Lata Mangeshkar’s Affection for Her Brother and Raksha Bandhan Songs

The author recalls asking Lata Mangeshkar every Raksha Bandhan if he was her favorite brother. Her response, with a laugh, was always that her brother Hridaynath came first. Lata Mangeshkar wasn’t keen on listening to her own songs, especially those considered classics, as she would find flaws in them. However, she loved her Raksha Bandhan songs. The song ‘Rang birangi rakhi lekar aye behna’ from ‘Anpadh’ was easy for her to render because composer Madan Mohan was her rakhi brother. She also cherished the sibling song ‘Phoolon ka taaron ka sabka kehna hai ek hazaaron mein meri behna hai,’ where she sang for the child actor playing young Dev Anand, finding the challenge of sounding like a little boy expressing love for his sister, despite being a 40-year-old woman. Lata Mangeshkar also loved ‘Bhaiya mere rakhi ke bandhan ko nibhana’ from ‘Choti Bahen,’ and her favorite Raksha Bandhan song was ‘Chanda re mere bhaiyya se kehna behna yaad kare’ from ‘Chambal Ki Kasam.’ When asked how she attained such emotional expression in the song, she confessed she thought of how Raksha Bandhan would be if her own brother Hridaynath was not with her to celebrate the occasion.