100 Who Made a Difference
Source: Mr. Sajjad Qadir
Mohammed Rafi
Virtually the voice of India, Mohammed Rafi articulated the joys and sorrows of millions of Indians through his songs. One of the three most popular Hindi film playback singers, ever with Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, Rafi made his debut in 1944 in the film Pehle Aap. He tasted success, however, with Mehboob’s Anmol Ghadi in 1946, where he sang duets with Noorjehan.
With the longest career span stretching from the 1940s to the 1980s, Rafi has sung for almost all heroes from Pradeep Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand to Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. His career was somewhat eclipsed when Kishore Kumar became the voice of Rajesh Khanna, the superstar of the 1970s.
The music of composers like Naushad, S.D. Burman, Shankar Jaikishen and the poetry of Sahir, Kaifi Azmi would not have been immortalised without the melodious croonings of Rafi.
It was a great year of 1950-70 for rafi as a King of Playback singer, but today he is no.1 for us, also kishorekumar was his fan & good friend of his.
Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.