Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle will be given the ‘Yash Chopra Memorial Award’, it was announced on Saturday.
She will be the fifth winner of the award. Previous recipients include Bhosale’s older sister and Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, along with actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, and Shah Rukh Khan.
Bhosle has been giving playback in Hindi films for nearly seven decades, earning her an entry into the Guinness World Records for recording over 11,000 songs in 20 different languages.
A jury comprising late filmmaker Yash Chopra’s wife Pamela Chopra, filmmaker Boney Kapoor, singer Alka Yagnik, actress Padmini Kohlapure, director Madhur Bhandarkar, script writer Honey Irani, and Anu and Shashi Ranjan came together for a press event to announce the winner.
“This is a very prestigious award. It is given to the [one of the] pillars of our industry. This is the fifth year and the jury decided it is high time we acknowledge Ashaji’s contribution to the Indian cinema,” said Yagnik.
Kapoor, who has been closely associated with Bhosle, said: “My association with Ashaji has been since childhood — she sang songs for my father’s films, for my films. Besides, we have always had very good relations. I think it is befitting that she receives this prestigious award.”
The award will be presented to Bhosle on February 16.
The award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T. Subbarami Reddy in memory of producer-director Yash Chopra, who died in 2012.
