.N from Howrah Bridge (1958) and kaalii ghaTaa chhaae from Sujata (1959), both finding a place in over 70% participants' lists.
For the rest of the amazing songs selected by the survey participants, check out the complete results. Don't discount the songs with one or two selections. You are more than likely to discover some rare gems there. Remember, every song listed here is someone's desert island pick.
Highlights
- Solos Asha sang in this period: 1289*
- Total songs selected by survey participants: 283
- Songs selected by two or more participants: 176
- Songs getting only one vote each: 107
- Unique albums in selections: 172
Top 10 albums (based on cumulative total votes for songs of an album)
| Rank | Album | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lajwanti | 72 |
| 2 | Sujata | 55 |
| 3 | Howrah Bridge | 52 |
| 3 | Kala Pani | 52 |
| 5 | Phir Subah Hogi | 43 |
| 6 | Sone Ki Chidiya | 38 |
| 7 | Phagun | 36 |
| 8 | (Non-Film) | 33 |
| 9 | Raagini | 32 |
| 10 | Jagriti | 30 |
Top years (based on cumulative total votes for songs of a year)
| Rank | Year | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1958 | 537 |
| 2 | 1959 | 193 |
| 3 | 1957 | 168 |
| 4 | 1954 | 140 |
| 5 | 1956 | 96 |
| 6 | 1955 | 88 |
| 7 | 1953 | 80 |
| 8 | 1952 | 35 |
| 9 | 1951 | 3 |
| 10 | 1949 | 1 |
Most common composers for Top-50 songs
| Composer | Count |
|---|---|
| S D Burman | 14 |
| O P Nayyar | 8 |
| Madan Mohan | 5 |
| N Dutta | 4 |
| Khayyam | 3 |
| C Ramchandra | 3 |
| Vasant Desai | 2 |
| Salil Chowdhury | 2 |
| Hemant Kumar | 2 |
Most common lyricists for Top-50 songs
| Lyricist | Song |
|---|---|
| Majrooh | 17 |
| Sahir | 7 |
| Rajendra Krishna | 4 |
| Qamar Jalalabadi | 4 |
| Bharat Vyas | 4 |
| Shailendra | 2 |
| Pradeep | 2 |
| Kaifi Azmi | 2 |
| Hasrat Jaipuri | 2 |
* According to Vishwas Nerurkar's book "Swarasha"
Participants
Abhay Jain, Abhijit Deonath, Aditya Pant, Akanksha Sharma, Amarendra R Nargundkar, Anil Hingorani, Anish Mohanty, Anshul Chobey, Armeen Ramabhadran, Arun, Arun Verma, Asad ur Rahman Kidwai, Ashok M Dhareshwar, Asif Alvi, Balaji, Camaal, Deepak Sabnis, Divya Gupta, Faraaj Qureshi, K S Shenoy, Ketan, Sunil Khushalani, Malini Kanth, Medha, N Sridhar, Narasimhan M.G., Naresh Khattar, Narsingh Dev Agnish, Neha, Nishant Shah, Nitin Shitole, Pravesh P Singh, Preetham, Rakesh Parikh, Sandeep, Sanjeev Chandran, Sanjeev Ramabhadran, Sayesha, Shailendra Diwan, Shalini Razdan, Shrinivas Phoujadar, Subrat Mohanty, Sukesh Hoogan, Vaishali Khushalani, Veena, Vibhendu Tewari, Vijay Kumar, Vikas, Vinay Jain, Vish Krishnan, Vivek Choraria, Zafar Syed
Participants who selected 40 songs: 19 (36.5%)Participants who selected 20 or fewer songs: 21 (40%)