Sighs Asha, "It happened so suddenly. I wasn't even in town. Now you're telling me about Bina Raiji.We worked together in one of her best films Ghunghat in 1960. She played Bharat Bhushan's wife and she was fabulous. She won a Filmfare award for her performance."
Asha was a timid and young supporting actress while Bina Rai was the Queen. "I remember Binaji was very very introverted.
I was the youngest person in the unit. She was my senior and intimidating. She wouldn't mix around and kept completely to herself on the sets. I remember once a co-star was getting a shot repeatedly wrong.
The giggler that I am, I kept bursting into giggles. Binaji just stared at me, and then suddenly smiled softly. That was a rare moment of connectivity with her."
The Ghunghat director Ramanand Sagar had got very upset with Asha. "After the incident he scolded me saying I should know how to behave in front of someone as big as Bina Raiji."
Asha remembers Bina Rai as a woman of rare elegance. "She was not quite like the average film person. Always different and detached...One more illustrious soul gone!"