# Varsha Bhosle (वर्षा भोसले)
**Varsha Bhosle** (वर्षा भोसले; 1956 – 8 October 2012) was an Indian journalist and political columnist, the daughter of the playback singer [Asha Bhosle](https://www.edgepedia.org/asha-bhosle), best known for her strident, right-of-center columns on the news portal rediff.com. She began her career as a singer like her mother, but her professional life was in print and online journalism, and she worked as a freelance journalist and columnist for more than three decades.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) • [2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Varsha Ganpat Bhosle[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) |
| Family | Daughter of singer Asha Bhosle; sister of Hemant and Anand[3](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/apr/16/asha-bhosle-obituary) |
| Education | Hill Grange High School, Pedder Road; political science, Elphinstone College (Bombay University)[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) • [1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) |
| Outlets | rediff.com (1997–2003), The Sunday Observer (1994–1998), Gentleman, The Times of India, MiD-DAY[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) • [1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) |
| Writing | Unabashed right-of-center political columns; one of rediff.com's first columnists[2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) |
| Death | 8 October 2012, by shooting herself at her mother's Pedder Road flat in Mumbai, at age 56[2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) • [5](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) |
## Family and early life
Varsha was one of three children of Asha Bhosle and her first husband Ganpatrao Bhosle, along with elder brother Hemant and younger brother Anand.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/apr/16/asha-bhosle-obituary) She grew up in the Mangeshkar household in Mumbai: both [Lata Mangeshkar](https://www.edgepedia.org/lata-mangeshkar) and Asha Bhosle had flats in the Prabhukunj building on Pedder Road, where Varsha lived alone in her mother's flat.[6](https://www.aajtak.in/india/story/Asha-Bhosles-daughter-Varsha-commits-suicide-by-shooting-herself-125504-2012-10-08)
She studied at Hill Grange High School on Pedder Road and then read political science at Elphinstone College, affiliated to Bombay University.[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) • [1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
**A singing career that did not happen.** She wanted to become a singer like her mother.[2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) She sang Hindi and Bhojpuri songs, performed on stage with Asha Bhosle, and her voice was used in the song "Hans tu hardam" from the [Dev Anand](https://www.edgepedia.org/dev-anand) film *Lootmaar*.[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) The former *Filmfare* editor Ahmed Rauf later recalled that she was disappointed she could not be a singer.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
## Journalism career
Varsha started in print as a food and travel writer for *The Sunday Observer*, which she wrote for from 1994 to 1998. Prem Panicker, later managing editor of Yahoo India, recalled telling her she was a brilliant writer after she confronted the sub-editor who was cutting her food pieces.[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) • [2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) She also wrote for *Gentleman* magazine and *The Times of India*.[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464)
**rediff.com columns.** In 1997 she began writing for the web portal rediff.com and continued until 2003.[4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) She was one of the portal's first columnists and built a large online following with unapologetically right-of-center political writing, addressing subjects such as Hindutva, the BJP, the nuclear tests of 1998, national security, and what she saw as bias in the English-language Indian press.[2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) • [7](https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/sep/14varsha.htm) Her columns drew sharply divided reader reactions, which rediff.com regularly published alongside the pieces themselves; some readers praised her directness while others attacked her writing as bigoted or crass.[8](https://www.rediff.com/news/1998/may/28var1.htm) She engaged with this mail in her columns, arguing that email let a writer answer critics in the very next column and that hate mail sometimes raised doubts worth addressing.[9](https://in.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/28varsha.htm)
The editor Ayaz Memon, who brought her to *MiD-DAY* as a columnist, remembered her as a writer with strong political views who never spoke about being Asha Bhosle's daughter: she could have chosen films and Bollywood, but chose to be a political columnist, and as a columnist one could never fault her.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
## Personal life
She married the sports writer and public relations professional Hemant Kenkre, and the two divorced in 1998; they had no children.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) • [4](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464) Friends described her as well-read and erudite but said she had a turbulent life. She had suffered from depression for the last seven years of her life and was believed to have been under treatment.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) She was close to the fashion photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha, and the two planned to start a trust and open an orphanage together; the author [Shobhaa De](https://www.edgepedia.org/shobhaa-de) said Rajadhyaksha's death in September 2011 shattered her.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
## Death
On 8 October 2012, Varsha Bhosle, then 56, shot herself at the Pedder Road flat; her mother was in Singapore at the time.[2](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html) • [6](https://www.aajtak.in/india/story/Asha-Bhosles-daughter-Varsha-commits-suicide-by-shooting-herself-125504-2012-10-08) The Gamdevi police investigated a .6mm Belgium-made Browning pistol found at the scene, a palm-sized automatic with five bullets, one of which had lodged in her temple, and were trying to establish whether the weapon was licensed and in whose name it was registered.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
Her death was one of a series of losses in her mother's life: her brother Hemant died of cancer in 2015, and Asha Bhosle died on 12 April 2026 at the age of 92.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/apr/16/asha-bhosle-obituary)
## Assessment
Colleagues described her as bright, able to talk intelligently on any subject, and endlessly capable of debate and argument.[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/) Among the first generation of Indian web writers, she stood out for the force and personal style of her polemics: a blogger who knew her recalled that she was read not because she was Asha Bhosle's daughter, but because she was Varsha Bhosle, the writer who spared none.[10](https://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2012/10/varsha-bhosle-the-fiery-and-uncompromising-writer-commits-suicide/)
## References
1. [Varsha was erudite but had a 'turbulent life', The Indian Express (9 October 2012)](https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/varsha-was-erudite-but-had-a-turbulent-life/)
2. [Rock star of a different kind, Mumbai Mirror (9 October 2012)](https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/rock-star-of-a-different-kind/articleshow/16969076.html)
3. [Asha Bhosle obituary, The Guardian (16 April 2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/apr/16/asha-bhosle-obituary)
4. [Varsha Bhosle Death Anniversary Special, ABP Live (8 October 2023)](https://www.abplive.com/entertainment/bollywood/varsha-bhosle-death-anniversary-special-asha-bhosle-daughter-career-songs-love-life-hemant-kenkre-dipression-suicide-unknown-facts-2510464)
5. [Mumbai: Asha Bhosle's daughter commits suicide, Aaj Tak (8 October 2012)](https://www.aajtak.in/india/story/Asha-Bhosles-daughter-Varsha-commits-suicide-by-shooting-herself-125504-2012-10-08)
6. [Pressing matters, Varsha Bhosle column, rediff.com (14 September 1999)](https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/sep/14varsha.htm)
7. [How Readers responded to Varsha Bhosle's last column, rediff.com (28 May 1998)](https://www.rediff.com/news/1998/may/28var1.htm)
8. [Varsha Bhosle: Who wants a war?, rediff.com (28 January 2002)](https://in.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/28varsha.htm)
9. [Varsha Bhosle: The Fiery And Uncompromising Writer Commits Suicide, Patheos/Drishtikone (2012)](https://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2012/10/varsha-bhosle-the-fiery-and-uncompromising-writer-commits-suicide/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › World, regional traditional, and non-Western popular musicians › South Asian classical, folk, and playback musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 20, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license