By Achal Rangaswamy

Sri Ravi Shankar Sharma

While I was driving back from work, and for some strange reason, only one song kept coming back to me. It was “ Na muh chhupa ke jiyo aur na sar jhukaake jiyo”. Little did I know at that time that music director Ravi was already gone.

As usual, it was my friend from Bangalore Nagesh Sidhanti who had informed us by mail, but I hadn’t checked the mail but had just posted a Holi Song of Rafi Saab- the very popular Holi Khelat Nandalal Biraj mein from Godaan.  When I saw a response to that post of mine from Vasudha my other friend from Bangalore, I wondered why she mentioned Ravi in her reply.  Upon scrolling down a mail or two I read this note from Nagesh.  And I was dumb struck. What a coincidence. I had been thinking of many songs, and all of them were Ravi Saab’s songs. (more…)

By Achal Rangaswamy

Joy Mukherjee and Mohd Rafi

It has been a bad week for all of us. First we received news of music director Ravi Saab passing away. For me personally, the hanging up of his cricketing boots by Rahul Dravid was equally heart-wrenching and tragic. I had just finished listening to a few people tell me about his press conference, when I read a brief note from my good friend Rameshbhai  Kurpad (simple sailor we all call him), that Joy Mukherjee had passed away.

I was in the midst of an important meeting at work almost all day and right into very late in the evening, but I just couldn’t help recalling some great moments of Joy that I had felt thanks to this chocolate hero of the golden era of hindi films. (more…)

By Souvik Chatterji

Mohd Rafi with Shakeel and Ravi

Renowned music director Ravi Shankar Sharma died on 7^th March, 2012, at the age of 86 years. His music had remained immortal over the years.

From the film Vachan and Albeli in 1955 he started his musical journey. In 1960, Mohammad Rafi’s soft ghazal “chaudavi ka chand” in the film Chaudavi Ka Chand made him a musical star. Guru Dutt’s picturization was as outstanding as the lyrics and the brilliant performance of Rafi. From that time it was magic been created whenever Rafi and Ravi combined together. (more…)

By Salim K

Rafi Sahab with Jaikishen and Harindranath Chattopadhyay

No other singer has sung in that many languages as Rafisahab has. His vocals blessed many languages nationally and internationally whether it was Konkani, Bhojpuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Maghi, Maithili and Assamese . He also recorded a few songs in foreign languages such as Persian, Spanish, Dutch, Creole and English.

Rafi Sahab conquered another frontier when he sang for an entire album in English. The Music was given by Shankar Jaikishen and lyrics by eminent actor, writer, poet and freedom fighter Harindranath Chattopadhyay. The 2 songs of the album that most Rafians are aware of are “Although we hail from different lands” and the other “The she I love”. The former had the composition as “Baharon Phool Barsao” and the latter had the composition of “Hum Kale hai tho kya hua”. (more…)

By Souvik Chatterji

Mohd Rafi and Roshan

Whenever any reference relating to everlasting singer Mohammad Rafi comes, the attention goes to the big budget films and songs for big banners. Rafi is known the most for singing catchy numbers for Shammi Kapoor under the composition of Shankar Jaikishan and classical songs for Dilip Kumar under the composition of Naushad Ali. Although Rafi had sung brilliant songs for all the leading actors of 40s, 50, and 60s, much had been written about the successful films where both the songs and the films did excellent business. (more…)

By: H.A.K. Walijah

Mohd Rafi with Naushad during recording the song "Tu Ganga ki Mauj Mein" for the film Baiju Bawra

It is well known that Rafi Sahab has never seen not smiling and to the contrary he delivered such masterpieces of grief stricken songs that makes us to feel the same level of pain as we seen on the screen characters enacted in movies. Rafi Saab the legendary singer possessed some unique characteristics like creativity, style and freshness in singing that kind of things one can see in an incredible variety, range, style and modulation in his voice for all types of actors, musicians and trends. He could very much sound like actors demonstrating their emotions on the screen, an unparallel art in which only he excelled.

Rafi Saab had never seen not smiling, a truly divine soul. From where did he borrow tears for these amazing songs! Good humans may have more insight into the human plight, as they say! It is very difficult to select the heartrending songs from thousands of songs sung by Rafi Sahab. To emphasize my statement more on positive side, I simply try to select today the most famous song mainly based on tear-jerking mood are the best popular numbers and also favorite song of music lovers. In this  poignant solo song we can feel more pathos, grief, sorrow, pain, pangs of separation, regret, depression, and audible grief, expression of losing someone very dear and mourning on a perpetual loss of the beloved. (more…)

By J.K. Bhagchandani
E-mail: jagdishkb@rediffmail.com

Mohd Rafi

Music and especially a song has been a very potent and perhaps most natural medium of expression of love and romance. Hindi films have very effectively used the songs at innumerable occasions to narrate the romantic facet of the story-line of the movie in a very creative and inspired way. The extent of depth, the passion or any other aspect of the romantic feelings that a 3 to 4 minute song can convey outshines the series of romantic dialogues lasting many-fold minutes.

A well known jazz vocalist Joe Williams once said, “I think that musicians should never forget about the intimacy of bringing two people together, and the aesthetic transference where you’re almost vicariously involved in a romance between other people.” This one sentence aptly signifies the nuance of a romantic song, the benchmark of ‘passion for performance’ that the performer (singer) needs to integrate in his/ her renderings. And at that benchmark Mohammed Rafi’s name will remain the foremost for not only achieving that but surpassing the same by many a mile. (more…)

By H.Krishnan

In the worlds of business today innovation is a great differentiator. It can make or break a business.  But Rafi sahib is the personification of innovation in playback singing starting in the 1950’s. he had a great voice, but he honed it to perfection as any artist will do. But to make an impact you need to innovate and stand out from the others. Rafi sahib was the first person to create a style for each of his heroes, by imbibing essential features of the hero and bringing out in his song presentation.

Compiled by: Sri Biman Baruah, a resident of Gokuldham ONGC Colony, Film City Road, Goregaon(East), Mumbai-400063.

Mohd Rafi Sahab and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika

RAMZANORE  ROOZA  GOL
ULLAL  EIDAR  JOON
CHENEHARE  MEHFILATE  
BAHE  AAJI  KAUN…… 2

(Ramzan’s Rooza has Ended, Moon of EID is Spotted, Who will be seated in the Assemble of Worship)

It was the sole famous qawwali song from Assamese film, Lati-Ghati (1966), where two legendry singers, Mohammed Rafi and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika shared their golden voice with chorus. The song begins with voice of Rafi Sahab with chorus and in middle of song Dr. Hazarika joins them. The thesis of the song is the celebration of EID at the end of holy month of Ramzan by Hindu and Muslim together with communal harmony in a small village called Hajoo nearGuwahati,Assam. The lyrics and music of the song was penned by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika with direction of the film. Dr. Hazarika was the first person fromAssam who led the way of pioneering the Assamese cinema and culture in national and international cinema graph. (more…)

By Salim K

Rafi Sahab

If there are 101 ways of saying ‘I love you‘ in a song, Mohammed Rafi Sahab knew them all and much more. The friskiness of teen romance, the philosophy of unrequited love and the anguish of heartbreak – he could explore every crevice of ardor in the most effortless and unmatched manner.

It wasn’t just love, his voice could capture all the emotions and moods of life – a failed poet’s melancholy, a fiery unionist’s vim, a debt-ridden farmer’s despair, a young man’s dream, heart of a lover and anybody who was somebody, Rafisahab had the amazing and rare quality of expressing it through his matchless and perfect voice. Rafisahab ,whose stupendous career spanned nearly four decades, was indeed a singer for every season and every reason. (more…)