By Shekhar Bopardikar

Rafi with fans

This Song “Yahan Main Ajanabi Hoon” from 1965 film “Jab Jab Phool Khile” depicts the portrayal of betrayal of trust in love. As the story goes, After returning from overseas, heiress Rita is stressed out and needs to go someplace to unwind. She chooses Kashmir and, upon arrival, rents a houseboat from the owner, Raja. After a few misunderstandings, they are attracted to each other and soon fall in love.This romance is not looked upon favorably by Raj Bahadur Chunilal, Rita’s dad, as he would prefer his daughter marry a suitor he has chosen for her: Kishore. Rita dislikes Kishore and will only marry Raja; the wily Raj Bahadur devises a plan that will let him keep the cake and eat it too. (more…)

By Achal Rangaswamy

Mohd Rafi with Prithvi Raj Kapoor Celebrating his birthday

I want to be a good human being. I want God to know that I have been a good human being. I want to go to heaven. So selfish am I that this is the reason why I want to be a good human being.

Do you know why?

So that I can go to heaven and meet Rafi Sahab. If there is any regret that I have in my life as of now, it is that I haven’t been able to meet Rafi Sahab in flesh and blood, that I haven’t been able to touch his feet, seek his blessings and see him smile his trademark smile, and sing for me even one little song from the veritable treasure that he accumulated but happily left behind for us. (more…)

By Pravin B Dave

Contributors to this website often wonder if Rafi Saab’s religion has been a stumbling block to Him being denied the highest honor of the Land.
That was on my mind too for a while. I do not subscribe to that any more.
We must refrain from involving Faith, for it would be totally opposite to what He stood for; what His Family stands for and what His multitude of fans internationally stand for. (more…)

By Onika Setia

Mohd Rafi Sahab

छेड़ा जो उन्होंने साज़ कहीं ,
धड़कन में होने लगी झंकार सी।
रूह को तश्नगी औ आरजू को जिस्त ,
ख्वाबो की दुनिया में आई बहार सी। (more…)

By Mr. Biman Baruah

Mohd Rafi with B.R.Chopra and Naushad

Veteran producer-director Yash Raj Chopra passed way on 21st October, 2012 at around 05:30 PM at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra (West), Mumbai due to multi-organ failure who was admitted there on 13th October, 2012 for make a diagnosis with Dengue fever. He was survived by his wife Pamela Singh and two sons Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra. (more…)

By Vineet Kumar Bhatia

Mohd Rafi with Muhammad Ali

Accent: The diction of Rafi Sahab was so pure & clear that even a well versed person, having the command of his own language & words, would find it difficult to pronounce as efficiently & clear as  Rafi Sahab used to do. The Xenolalia of Rafi Sahab was so impressive & perfect that his every song in different languages were sung with such a grammatical perfection that it appears as if all these songs are sung in his own mother tongue. (more…)

Written by Bhupesh Singh Dhundele. Submitted by : J.K. Bhagchandani. Author introduction written by J.K. Bhagchandani, is published after the article.

Rafi Sahab’s Signature

Hand writing is mind writing, it is your soul on the paper, it is your pen picture, it is your holistic personal graph on the paper. Black line on white paper reveals your personality. The way lines in ECG tells about performance of your heart. Same way your writing is your mental ECG or personality graph on the paper. A graphologist is able to read the major personality traits / attributes and fine details of your personality/ reflexes/response… (more…)

By Padmanabhan NR

Mohd Rafi with Lata Mangeshkar and Jaikishan

Padmashri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna Lataji,

There are some people who are born great, some acquire greatness and there are still others on whom greatness is thrust. You appear to belong to the third category. Fifty three years after the so-called rift with Rafi Saahab, thirty three years after his death and eighty three years of your own life time, if this is the issue that is pestering you most, you are really great. I don’t know whether it was your own inner voice only or coaxing by your ‘advisers’ that prompted you to talk like this and that too, in such a brazen manner. Whatever it may be Lataji, it is abundantly clear that with a coterie of friends like these – and with liberal inputs from your own self – you don’t require any enemies. They are available in-house. Aplenty. (more…)

By Nadeem Sundoo

Mohd Rafi with Lata Mangeshkar, Shankar Jaikishan and others

There’s a lot of talk around the net about who is the best singer; Rafi, Lata, Asha or Kishore. And most of the articles are very subjective, the bias to one or another artist is clearly seen, be it pro-Rafi, pro-Lata, pro-Asha or pro-Kishore.

Ignoring the subjective articles there’s also a lot of objective articles comparing the various aspects of singing such as voice modulation, expression, power, sweetness and feelings just to name a few. These articles give a very clear indication about who, objectively seen, is the best singer India has ever produced – if ever there was any doubt. Some articles also talk about Mohammad Rafi’s impact and contribution to the music industry, but I have never encountered any article about the impact of his death on the music industry. And thinking about it I realized that it maybe holds the strongest argument for his superiority over all other Indian singers. (more…)

By Souvik Chatterji

Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi Sahab

Shankar Jaikishan were the musical duo who ruled bollywood films between the 1950s and 1960s. During 1963, a spat occurred between Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar over royalty. When the spat took place between Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar over the issue of royalty, between 1963 to 1967, both of them did not sing any duet songs. Lata contended that singer should receive royalty for their entire life for songs sung in films. Rafi contended that if singers don’t share the losses suffered by the film industry, they should not also share the profits. (more…)