New Delhi, April 17 -- On his Instagram page, comedian, actor and author Vir Das wrote movingly of Asha Bhosle: ".in Channel V, you got to see a legendary playback singer give her credibility to Indipop and kind of push it into the mainstream". Calling Asha "way ahead of the game", he said she was "doing collabs before you called them collabs." He referred to her 1997 hit Janam Samjha Karo, a time when indipop exploded as artists experimented with pop, rock, electronic, remixes, pop-folk and other sounds. Usually associated with younger voices, Asha's foray into indipop with Jaanam Samjha Karo (which swept MTV Awards that year) at the age of 64 was considered nothing short of revolutionary.

The outpouring of grief for the singer, who die...