/> Urmila is thrilled to bits. She has just returned from shooting a video for the the song that she has sung with Asha Bhosle for Shamir Tandon's album.

"I've always been one of Ashaji biggest fans. We go back a long way. She has known me from when I was a child. She had sung in one my Marathi films as a child actor called Sansar. Then of course her husband R.D. Burman composed music for my Masoom.

The couple has seen me grow up. I was thrilled when after Rangeela (for which Ashaji sang two of my best songs) she had said I can carry off any clothes and that no matter what I wore I looked like a child. In fact the biggest compliment to me was when people thought songs like Khallas in Ram Gopal Varma's cinema were mine only because Ashaji sang them,."

Urmila pauses to laugh. "My career as a bathroom singer started with Ashaji's songs, right from Nigahen milane ko jee chahta hai to Dum maro dum. She's capable of singing every kind of song."

It was at Marathi concert in Thana that Ashaji suggested Urmila join her at the microphone.

Recalls Urmila, "For a long time I wanted to attend a Marathi concert and I did. When I was on stage I hummed one of the first songs she sang for me in films...Bichoo yeh bichoo in Chamatkar. There and then she said, 'You're singing for me'.

Cut to ....the next day. She calls me. I carry on a live opera on how much I admire her for half an hour. When she again tells me to sing with her I beg off saying Sanjay Dutt likes to sing in public while I don't. But she encouraged me with what R.D. Burman used to say to her, 'We'll drop the song if you can't do it.'

After that composer Shamir Tandon made it very easy for me to believe I could sing. Ashaji and I had great fun singing Main ghulan hoon mahtab hoon. It's easy for a man and woman to sing a duet. But two women ?!....

No one will dare to compare my voice with hers. But when you've two women singing parallels are bound to be drawn. Just before I went on air, I wanted to kick myself for agreeing. I almost lost my nerve. I wanted to kill myself. I finally sang with her. It was a complete riot.

A tremendous experience. If I can sing, elephants can fly. To sing with someone so awesome....wow! Now I can call myself a rock star. After acting and dancing I'm now a singer. I now carry an invisible warning, 'Don't come near me. I'm a singer' "

Will she sing again? "Too early to say. Right now I'm zapped. Those who've heard the song have liked it. I've no intention of singing my own songs, though. My throat is still dry when I remember the day I sang with Asha Bhosle."