Guest article by Sivanandam Palamadai as a tribute to Rafi with 35 songs in 35 years (1946-1980) in the continuing series of articles on Rafi’s centenary (24th December 1924-31st July 1980)
(Songs Of Yore is celebrating 2024 as the centenary year of Mohammad Rafi. I heralded the year with his solos from A to Z. He has been the most prolific and versatile singer. Therefore, he can be discussed in several combinations and on many parameters.
Sivanandam Palamadai is a well-known Rafi fan. He writes regularly for a site dedicated to Rafi. My natural thought was to sound him whether he would be interested in contributing an article for Rafi’s centenary year. As I had expected he readily agreed. His debut article for SOY was also on Rafi with his songs for unrecognised composers.
Sivanandamji has been a marketing professional about 60 years of age, now living in Pune for 28 years in semi-retirement by choice. In this article he discusses Rafi’s 35 songs, one each year during his career (1946-1980). Rafi’s career actually started in 1944, but I suggested to start from 1946 when we started getting his great songs which achieved long-lasting fame. I am responsible for chopping off the first two years, but Sivanadamji deserves our appreciation and thanks for presenting a nice bouquet of 35 songs over 35 years. With this article you also get to appreciate many songs of Rafi with a new insight on his way of emphasising or elongating certain words. – AK)
When AK Ji wrote to me asking whether I would be interested in writing an article on Rafi on his centenary year, I was elated beyond words. This is a task that I would consider a blessing from the heavens! The year 2024 marks the birth centenary year of the legendary Rafi sahab and I do not know when AK ji would be publishing this, but let us celebrate Rafi throughout the year. I do not think Rafi needs any introduction to the very knowledgeable readers of SOY and so I will skip even a brief biography. In his glorious career of around 35 years, he won the hearts of the listeners not only with his singing but, more importantly, with his humbleness and humanitarian character he earned people’s love and respect. There can be personal likes and dislikes on music composers, singers, lyricists etc, but it is indeed rare to find anyone talk anything negative about Rafi, the human being. The way he could emote the song depending on the mood and actor on whom it was picturised is legendary and one can say that he created a unique style of playback singing.
AK Ji left the choice of theme for this blog to me, and I thought of writing about one song from each year from late 40’s till his untimely death in 1980. One can say this would be a ridiculous idea; in fact, even I felt the same while trying to select the songs! I realised my own folly as there are certain years for which it was so difficult to choose one song from hundreds of gems. But still I decided to go ahead as that would give a perspective of how consistent he was for nearly 35 years! And while looking at the actors on whom his songs were picturised, I realised how Rafi had covered generations while singing. He had sung for three generations of Kapoor family starting from Prithvi Raj (in Punjabi) to Raj, Shammi, Shashi and Randhir, Rishi! He had sung for Balraj Sahni and Parikshit Sahani; he had sung for all the ‘Kumars’- Dilip, Rajendra, Manoj, Sanjeev, not to forget the three brothers Vijay, Chetan and Dev Anand. Apart from many leading actors, he sang for unknown actors, comedians, sometimes even for other singers like Kishore Kmar and many a times in the background. It is a well-known fact that he helped many music directors on their debut, taking just a token amount or even waiving off his fee.
While selecting the 35 songs from 1946 to 1980, I tried my best to cover a vast number of music directors who composed them and the actors on whom those were picturised so that one can appreciate the wide variety in his singing. I should confess that I have not tried to cover the different genres; if I had to do that then the logic of year-wise selection may be difficult. I have just selected randomly from each year. There has to be a standard disclaimer that these songs are purely my personal choice and everyone is bound to have a different opinion. We have to “agree to disagree” as the cliché goes!!! I am very much aware that readers of SOY are definitely more knowledgeable than me and so I request everyone to consider them as just a representative list. I thank profusely AK ji for having shared the Excel file containing around 5300 songs of Rafi that helped me in selection.
Each listing has the year of film, song, film, music director, lyricist, and the actor on whom picturised, in that order. One last word on the selections – I have tried my best to include mostly solos only except for the years 1947, 48 & 50, which are duets. If one compares the voice between the first song in this selection Kah ke bhi na aaye tum (1946) to Maine poochha chand se ki (1980) there is hardly any change.
1. 1946 – Kah ke bhi na aaye tum – Safar – C Ramachandra – G.S Nepali – Kanu Ghosh
I was surprised to start off with a composition of C Ramachandra with whom Rafi did not have many songs compared to other prominent legendary music directors. Observe the maturity in his singing at the age of 22!
2. 1947 – Yahan badla wafa ka bewafai ke siwa kya hai (duet with Noorjehan) – Jugnu – Firoz Nazmi – Azhar Sarhadi – Dilip Kumar (and Noorjehan)
One of the very early hits of Rafi that he sung with Noorjehan. This film also had a song Wo apni yaad dilane ko that had a brief blink-and-you-miss appearance of Rafi on the screen. Luckily he did not pursue a career in acting which his other contemporaries like Talat, Mukesh and Kishore did and the result was he quickly progressed ahead to become a main playback singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTIVV06WE3I
3. 1948 – Solah baras ki bhai umariya (duet with Shamshad Begum) – Aag – Ram Ganguly – Bahzad Lakhanvi – Satyanarayan
I always found the music of Aag totally different and ahead of its time. The picturisation is also unique. Starting from Aag till Mera Naam Joker (the beautiful heer Sadqe heer tujh pe that was unfortunately deleted from the film), Rafi always had a song in RK films, even if the main songs were by Mukesh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vbRHgwKSo
4. 1949 – Suhani raat dhal chuki – Dulari – Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni – Suresh
For the simple soul Rafi, this sweet and simple song was his eternal favourite. He was gradually getting noticed with songs like this, under the superb mentoring baton of Naushad.
5. 1950 – Ye sawan rut tum aur hum (duet with Suraiya) – Dastan – Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni – Raj Kapoor (and Suraiya)
In the initial years, Raj Kapoor had Rafi singing for him before he permanently latched on to Mukesh and on few occasions Manna da. Naushad comes out with a surprising westernised tune, breaking away from his classicism. Rafi’s voice perfectly fits on RK!
6. 1951 – Huye hum jinke liye barbaad – Deedar – Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni – Dilip Kumar
By 1951, with songs like this Rafi started making a great impact. The way he could convey the pathos, especially with the line “Main hoon aisa deep ki jisme na baati na tel”, made him unique.
7. 1952 – O Duniya ke rakhwale – Baiju Bawra – Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni – Bharat Bhushan
Should anything be written about this immortal masterpiece! After many years, when performing live Rafi improvised the “Mahal udaas aur galiyan sooni” lines and even went an octave higher at the end. A landmark song not only for Rafi, but for Hindi film music.
8. 1953 – Ajab tori duniya ho more Rama – Do Bigha Zameen – Salil Chowdhury – Shailendra – Side actors
If one observes closely, there are two side actors singing this on screen and Rafi does a subtle variation in his singing style for both the actors. For Salil da, Rafi was not the most preferred singer, but he delivered many memorable songs like this, Main koi jhooth boliyan in Jagte Raho; Koi sone ka dilwala; Zindagi hai kya sun meri jaan from the film Maya etc.
9. 1954 – Hai bas ki har ek unke ishare – Mirza Ghalib – Ghulam Mohammad – Mirza Ghalib – Side actor
Mirza Ghalib had superb songs by Talat Mehmood and Suraiya, but this one song that fell in Rafi’s lap, he did full justice to that. Mirza Ghalib was one of Ghulam Mohammad’s best films.
10. 1955 – Kahan ja raha hai tu – Seema – Shankar-Jaikishan – Shailendra – Balraj Sahni
Seema was one of Shankar-Jaikishan’s greatest works that had many superb songs. Rafi slightly breaks his voice at the word “tod” in the last line “Jo baandhe the bandhan wo kyun tod daale”. Such subtle nuances in his singing make him the master of playback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlf1Lacjkrw
11. 1956 – Duniya na bhaye mohe ab to bula le – Basant Bahar – Shankar-Jaikishan – Shailendra – Bharat Bhushan
If Naushad gave Rafi O duniya ke rakhwale, Shankar-Jaikishan did an encore with this this song. It is in these type of songs, one can appreciate how Rafi could get into the soul of the song so deeply. I still remember when good old Doordarshan played this song on the next day of 31st July 1980.
12. 1957 – Ye mahlon ye takhton ye tajon ki duniya – Pyasa – S.D Burman – Guru Dutt
One more iconic song of Rafi. From a slow, almost rambling manner at the beginning to an explosive “Jala do ise phoonk daalo” – Rafi does it in a seemingly easy way. Many singers attempt to render this live but no one can match that angst in his voice. Hard hitting lyrics of Sahir brought to life by Rafi’s superb rendition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z6Lr0JYAro
13. 1958 –Hai kali kali ke lab par – Lala Rukh – Khayyam – Kaifi Azmi – Side actor
When one hears this song immediately after listening to the previous one from Pyasa, one can appreciate the range of Rafi. Khayyam, in his early days, composed very melodious tunes. This peppy song, influenced by mid-Eastern music, is a rare gem.
14. 1959 – Deewana aadmi ko banati hain rotiyan – Kali Topi Lal Roomal – Chitragupta – Majrooh Sultanpuri – Agha
Chitragupt composed many landmark songs for Rafi. In the song from Pyasa Rafi takes a whip and lashes out at the unjust society, whereas, in this song, he laments with pathos, with Majrooh’s poignant lyrics bringing out the injustice in society.
15. 1960 – Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi wo barsaat ki raat – Barsaat Ki Raat – Roshan – Sahir Ludhianvi – Bharat Bhushan
Romance is one of the very strong genres that Rafi excelled in. The subtle stretch he does with the word “barsaaaat” is sheer bliss to hear.
16. 1961 – Kabhi khud pe kabhi haalaat pe rona aya – Hum Dono – Jaidev – Sahir Ludhiyanvi – Dev Anand
Selecting one song from Hum Dono is a tough job. The other two – Abhi na jaao chhodkar and Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya – are equally good, but this one has a slight edge with the typical Rafisque “Ronaaa aaya“. He does a quick stretch in the word Ronaaaa that cannot be described and can only be felt from the heart.
17. 1962 – Ab kya misaal doon – Aarti – Roshan – Majrooh Sultanpuri – Pradeep Kumar
Although Roshan must have composed relatively lesser number of songs for Rafi, but the quality of whatever songs he gave to Rafi was best among the best. The flute, which was one of Roshan’s greatest strengths, follows Rafi step by step, so mellifluously.
18. 1963 –Yaad na jaaye beete dinon ki – Dil Ek Mandir – Shankar-Jaikishan – Shailendra – Rajendra Kumar
Once again an unforgettable song of Rafi, superbly composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. As usual there are a few phrases that Rafi brings to life: the subtle vibrato at “Jaaaye” and one very unique aspect of Rafi – he sings the line “Tasveer unki chuupa ke rakh doon jahan ji chaahe” once in plain vanilla style and then with a slight stretch between the words Jahan jee chaahe. Crazy fans of Rafi like me observe these that may go unnoticed by many!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYodWERGaro
19. 1964 – Hai duniya usi ki zamana usi ka – Kashmir Ki Kali – O.P Nayyar – S.H. Bihari – Shammi Kapoor
Romance laced with a tinge of sadness or despair – what do we call this emotion? The saxophone played by the great Manohari Singh and Rafi play out a duet in this understated elegant tune of OPN. With Shammi to enact on screen, can we expect anything less spectacular by Rafi? Those “Mohabbbbat” and the slightly superficial, intoxicated “Hai duniya usi ki” are out of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO_aMRsEIIY
20. 1965 – Din dhal jaaye – Guide – S.D. Burman – Shailendra – Dev Anand
Guide remains the magnum opus of Burman da, and once again I face the dilemma which song to select. Rafi pulls our heart-strings throughout the song. The same word “Pareshaan” gets interpreted with different moods and connotations in different songs. Compare this (Tum mujhse main dil se pareshaan) with the one in Mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam (“Teri furkat ne pareshaan kiya hai mujhko”). That is the Master of Playback Singing for you!
21. 1966 – Zulfon ko hata le chehre se – Sawan Ki Ghata – O.P. Nayyar – S.H. Bihari – Manoj Kumar
Although Mukesh and, later, Mahendra Kapoor were more preferred by Manoj Kumar, Rafi rendered many hit songs for him. An ebullient romantic number by OPN, with his trademark unique rhythm pattern. I somehow interpret that unique percussion in this song as if some vessel is falling down and rolling away!
22. 1967 – Akele hain chale aao jahan ho – Raaz – Kalyanji-Anandji – Shamim Jaipuri – Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna and Rafi – the topic may lead to hot debates! I will not get into those futile topics. For most of the actors, music directors, their initial career had fabulous songs by Rafi. KA were very melodious in their early days and this is one soulful number from them, rendered as usual with full feeling by Rafi, with that special touch at “hain”.
23. 1968 – Likhe jo khat tujhe – Kanyadan – Shankar-Jaikishan – Neeraj – Shashi Kapoor
One of the most popular romantic songs of Rafi. One can notice the difference in the manner in which he renders such numbers full-throated, in synch with the grand orchestration of Shankar-Jaikishan.
24. 1969 –Teri aankhon ke siva duniya mein rakha kya hai – Chiraag – Madan Mohan – Majrooh Sultanpuri – Sunil Dutt
One more golden pair was Madan Mohan and Mohammad Rafi. Their names start with M and Melody also starts with M! Immerse yourself in those fabulous modulations at “In mein mere aanewale” or that elaborate “aaankhon” or that brief pause between “rakha” and “kya hai”. One cannot talk or write about Rafi’s songs without mentioning these subtleties. Only those make him unique and his fans go crazy!
25. 1970 – Tumse kahoon ek baat – Dastak – Madan Mohan – Majrooh Sultanpuri – Sanjeev Kumar
If someone can “whisper“ a song, it has to be our Rafi! Superb orchestration and lyrics by Madan Mohan and Majrooh add beauty to this sweet-as-honey melody.
26. 1971 –Ye jo chilman hai – Mehboob Ki Mehndi – Laxmikant-Pyarelal – Anand Bakshi – Rajesh Khanna
We are now entering into the years that are “supposed” to be lean years of Rafi. I do not believe in that. This one for Rajesh Khanna proves that. Mehboob Ki Mehndi saw Laxmi-Pyare at their best, with their trademark thundering percussion.
27. 1972 – Ek na ek din ye kahani banegi, tu mere sapnon ki rani banegi -Gora Aur Kala – Laxmikant-Pyarelal – Anand Bakshi – Rajendra Kumar
Even if Rajendra Kumar looks a bit aged, the voice of Rafi remains as youthful as ever. Statistically Laxmi-Pyare composed the maximum number of songs for Rafi (around 390) – unfortunately I could not include any of their career best songs from Dosti (1964), but selected two from this duo who stood by Rafi like a rock during his later years.
28. 1973 – Tum jo mil gaye ho – Hanste Zakhm – Madan Mohan – Kaifi Azmi – Navin Nischol
A song that evokes mixed reactions from many – some swear by this iconic song that was far ahead of its times, but some are put off by the unconventional style. Whatever may be the opinion, one of the very difficult songs of Rafi that he himself took many takes to complete.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQaLY4sUDo
29. 1974 – Teri galiyon mein – Hawas – Usha Khanna – Sawan Kumar – Anil Dhawan
The lone successful female music composer in HFM in the Golden Era, who started her career in 1959, is somehow not talked about among connoisseurs. May be not all her songs were of exceptional quality, but she definitely composed some truly exceptional songs. Who can forget the songs Maine rakha hai mohobbat and Ye teri saadgi yeh tera baankpan from the film Shabnam.
30. 1975 – Door rah kar na karo baat kareeb aa jao – Amaanat – Ravi – Sahir Ludhiyanvi – Manoj Kumar
Ravi and Rafi, separated by just a single alphabet, had a glorious association together. My selection initially missed out this music composer and I was shocked! Somehow I could manage to include this. At the time when music trends were changing, Ravi had given this immensely melodious tune in 1975.
31. 1976 – Barbaad-e-mohabbat ki dua – Laila Majnu – Madan Mohan (& Jaidev) – Sahir Ludhiyanvi – Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor must have been 24 years when this film was made and Rafi sahab was 52! Most of the readers must be knowing the fact that Madan Mohan insisted only Rafi should render all the songs of Laila Majnu. That 28 years of age gap between Rafi and Rishi is not observed at all!
32. 1977 – Kahin ek masoom nazuk si ladki – Shankar Hussain – Khayyam – Kamaal Amrohi – Kanwaljeet
Like wine that becomes more and more refined with age, we hear Rafi’s voice retaining that freshness in this superb composition by Khayyam. Somehow it took almost 11 years for Khayyam, after Aur kuchh der thahar in Aakhri Khat (1966) to give this memorable song in 1977!
33. 1978 – Hum mein hai kya ke humein – Nawab Sahib – C. Arjun – Sahir Ludhiyanvi – Parikshit Sahni
A very rare song, composed by the less-recognised C Arjun. By 1978, HFM had changed and melody was slowly relegated to the background. But songs like this must have given some welcome relief to both listeners and Rafi.
34. 1979 –Khushbu hun main phool nahin hun jo – Shaayad – Manas Mukherjee – Nida Fazli – Naseeruddin Shah
Manas Mukherjee’s children, singers Shaan and Sagarika, got more fame; he passed away at an early age of 43. The lyrics of this song seem to have been written for Rafi himself. The fragrance of his songs will always remain with us.
35. 1980 – Maine poochha chand se ki – Abdullah – R.D. Burman – Anand Bakshi – Sanjay Khan
Although the song Tere aane ki aas hai dost is supposed to be his last recorded film song from the film Aas Paas, I selected this subtle romantic melody from Abdullah, superbly composed by R.D Burman. Many things have been said about this composer’s relation with Rafi. I always feel that one should stick to the music and not give much weightage to other issues. For me many compositions of R.D Burman, especially those with classical base are simply outstanding. As I had written in the beginning, the voice texture of Rafi remained as fresh as it was around 35 years back when he started his career.
Footnote:
There have been many songs listed in the excel file that stretch even to 1997; quite a good 188 songs! These could be from many films that were made earlier when Rafi was alive and, due to many reasons, got shelved or released much later. I have not gone into those songs; similarly, there are many songs against which the year of film is not mentioned – it is possible that I could have missed some good songs from those – it would have been a laborious task to go into the year for each of those. Languages other than Hindi and Non-film songs are also not considered. Any omissions, errors are purely unintentional and may please be pardoned.
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites and Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
- You Tube
- Wikipedia
- AK Ji of Songsoyore for providing the basic data of Rafi ‘s songs
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Sivanandam ji,
Thanks for a stunningly beautiful post.
We could not have asked for a more concise
post. You have chosen a brilliant format sweeping across so many facades. Very painstaking effort.
Regards .
Ashok ji
Thanks a lot for your kind appreciation.
Writing about the great legendary artists is always a pleasure.
Thank you Sivanandam and AK for this beautiful post. It is a tough task to choose just one song per year from Rafi’s vast repertoire, but your choice is unexceptionable.
The centenary celebrations have been launched with this post. Looking forward to more.
Sivanandam ji,
Thanks for a beautiful bouquet of 35 songs by Rafi, across 3 and a half
decades.
I can understand how difficult it must have been to select songs from the 1950’s decade, in which Rafi was in full swing and the composers were competing with each others to give superior songs.
Rafi was so perfect in singing, that it was almost next to impossible to find a song where he went ‘besur’ or lost the tune.
Listening to these serial songs was an exercise in living those years of
young age once again.
Thanks for this opportunity.
-AD
Subodh,
Welcome to SOY after the long hiatus. Just to mention a fact, the Rafi centenary celebration was launched on 1st January with my post ‘Rafi from A to Z‘.
Thanks for the post celebrating birth centenary of sincere and perfect gentleman Rafiji. He was supreme from 1946 to 1965. 20 years – a long period.
I am indebted to him for the happiness I got from listening his songs.
Subhod ji, Arunkumar ji & Manoj ji,
Thanks for your kind appreciations. Yes , as Arunkumat ji has rightly said, for few years it was really tough for me to choose one song among so many gems. The immense versatility and variations in his singing can enable bloggers to keep writing on various themes. Themes that can be as strange as ..for example : he has sung so many songs that has a city mentioned prominently ( Yeh Lucknow ki sarzameen, Ae Dil Hai mushkil jeena yahan..yeh hai bambai meri jaan, Eent ki dukki, paan ka ikaa… yeh Calcutta hai) OR
on so many “professions” like Mein Rikshawala, Maalish..sar jo tera chakraye, Le Lo Chudiyaan mein laya, Mein hoon albela taangewala etc.. it can go on and on…..
Hats off to Sivanandamji for coming up with so representative songs of Mohammad Rafi across his active career.
Selecting such a theme such a theme requires high degree of courage for anyone. For a die-hard Rafi connoisseur, that requires thorough appreciation of Rafi songs and a surgeon’s ability to work with sharp scalpel.
Sivanandamji,
Thank a lot for this nice post on Md. Rafi’s on his centenary year. You have rightly said bloggers can write on various themes based on his songs. “A song per year” is also an unique idea. Listening to his voice is always a pleasure. The songs may be exclusively your personal choice, and all the songs in your selection are as good as any other song . What I like and appreciate most in your post is the crisp and brief insights preceding the song/songs.
Rafi sang for many known and unknown actors. I would like to add one more name to your list; Uttar Kumar, the matinee idol of Bengal.
Though Rafi sang Hindi songs in two Bengali films in which Uttam Kumar was in the lead role, he did not playback for Uttam Kumar in these two films.
The first one was the song “Sabhi kuch lutakar hue hum tumhare” from the film Indrani (1958), lyrics Shailendra, music Nachiketa Ghosh, picturised on a street singer with a guitar. A mesmerising song which I have mentioned in your earlier post (2022) on Rafi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVDZG10ru6w
The other song, “Kehti hain mujhko duniya, deewana nashe mein hai” picturised on Asit Baran from the film Khelaghar (1959), lyrics S H Bihari, music Hemant Kumar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3LY-z4ZXDA
However, Rafi did sing for Uttam Kumar in latter’s debut Hindi film Chhoti Si Mulaqat (1967/ Shankar-Jaikishan/ Hasrat Jaipuri) – two solos and two duets.
Presenting one of the solos,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txKIpDvMmls
Uttam Kumar was two years younger than Md. Rafi. Uttar Kumar passed away on 24th July 1980 after a heart attack (his fifth). And Rafi passed away a week later on 31st. Incidentally on the fateful day Md.Rafi had a rehearsal at home with Bengali music director Shyamal Mitra in the morning.
Earlier Rafi had rendered a Bengali song with Shyamal Mitra, Asha Bhosle and Shailendra Singh for the film Ajasra Dhantabad (1976), lyrics Gouriprasanna Majumdar, music Shyamal Mitra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBcq_MK6N_4
Sivanandamji
Please accept my kudos on this essay skillfully grafted on Rafi’s metronomic ability to sing like a lark in perfect coordination with the actor and the situation in the movie. That is a reason why he is viewed in high pedestal and combined with his humility and generosity with scarce regard for monetary rewards, he is in a trisangu sorgam of his own.
Many great singers were accidentally thrown into the podium to entertain the audience. I can quote examples of two carnatic music greats – Madurai Mani Iyer and G N Balasubramanian who began their career as substitute singers when the artist called for failed to arrive and then never had to look back. As a boy Rafi accompanying his elder brother was present in a music programme to be graced by K L Saigal in Lahore. When electricity failed Saigal regretted his inability to sing. Rafi came forward and had immediately mesmerised the audience with his brilliant repertoire. When power came back Saigal asked Rafi to continue. It is averred music director Shyam Sunder was present and invited Rafi to come to Bombay.
Barring a few songs post 1980s, I had listened to other songs very often. I can understand the difficulties you faced in choosing one song per year.
Venkataramanji@ 9
The song from Indrani portraying a street singer strumming his guitar while singing is very sweet. To me it appears to be similar to the song from Mamta – rahe na rahe hum
https://youtu.be/kFFhau_M9wg?t=66
Thank you Mr Shivanandhamji for an article on Md. Rafi Sahib accompanied by well chosen songs. A delightful posting,
Navin Nichol, Sonik Omi Sardar Malik, are missing among the listed songs..
Ashok Vaishnaw Ji, Venkataraman Ji , Rangan Ji, Vasudevan Ji
I am truly blessed to read your kind appreciation. Coming from the veterans of SOY , it is more special and motivates me to keep writing more.
Ref #9-Venkataraman Ji-thanks for posting the Uttam Kumar association with rafi-i remember reading somewhere that of the very few friends that Rafi had in the industry, Uttam Kumar was one. I had also forgotten to mention one more Kumar , and further couldn’t select any of his song-Raj Kumar -this is a major miss by me on hindsight..he used to insist only Rafi as his on screen voice!
Ref # 12 -Vasudevan Ji -although I had tried to cover all major music composers consciously, it is inevitable that within a small number of 35 , it would be impossible to include all. Even I felt bad in leaving out many like Husnlal-Bhagatram( bekaraar hai koi aa mere dildar aa-duet with Suraiya) , N Dutta( Tu Hindu Banegaa Na Musalmaan) , Sonik Omi ( Donon ne kiya tha pyaar magar), Dattaram( Chun Chun Karti Aayee chidiya), Hansraj Behl( Mohobbat Zinda Rehti hai)…etc..as I had mentioned , including other parameters like composers, genres etc would have made it more difficult on the logic of one song per year ( if you notice in my selection all those “sharabi” songs, songs for children are missing). The wide coverage of actors on whom the song was picturized happened by sheer co-incidence when I was looking at that data and so I had mentioned that.
However Navin Nischol ‘s immortal Tum Jo Mil Gaye ho is included in song #28.
Finally, congratulations for everyone for bringing out a Special on the Rafi centenary. He indeed gave excellent songs for unknown actors of the time too like in DOSTI . Some selection could have been made on songs filmed on lesser known actors and sung for composers also.
KB Ji..thanks for your appreciation.
Shivanandam ji
Outstanding article on the eternal voice!!!
The precision with which you have narrated the magic of Rafi is really commendable, not a word less and not a word more. You have highlighted the finer nuances without using technicalities which is like adding char chaand to listening to these songs again.
About Rafi’s singing for relatively unknown composers, here is an example of from Marathi.
In late sixties, Shrikant Thakre composed 30 odd songs in Marathi and except for one film all other songs are non Film songs. Of these more than 40% were rendered by Rafi and most of them were very popular during those days.
I cannot resist adding one of them here
He mana Aaj koni bagh Tula Saad ghali
https://youtu.be/05tFWYGODJw?si=iVooQuaku89eF0Wv
Rahul Ji,
Thanks a lot for the very kind appreciation. Yes-I am aware of the various Marathi songs that Rafi sang under the music direction of Shrikant Thackeray ( brother of Balasaheb and father of Raj Thackeray). Shodisi Manava Rauli Mandiri, Hassa Mulanno Hasa, Aga Pori Sambhal Darayala Toofan Bhari, Prabhu Tu Kripalu apart from the song you have shared are all very nice ones. Thanks for remembering them and mentioning here.
Lovely pickings Sivanandam ji. It matches for most what would be my favourites for thise years. Also the articulation for the songs can be felt by die-hard Rafinfans like us.
Thank you for sharing.
Manish Washane,
Welcome to Songs Of Yore and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Thanks Manish Ji for your kind appreciation.
Sivanandamji,
Sorry for being so late, especially because it is a post on my favourite Rafi. Many friends have highlighted the difficulties in selecting the best of Rafi. In my view when you make a list it is rather easier because the gems keep rushing in numbers to your mind. But in a post the most difficult part is showing the variety and various moods of his singing. And you have done a great job of that. Even the duets have gone on to show the range of Rafi.
You have mentioned the surprise about selecting the first song from CR, which would actually be the reaction of most of his fans. But, CR, in the initial stages used Rafi a lot. This point was highlighted by AK in one of his posts earlier. I would give here some stats to confirm that. In fact Rafi is easily the most prolific in CR’s recording room and no other singers comes near him. Only CR himself had more songs than Rafi, because he loved his own voice to the fault of being a narcissist. Rafi entered his recording room in 1946. Prior to that a few singers including Durrani, Khan Mastana and Charlie sang for him. In the initial period CR sang very few songs. After 1946 upto 1950 Rafi was almost solely there in addition to CR himself. In this period Rafi had sung 27 songs for CR in 13 films while Naushad gave him 20 songs in 9 films. The other singers in that period were almost non-existent for CR. Arun Kumar sang just one solo and GM Saajan, Mukesh, P Chander, SL Puri and Bhatkar were used for one duet each. CR himself sang 12 solos and 62 duets. Naushad on the other hand used Mukesh as his chief singer in Mela and Andaz and Talat in Babul.
1949 had a number of great songs and also ‘jin raton men neend ud jati hai’ another great songs on ‘raat’ by Rafi like ‘keh ke bhi na aaye tum’, but you rightly selected ‘suhani raat dhal chuki’ which is the great man’s own favourite. Actually the success of this single solo as against 7 solos of Lata haunted her during whole of her life and she always was in an aggressive posture against him. Also ‘hai kali kali ke lab par’ was a Rafi masterstroke in a Talat starrer film replete with his songs. He showed there that the real silken voice is his only. He again scored the same point with ‘kisi ki yaad mein duniya ko hain bhulaye hue’ in another Talat dominated film Jahanara.
I am always in conflict when deciding which is the better among ‘o duniya ke rakhwale’/’man tadfat hari darshan’, ‘duniya na bhaye’/’badi der bhayi’, ‘zindagi bhar nahin’/’maine shayad tumhen’, type of multiple songs which Rafi rendered in the same film. Overall a great topic handled with mastery.
I will give my list of 35 later.
Sivanandam ji,
It is a pleasure to listen to Rafi over the years. You have managed to actually shortlist 35 songs. That is quite a feat. I also notice that at least a couple of the songs are duets (1962- Aarti, 1973 Hanste Zakhm). The Aarti duet is interesting in that it is a latent duet. You tend to think of it as a solo. Lata comes in, only in the third antara. Till then it is a solo.
Hans,
Thanks a lot for your detailed comments. When it comes to Rafi you come in form and always add a lot of information and perspective. It is nice that you have emphasised C Ramchandra’s role in getting great songs from Rafi in the initial stages of his career.
I thought when you mentioned Naushad-Mukesh I should mention Anokhi Ada (1948) which had the great actor-singer of the time, Surendra too, but it is Mukesh’s songs that we remember. We would never know the reason, but, thereafter, Naushad took to Rafi in a big way.
I have sent you a mail.
Sorry, the song from Aarti is a solo.
Hans Ji and Anita Ji
Thanks a lot for your comments and appreciation. I am also a bit late in my acknowledgement. With the nest post coming up after , I had not noticed your posts. Your note on CR-Rafi is very informative. CR to a lesser extent and Anil Biswas and Salil da ,to a great extent were the only three music composers for whom Rafi was not that much of a preferred singer …lot of theories ( don’t know how far true!) go around in blaming another legend in reducing the opportunities for Rafi with CR. Unfortunately I couldnt include Rafi’s superb songs in Nausherwan-E-Adil : ” Bhool Jayen Saare Gam” , Yeh Hasrat Thi Ke Is Duniya and Taron Ki Zubaan Par Hai Mohobbat…
However I have also read somewhere that when Rafi passed away, CR had almost cried ” Amche Rafi gele” in Marathi…is that true?
Yes-for most of Rafi fans , selecting one Rafi song from Baiju Baawara/ Basant Bahar/ Barsaat Ki Raat/ Guide etc is an imposible task!!
Sorry -typo-it is ” next post” and not nest!..I had meant next post on Ram Prasad Sharma coming up, I didnt read your comments on my blog….
Also , Anita Ji-yes Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho from Hanste Zakhm is technically a duet with just a small part by Lata…but it is all the way a Rafi song…one of the difficult songs for anyone else to perform. Few years back there was a cruel ” Remix ” of that…
AK, @ 23
When I mentioned Naushad, I had in mind Dilip Kumar films. Otherwise who could forget Anokhi Ada. Yes Mukesh – Talat too – was given a rough treatment by Naushad. Similarly SD Burman too forgot Mukesh after 1949 until Bambai Ka Babu.
Sivanandamji,
CR’s lament at the time of death of Rafi seems to be true, because Mumbaikar8 also mentioned this in one of her comments earlier and she makes authentic comments. Lata’s reluctance to sing duets is confirmed by stats not only in the case of CR but also other MDs. In CR’s case she sang just 10 duets with Rafi from 1949 to 1957, while she sang 40 duets with CR. Of the 10 duets she had already sung 5 by 1951, 1 in Namoona in 1949 and 4 in 4 separate films in 1951. In the three years from 1952 to 1954, she sang only one duet with Rafiout of the 24 CR composed. Even with Talat she sang 12 duets from 1951 to 1956.
There is another interesting angle to stats about CR-Lata duets. During the period from 1948 to 1953 of the 50 duets CR composed for Lata, she sang 36 with CR, 6 with Rafi, 5 with Talat, two with KK and one with Hemant. From 54 onwards CR composed 20 duets for Lata of which she sang just 4 with CR out of which the duet in Azaad was slated for Talat. With Rafi she sang 4 duets of which 1 was in Insaniyat in which CR was told to use Rafi as the lead singer and 2 in Nausherwan-e-Adil in which Raj Kumar insisted on Rafi as singer. Of the 20, the remaining duets were distributed among Talat 7, Hemant 3, Mahendra Kapoor and Manna Dey one each.
So you can make your opinion on these figures.