"1963 film Bandini’s song Ab Ke Baras Bhej Bhaiya Ko Babul is perhaps the best example of Asha’s superb rendition of sentimental songs. It is also a painful reminder of a dark chapter in her checkered personal life.
At the age of fourteen, Asha ran away from her family to marry a
neighboring rationing inspector. Those were conservative times and her
family – the redoubtable Mangeshkar family- led by her strict and stoic
mother Maai was so shocked and angered by this impetuous action that
they totally cut off the relations with this errant girl.
This family stand-off lasted more than a decade. The marriage too
turned sour and Asha was practically left on her own, fending for
survival. Singing was the only vocation and she pursued that with
fervour, singing any song that came her way. Composers like O.P.Nayyar
and Sachin Dev Burman were among the first ones to recognize her vocal
ability and as the ‘50s came to their end, Asha had slowly become a top
notch singer capable of challenging the might of anyone.
When S.D.Burman composed this touching folksy tune for Shailendra’s
heart-rending lyrics portraying emotions of a married young woman,
remembering the long-lost father’s loving place and pining for her
brother to come and fetch her home, Asha wasn’t able to do justice to
the song in the initial rehearsals. Then to get her into the mental
frame of the song, Sachinda suggested her to remember her own brother,
her own family. As the singer broke down remembering her lost family,
Sachinda ordered the take for the song. It has become an immortal piece
of emotional and expressive singing.
Listen how the sense of loss of innocent childhood experienced by the
young bride comes through the metaphoric lyrics – Bairan Jawaani Ne
Chheene Khilone Aur Meri Gudiya Churayi and her heart-breaking
realization of becoming a stranger to her own family after the marriage
comes forth in the next line -Babul Thii Main Tere Naazon Ki Paali Phir
Kyun Huyi Main Parayi. Asha is simply brilliant in this rendition and no
doubt, telling her own story through those words.
Soon afterwards, Asha’s family reconciled with her, bringing the
estranged siblings together after years. Four decades have passed since
that momentous recording, still every time one listens to that song it
brings a lump in the throat with its heartfelt emotions. It is a
memorable song from a memorable artist- an artist for all seasons. "
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