This article is by Rajiv Vijayakar. Taken from SCREEN Aug. 4th. 2006.

His was a universal voice. While that statement is true enough, the colossus that was Mohammed Rafi was yet associated in particular with Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Biswajeet, Joy Mukerji, Guru Dutt and Johnny Walker. In the era (that perhaps ended with Aamir Khan-Udit Narayan) of singer-star associations, it was Mukesh who was considered the soul of Raj Kapoor and Manoj Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor was the other voice for Manoj Kumar, Shailendra Singh and later Kishore Kumar shared Rishi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar was the choice for Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Randhir Kapoor besides himself, and Manna Dey was identified with Mehmood, besides being the second choice for Raj Kapoor. But Rafi was no stranger even for these stars. For most of them, Mohammed Rafi had a distinguished vocal innings. On the occasion of his 26th death anniversary that fell on July 3, we look at how Rafi, that Voice Nonpareil, never seemed incongruous for any of these artistes.

DEV ANAND

Technically, Rafi’s last song for Dev Anand came as late as the popular ‘Logon ka dil …’ (Manpasand) in 1980, but Rafi was almost on par with Kishore Kumar as a Navketan pillar (all the way till the qawwali ‘Iss mulaqaat ka bas mazaa lijiye …’ in the 1976 Jaaneman) and as Dev’s voice both in his own films and outside.

The only other hit qawwali associated with the ever-young Dev, ‘Hum tujhe dhoond lenge …’ (Mahal/1969) saw Rafi taking over from Kishore Kumar who sang both his other hits in that Kalyanji-Anandji musical suspense drama. The grapevine has it that Rafi lost the Navketan banner only when S.D.Burman’s son R.D.Burman stepped in to help out in Jewel Thief. In all probability this is true, for till then, Rafi was Dada Burman’s vocalist of choice for the urban, urbane and ahead-of-times Dev in films as assorted as Guide, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Kala Pani, Kala Bazaar and even outside films like Baat Ek Raat Ki and Teen Deviyan (in which he shouldered the weighty ‘Aisa to na dekho …’ and ‘Kahin bekhayaal hokar …’ amidst Kishore’s lightweight numbers. The same was repeated as late as in the 1971 Gambler, in which the sole Rafi gem, ‘Mera man tera pyaasa …’ stood taller than all the Kishore lovelies.

The classics from all these films (and other Dada-Dev vehicles) are too numerous and obvious to mention. Suffice to say that Jaidev added his lustrous chunk with the delightful songs of Hum Dono, and that all the other music directors in outside films rarely looked beyond Rafi, whether it be C.Ramachandra (Amar Deep), O.P.Nayyar (C.I.D.), Salil Choudhury (Maya) and above all, market-leaders Shankar Jaikishan, in whose `Anand arena’ Kishore entered only once for ‘Dooriyan nazdeekiyaan ban gayi …’ (Duniya). And this film also boasted of Rafi’s awesome ‘Falsafaa pyar ka tum kya jaano …’. S-J also added more to the Dev-Rafi oeuvre, with magic spun in films like Love Marriage, Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, Asli Naqli and even in relatively tepid scores like Pyar Mohabbat and Kahin Aur Chal (‘Doobte huye dil ko …’).

Dev-Rafi composers: S.D.Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, C.Ramachandra, O.P.Nayyar, Salil Choudhury, Jaidev, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rajesh Roshan.

RAJ KAPOOR

The Raj Kapoor-Rafi combo was admittedly restricted, with Manna Dey being the original Showman’s second-voice-in-command. But C.Ramachandra, whose pets were Rafi and Talat, opted for Rafi in ‘Main hoon Alladdin …’ (Sargam). So did Naushad in ‘Yoon to aapas mein …’ (Andaz), doing a quirky reversal as Mukesh delivered for Dilip Kumar. ‘Hum tum yeh bahaar …’ and ‘Mera dil mujhe wapas kar do …’ for Ghulam Mohammed in Amber, and ‘Worli ka naaka duniya dhamaka …’ and ‘Tere dil ka makaan …’ both for O.P.Nayyar in Do Ustad, were other vintage Rafi outings with Raj Kapoor. Kalyanji Anandji too took on Rafi for the evocative theme song ‘Gali gali Sita roye …’ (Chhalia). Shankar Jaikishan could not have brought in anyone other than Rafi to sing the ‘Heer’ for Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker, and let us not forget S-J’s debut film, Barsaat, again produced and directed by Raj Kapoor, which saw Rafi excel with his sole solo, ‘Main zindagi mein har dum rota hi rahaa hoon …’ in that Mukesh-fest. How strange is it that the only two songs that Rafi sang under S-J for Raj were in the actor’s own productions!

Raj-Rafi composers: Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, C. Ramachandra, Ghulam Mohammed, O.P.Nayyar, Kalyanji-Anandji.

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