Kishore Kumar’s Unconventional Journey in Marathi Music: How ‘Ashwini Ye Na’ Came to Life |

Late veteran singer Kishore Kumar gave Indian cinema some of the most iconic numbers for Bollywood’s golden era. Making his name as the prominent Hindi singer, many won’t know that he sang two Marathi songs in his career. Let’s take a look at them.Kishore Kumar sang the popular song ‘Ashwini Ye Na’ from the 1987 film ‘Gammat Jammat’ and remains a fan favorite among Marathi music lovers. The song was composed by Arun Paudwal and written by Shantaram Nandgaonkar. In addition to it, it was filmed on Ashok Saraf and Charusheela Sable, and showed the innocence of young love.The special song in itself has a special story behind it as when the actor-diretor Sachin Pilgaonkar approached the ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ singer, he was not fully convinced. Even though he liked the tune, he remained worried about singing in Marathi because he wasn’t very fluid with the language. Some Marathi sounds, especially “च” (cha) and “ळ” (Ld), were difficult for him to pronounce correctly.

A clever idea that changed everything

However, as the team wanted to rope in Kishore Kumar, lyricist Shantaram Nandgaonkar came up with a smart solution. He carefully wrote them in a way that avoided the specific sounds for the singer.And indeed the idea worked magically and Kishore Kumar agreed to record the song. The result was the song ‘Ashwini Ye Na’ with Anuradha Paudwal‘s vocals, which made the song an instant favourite among audiences.While filming the song, the makers encountered another problem as the choreographer was unavailable. So, Sachin Pilgaonkar stepped in and choreographed the song himself.

A special connection with Ashok Saraf

Before his passing, Kishore Kumar recorded one more Marathi song, ‘Tujhi Majhi Jodi Jamali’, which was also filmed on Ashok Saraf.