11 minute read
Asha Puthli
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Meet the refreshingly candid Asha Puthli, India’s first crossover star to the West – who speaks to Nandita Chatterjee about her musical journey to the West, going topless in a film, her music and more.
When we talk about cross-over actors, we immediately think of Priyanka Chopra or Irrfan Khan but much before the world heard of these names, a young woman from Matunga, Mumbai had made herself a global phenomenon - Asha Puthli. Asha’s career in films spans over three continents - India, France, Germany & Italy, and the US. In addition to that she is a successful and legendary jazz singer in the US sharing top billing with the likes of Julio Iglesias, working with labels like CBS, Sony, Emi and RCA. …An icon for Indian American artistes of today and an inspiration for generations to come… presenting Asha Puthli and her legendary journey.
Tell us a little about your childhood in Dadar - once the breeding ground for classical music - how did it influence your foundation?
I grew up in Matunga known as Hollywood galli (there was no Bollywood then) because the celebrities that lived there. It was on RK Masani Road, Prithviraj Kapoor lived there - in fact his whole family lived there - Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, you name it. It was at a Kapoor wedding that I sang my first Punjabi song (lathey di chhadar). Other eminent celebrities in “the galli” were Seghal, Amrish Puri etc .
My father was an affluent businessman and I come from a Saraswat Brahmin family that was rather conservative. We were surrounded by the ‘who’s who’ of the Indian film industry.
I used to sing by my window and one day, Papaji (Prithviraj Kapoor) heard me and said, ‘I had a beautiful voice and I should sing in films’. Papaji tried to convince my parents to let me join the industry. But they wouldn’t have it at the time - that being said they were supportive of my love for the arts and allowed me to get trained in everything from kathak & Odissi to opera with Mrs. Hyacinth of the Royal School of music and classical Indian music where I trained with Pandit Laxman Prasad Jaipurwala.
My parents didn’t want me to do filmy music but classical they allowed. My father would’ve liked me to be either an IAS officer or lawyer - that was his dream. He knew I wouldn’t want to be a doctor because I didn’t like blood, but yeah, I ended up doing my bit back then the plan was always ‘you graduate, then you get married, then you have children’, right? Don’t really kill yourself for a career as such. I mean,
my generation, like my sister, when she was 18, she got married and by the time, she was 36, she was a grandmother. So, same thing for me, they wanted me to get married - an arranged marriage, but I said, no, I’m not going to get married. I want to sing. And I knew I couldn’t do it in India at that time anyway, I mean, my parents wouldn’t like that, but in the film industry, the Mangeshkar sisters were in their prime at the time – and when I was young, they had like a hegemony over the whole industry. That’s why there were no other singles really that broke through big time in Bollywood films. Anyway, I liked Western music and I wanted to bridge the cultures - not just stay in India and do Indian music, but bridge the cultures and bring a little bit Indian touch into western music.
I believe your journey started after a break on a talk show in Europe how did that come to be?
It was on the popular Russell Harty Plus show on London Weekend ITV. Around the same time, I had won the Down Beat Critics Poll, so after the interview I was scheduled to sing. That’s what opened all the doors with offers from EMI, CBS, Polygram, the major labels. It was the interview and singing that brought a lot of media attention and interest.
Glimpses from Italian film Squadra Antigangster - English title The Gang that sold America - on Netflix in Europe. Co-star Tomas Milian, Enzo Canavale & director Bruno Corbucci
What brought you out of Mumbai?
I applied to every college in the US. Berkeley was the first school that had jazz as part of its curriculum. I was called for an interview but, at the time there was no way to get a passport. For the US, I had applied to every university for music, like Northwestern, Julliard and Berkley. Berkley was my dream school so I called them and said, ‘Can I have a scholarship for music? I’ve studied Indian classical and jazz, and I’d like to combine the two’. Berkeley was the first one to start the jazz department, but that was like the ‘60s. Martha Graham’s troop had come to India and I said, ‘Well, I’d like to apply for scholarship because I’ve studied Indian dance. Like I told you as long as it was educational or anything cultural, my parents would say it was fine.
A still from a German film ‘Reden ist mien drouge’
So when I met Martha, she said, ‘You have to come to America and audition for me. It’s something I have to see in order for you to get the scholarship’. But it took me a year and a half to come to America to audition because in the late sixties, we didn’t have passports. It was the era of brain drain, where doctors and engineers were given passports to travel, but not musicians.
And so unless you get a scholarship and have a sponsor and then it’s catch 22. Just as I was wondering how I could go for an audition when I don’t even have a passport, divine intervention struck. I had gone to drop a girlfriend of mine who used to work for British Air as a stewardess and a recruiter walked up to me and asked me to come for the interview. I was astonished, but he went on to mention that they’d send you for training two months in London and we’ll get you a passport within a week and you can leave within two weeks. I was like ‘Wow’. I had no idea but I grabbed this opportunity and that’s how I got my passport.
You starred in Savages which was a Merchant Ivory production. How did you feel when it was banned in India? Any backlash you personally faced due to the conservative mindset of the country at the time?
Shortly after the release of Savages, I got recognition as a jazz singer internationally with the Downbeat Critics Poll , also listed in the Encyclopedia of Jazz in the 1970s and Doordarshan wanted Jazz Music critic Niranjan Jhaveri to interview me. During this live interview however, some of the questions asked were around Savages, semi nudity and censorship.
From the Documentary (Canada / Netherlands) - The Peripheral History of Asha Puthli
I simply pointed out that it’s unfortunate that the government is spending more time on censorship and the brouhaha over an Indian girl’s bosom instead of providing citizens a place to urinate or relieve themselves privately. I raved and ranted on that live show broadcast in Bombay so much that the show’s broadcast from New Delhi was cancelled as I was addressing non performance of the government on the government owned Doordarshan Channel - the only TV Channel in India at the time. It’s so wonderful that India now has a plethora of TV channels and clean facilities for the public. Back then Raj Kapoor ji offered me the female lead in Satyam Shivam Sundaram and candidly mentioning that the lead role included a shower scene with a little body exposure. I would have loved to work with the legend and a genius I greatly admired but since I had just appeared topless in my first feature film to much controversy, rejected the idea.
However it was clear that I didn’t want to be type cast just because I was topless in one film. Importantly due to the conservative mindset of those days I did not want to embarrass or cause any chagrin to my family and relatives any further. A free spirit, I had ‘had my say’ in what I believe.
You were dressed by top designers such as Manolo Blahnik and photographed by the pop-art legend Andy Warhol, what aesthetic aura do you personally gravitate towards and what was it like being their muse?
Andy actually wanted to do the film Tarzan and shoot it in India. He wanted to cast Joe Dellasandro for the lead as Tarzan and me as Jane. But, we never got the financing for it. So, we became friends and hung around together. Pre COVID, the Whitney Museum had a retrospective of Andy’s work - and his Time Capsule box included my first solo album signed to him. It was the centre of the display. It meant a lot to be in his Time Capsule with works from his other favorite artists like Marcel Duchamp, William Burroughs, Beatles, Lou Reed, creativity within his creativity.
A still from Savages directed by James Ivory – (l-r) Martin Kove, Asha Puthli &Ultraviolet
How would you describe your compositions in terms of what brought you to their creation?
Passion and perseverance
What stemmed your love for jazz?
Jazz gives you a certain freedom that other genres don’t. Working with a cult figure like Ornette - I learned that jazz is democracy in music. It gives freedom to all artists to keep their individuality and cohesively bring the song together.
Your most memorable moment that you felt changed the path of your career?
CBS decided to invest in a hit maker artist from its International Roster and their choice fell on either Julio Iglesias or Asha Puthli, so they brought in focus groups and found that I was less marketable in the USA.
According to them there was a bigger Latino population, while their conclusion was that Indians in the US did not buy American music. I remember the head of CBS took me to lunch at a beautiful restaurant and broke the news to me that our three record deal was over.
Asha with SAFF Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Jitin Hingorani, founder of South Asian Film Festival
What are you currently working on?
During the pandemic, a French duet with Gabriel Grillotti “Je crois c’est ca L’amour” was released and when it received almost 2 million hits the record label wants to record another duet this summer. Also a jazz recording of standards, “All My Life” is being released end November. Will be available on Digital release,
How would you describe the evolution of the global music scene?
I think altogether it’s amazing how into music the youth is today. Imaad Shah - Naseeruddin Shah’s son - has an incredible band. The new generation is indeed woke and liberated and music is accessible by all. I had an opportunity to experience that on my last trip to Mumbai. Since it’s a city where I spent my youth, I feel I can make a valid assessment of how far we have come. Music is freedom with no impositions, this current generation is the first one to understand and appreciate that.
Who are the film directors you enjoyed working with the most?
I, fortunately, got the opportunity to work with some of the best directors in the world with whom I enjoyed working, - Mani Kaul (India), James Ivory (USA), Navina Sundaram NDR (Germany), Bruno Corbucci (Italy) and finally Louis Malle (France).
Way before Reality TV came into our lives, Louis Malle was doing Cinema Verite. In 1972, it was cutting edge working with him on a French film based on Andre Breton’s novel ‘Nadja’. I played Nadja improvising on the question “Ou est Paradies”and the ensuing conversations. If someone were to ask me where paradise is today, I would say “here and now”. It is because of my working in films across three continents, SAFF (South Asian Film Festival) presented me with the Lifetime Achievement Award. I feel so honored and thrilled for this recognition and specially to have you share this experience with me. Thank you Stardust.
