/> Even as Ram Gopal Varma put Urmila in the same frame as Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan for the song Mehbooba oh mehbooba in Sholay, Urmila has gone and done something very special with another AB.

Urmila recorded a song with Asha Bhosle.

Recounts the music director Shamir Tandon, "Urmila sang beautifully with Ashaji. To compose a duet with two ladies is tough. We decided to do a fun number about two beautiful women trying to outdo one another in being beautiful. The words are 'Main ghulab ghulab hoon mahtab hoon...Mehbooba mehbooba.'

Shamir Tandon is unusually charged about his new album called Asha & Friends. "I was planning this album with Ashaji for three years. After we worked together in Page 3 and Corporate I approached her.

Ashaji found the idea interesting. My idea was to do a non-film album where she'd sing 7-8 duets. She found nothing unique about the idea. She suggested we bring in celebrities from various walks of life who aren't singers.

The first name she suggested was Sanjay Dutt. She had seen both the Munnabhai films 4-5 times and is an ardent fan."

Continues Shammir, "I was a little apprehensive. Of course I had heard him sing in Khubsoorat and Zinda. But that wasn't my kind of a song. Anyway I made Ashaji call Sanjay. At first he thought it was Asha Parekh calling. But then when he realized it was Asha Bhosle whom he had seen bonding with his parents, the phone nearly fell off his hands.

When she said she wanted to sing with him he was dumbstuck. He agreed saying, 'Aapka hukum sar-aankhon pe.' I went to his house and he learnt the song attentively. When I called him to the studio he came on the dot, got on the mike and was done in fifteen minutes!"

Brett Lee has also sung a number with AB. "Whenever he came to India to play he asked me to do do some music with him. Brett has cut an album in Australia. He even has his own music band.

He was also offered a film in India which he didn't do because films take a lot longer. ...I went to Chandigarh to rehearse the song with Bret. I got him to write the English lyrics while I wrote the Hindi lyrics. I recorded Brett on a rough track in Chandigarh and got Ashaji to record in Mumbai."

Shamir honestly admits the guest singers didn't record face-to-face with Asha Bhosle. "Both Sanjay Dutt and Urmila requested me to record their voices separately. 'Unke samne mein to meri awaaz nahin niklegi. Humko door hi rakhiye.'

Ashaji has also recorded a song in the album with the children from Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Li'l Champs.

Says Shamir, "Ashaji was surfing on tv one evening when she heard them. She was deeply moved by the little blind boy Divakar and the other little champs.She decided to sing with them."

The album Asha & Friends is being produced by the dot-com company Mauj. Says Shamir, "It's our moral responsibility to provide an alternative route to our musicians. Because more and more filmmakers like Madhur Bhandarkar and Nagesh Kukunoor will have just a couple of songs in their films.

What would the musicians do in the free time? It's time to give non-film albums a big boost...with some help from glamorous people who aren't part of the music industry."

Shamir Tandon is very proud of the fact that he's the only composer of his generation who has recorded songs with both the Mangeshkar sisters.

"I also recorded a song with the 80-plus Manna Dey in Umar. In Vinod Pande's new film Red Swastik Bhupinder makes a comeback as a singer. I am often asked why I suffer from this vintage mania. But I've grown up listening to Lataji and Ashaji It was my desire to record with them one day. Who can replace Kishore Kumar and Mohd Rafi?

So why not avail of these legendary voices while they're still with us? Tomorrow when they're gone we'd probable name a road junction after them and be done with them. When Pancham-da (RD) was alive he was almost jobless in his last days. Today they consider him God. Why wasn't he acknowledged during his lifetime?"

Shamir has just composed a lavni for Bhandarkar's Traffic Signal. "It's sung by Vaishali Samant and Bhavni. My benchmark was Usha Mangeshkar's Mungda from Inkaar. My lavni is not a pure lavni. It's a lavni with a Goan feel."

For Bhandarkar's Fashion, Shamir hopes to a song like Lataji's Kitne ajeeb rishte hain from Page 3.

"Fashion shows the grime behind the glitter. I've recorded a song with Lataji for Madhur's cinema. Kyon yahan hota hai jo yahan hota hai / Muskurata hai koi to koi kyon rota hai. I might use it in Fashion. I want to use Lataji's voice in only the films that justify her presence."