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The prestigious Padma Shri award has honored remarkable talents this year, including celebrated playback singer Jaspinder Narula, Arijit Singh, and Ricky Kej.
In an exclusive chat with Showsha, Jaspinder Narula, known for her hits like Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare and Bumbroo, expressed her elation at receiving Padma Shri.
The winners of the coveted Padma Shri were announced a while back. Musicians who have been bestowed this honour include Arijit Singh, Jaspinder Narula and Ricky Kej, along with veteran actor Ashok Saraf and veteran theatre director Barry John. Speaking exclusively to Showsha, Narula, who began her career with Judaai Judaai and Meri Zindagi Ek Pyaas from Sridevi, Anil Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar starrer Judaai (1997), says that she’s elated to have won this award. “Mehnat aur tapasya safal ho jaati hai jab mil jaata hai award,” she tells us.
Prior to films, she remained involved with singing bhajans and Sufiana compositions and earned acclaim for folk and devotional music. And now with the Padma Shri added to her list of awards and accolades, she feels that she has experienced the divine. “I’ve worked hard for 50 years and now I feel like god has come before me. Everybody wants to get an honour like this. Awards are meant to recognise your work and talent and they make you happy. This really means a lot and to get it from the Government of India is a very big deal,” she remarks.
But does she believe that she should’ve received the Padma Shri years ago? “Samay ki baat hoti hai. Sabko apni samay pe milta hai. People used to tell me that I should’ve received an honour like this long ago but I never thought of it that way. I used to always tell them that when the right time comes, I too shall receive an award of the stature of Padma Shri,” says the Taare Hain Baraati and Pyar To Hona Hi Tha singer.
Narula, who has garnered immense appreciation for her distinctly raspy and textured voice, confesses applying for the awards as she adds, “There are so many artists who couldn’t receive it. So many deserving artists passed away before they could get a Padma Shri. I think time and destiny dictate everything. I had enrolled for it because yeh sab aaj kal toh karna hi padhta hai, uske bagair baat nahi hoti. But I was still surprised with the news.”
For the unversed, before training under Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan, she learnt music under the tutelage of her father, Kesar Singh Narula, a music director of the 1950s. Dedicating the award to him, she emotionally says, “If my father was alive, I would’ve dedicated it to him because he was everything to me. I’m really missing my dad and mom today. My dad was behind all this. He would help me with my riyaaz. He taught me what it means to work hard. I would tell him to not leave me because I’ve a lot left to achieve and he needs to see all of it. But unfortunately, four years ago, he left us.”
Narula’s career as a singer in films began after late music director Kalyanji of Kalyanji-Anandji fame heard her at a private gathering in Delhi and asked his son and music director, Viju Shah, to give her a break. Her discography includes popular songs like Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare (Dulhe Raja), Sabki Baaraten Aayeen (Jaanam Samjha Karo), Bumbroo (Mission Kashmir), Dulhe Ka Sehra (Dhadkan) and Bunty Aur Babli (Bunty Aur Babli), among others.
