Rafi Saab is Matchless
This article is by Mr. Sudhir Kumar.
Hello to all Rafians. This is a great site and the only one of its kind, where all Rafi bhakts can congregate and discuss their devotion, admiration and awe for the great legend. Mohammed Rafi is much bigger than the Beatles/Elvis/KK etc., all put together. In fact, to compare him with anyone would be like-Suraj ko roshni dikhaana. His genius, aawaaz, versatility and range are peerless. As a human being, he was exactly what we all should strive to be-humble, dedicated and generous.
Some of my personal favourites that come to mind (although the list is endless) are:-
- Sentimental: Aap ke pehlu mein aa kar ro diye, na aadmi ka koi bharosa
- Qawwali: Yeh Ishq Ishq, Hum kisise kam nahin
- Ghazal: Yeh Naadanon ki duniya hai
- Light: Ham bhi agar bachchey hotey
- Modern: Kya hua tera waada, tum jo mil gaye ho
- Patriotic: Apni aazadi ko, Aye watan
- Classical: Madhuban mein raadhika
- Geet: Jaanewaalon zara
- Folk: Nain lad jaihen
I hope to meet Rafians and learn more about Rafisaab.
Is there any biograpghy of Rafisaab that would be available in delhi? Also I would like to know about the experiences of various surviving film personalities, musicians, and common people with him. I wish someone could clear the air about the total number of songs he has sung.
Salutations to all Rafians who have made this site such a huge success
no singer is perfect. every singer has certain limitations. some are expert in ghazals only, some can sing only classical and so on. as i said, no one is made perfect, so rafi saab was not perfect either. but he is probably the only singer in this subcontinent if not in the whole world, who is the closest to perfection. he could sing all types, you name it! even lata (declared as india’s no. 1 singer ever) can’t sing all types. i truley believe only rafi saab deserve the praise that lata is getting. lata is no way near to rafi.
some kishore blind fans dare to compare their guru with rafi. some of them are even renowned singers like kumar sanu, abhijit, babul supriyo and etc etc. and trust me whenever you discuss with them about indian singing or abour rafi-kishore matter, they bring kishore’s other activities like writing, directing, acting. i want to tell those great idiots that we are talking about singing and rafi’s singing was enough. he didnt need other stuffs to do.
rafi’s singing >>>……>>>>……>>>…kishore’s singing+acting+writing+directing+…whatever(not interested a bit)
south indian peopel dont even think kishore as a singer. he is a joker. they think sp bala is close to rafi and some even rate bala higher, well that’s out of emotion, cause even bala says no one is half way near to rafi.
so its crystal clear that almighty so far has not made anyone who can beat rafi. but i am not saying that rafi is ultimate. all depends on almighty. may be today right now a child is born who after 20 years will show that he is next rafi or even better, who knows! all depends of almighty. but at least, its clear that so far rafi is the ultimate destination of singing. one may reach manna dey or sp bala’s standard, not rafi.
recently some 30 singers and musicians voted rafi and lata the greatest singers ever and “maan re tu kahe” from chitralekha sung by rafi the best song ever in indian history. but they forget “dekhi zamaneki yaari” [the most touchable song], “o duniya ke rakhwale” [the most difficult song], “chahunga mai tujhe”, “app ke pehlu”, “teri ankho ke”, “mere mehboob”, “tumhari zulf ke”, “pookarta chala hu”, “kabhi khud pe”…and so on and on and on. if you make top 50 or 100, 95% or more songs will be those sung by rafi.
people may like his singing or not, i am not bothered. truth might hurt them. i am with truth. and truth is clear.
ONLY A SENSELESS PERSON CAN COMPARE KISHORE WITH RAFI SAAB. WHAT ABOUT THE SOUTH INDIANS? WHY ALL PEOPLE SELECT RAFI TO COMPARE ANYONE? THATS BECAUSE RAFI IS THE ULTIMATE STANDARD. SOUTH INDIANS LOVE SP BALA AND MANY SAY THAT HE IS BETTER THAN RAFI AND MANY DONT EVEN CONSIDER KISHORE AS SINGER! BUT SP BALA SAID THAT HE WAS NOT EVEN HALF WAY CLOSE TO RAFI. ALL LOVE RAFI- THE TRUE SINGER- THE TRUE VOICE.
IS IT WISE TO SPEND TIME IN COMPARING RAFI SAHAB WITH OTHER SINGERS? RAFI WAS AND SO FAR THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION OF SINGING. A PERSON CAN REACH MANNA DEY OR KISHORE’S STANDARD BUT TO REACH RAFI IS A TOUGH TOUGH JOB. SO FAR NO ONE HAS COME EVEN HALF WAY CLOSE TO HIM. HE WAS UNIQUE. HE WAS DIFFERENT. HE COULD SING ALL SO EASILY AND I BET HE COULD SING ALL THE KISHORE KUMAR SONGS SO MUCH BETTER JUST LIKE THAT!DONT COMPARE A LION WITH A RAT GUYS!
DEAR MOHANFLORAJI
THANK YOU FOR LETTING US KNOW ABOUT THIS EXERPTS
OF THE ARTICLE ON MR. CHITTOOR NAGAIAH WITH RELATION TO OUR BELOVED RAFI SAHAB !
BEST REGARDS/A.T.M. SALIM.
What SP Balasubramanium’s fan down south have to say:
see for the following commenthttp://www.spbala.com/view_msg.asp
Sachin Kumar , Mangalore
10/4/2006 Dear Balu sir, Thank you for mailing .its ok No problem i can understand I can here your voice through program ” ede tumbi haduvenu ” . Sir why you are not singing these days .have you disided to stop singing ??? I am your fan since 3rd standard. i used to listen you by radio & I was surprised that day ( primery school time ) , how s.p can sing once at a time in three stations ( Mangalore, bangalore , srilankha ). Dont laugh at me i had no idea at the age of 10 years that it is recorded songs . I like your voice because you gotyour own style ofcourse Yyou are m.Rafi’s fan. Like mohd.rafi you try to put emtions so that actores need not put much effort . I am always sits infront of T.V when ” ede tumbihaduvenu” starts. Some time you disappoints me when you are not singing at the last of program.I think Once you have sung mohd Rafi’s song I am very surprised why indian government is not considering you for awards like ” padmabushan ” ,”dadasahebh” .Is it only for north peoples or are they neglecting south indians . I am especting more songs from you dont disappoint me sir please Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese With reagrds Sachin kumar someshwar mangalore
Nagaiah — noble, humble and kind-hearted
The birth Centenary of one of the leading icons of South Indian Cinema, Chittoor V. Nagaiah, was celebrated recently in Chennai. RANDOR GUY pays tribute to the multi-faceted personality.
Nagaiah — noble, humble and kind-hearted
The birth Centenary of one of the leading icons of South Indian Cinema, Chittoor V. Nagaiah, was celebrated recently in Chennai. RANDOR GUY pays tribute to the multi-faceted personality.
An excerpt from the above article:
“Nagaiah invited the famous Hindi film singer Mohammed Rafi over to sing the Urdu songs of the Muslim saint, Kabir, which was a major role in “Bhakta Ramadas.” When Rafi was given his remuneration , he returned it to Nagaiah, and was kind enough to ask him whether he could be of any further help financially in the making of the picture. Such was the regard and affection Rafi had for Nagaiah even though he had earlier seen him only on screen in the Hindi version of “Meera.”
hi dawood and to all the rafians—first of all i am thankful to dawood for pointing out a number of songs missing in saleem-ul-haq’s book.i too agree with you that there are a number of songs that has not been mentioned in the book that saleem has made but then too i disagree that rafisaab has sung a total of 25000 songs even though he did mention in his own words but still what i think and believe is that rafisaab maynot have even crossed 6000 songs.No offence to any rafians but its just an opinion that i wanted to share with ull.
i have met saleem-ul-haq and his dedication towards making this book is appreciated in everyways possible.
I have read alot about MOHANFLORA whom i believe is a good source of information about the number of songs that rafisaab has sung.Although i havent interacted with mohanflora EVER but merely just by reading his articles and comments,my understanding of this person is that he does know his subject well which is RAFI
MY close friends are Dr. Vinay kamal,Narayananji,Umesh M,Sagar T,G M ANSARI and Rashid khan and i also hope to get in touch with MOHANFLORA.
AGAIN my apology to all rafians about the number of rafisaabs songs sung but if in the book if there are 5000 songs listed, it just doesnt seem fit as to what happened to the other 21000 songs —WIERD
Anyways i too am a big rafi fan and love to collect his songs as a hobby. I will surely contact MR. MOHANFLORA as i really want to get to know him.MY email address is monty_ch2005@yahoo.com and mobile number is 09994146695
Dear Dawood
thanks,
I don’t agree with what Mr. Saleem-ul-Haq’s claim (made in his book) about the number of songs by Mohd. Rafi. I once talked to him and mentioned him that his claim is not correct to the extent of number of songs; for reference purpose I am giving hereunder few of the songs that has not been mentioned in his book to prove my standpoint like:
–10 parts of Heer Waris Shah
–Arabic Song ” Haiuli Sultan Qaboos…
–Song from Villayat Pass- Mein wan Jat Villat Da Mere 6×4 de Pat (Picturised on Johnny Walker)
–Songs from “Saat Saaliyan” 5 Songs including parody of song Chahe Koi mujhe junglee kahe.
–Non-filmi song ” London Ki Goriyan”
— Songs from Jagga- 3 Songs
— Songs from Kankan De Oole – 2 Songs
— Songs from Chariyan De Doli- 3 Songs- Actor I.S.Johar
and many more.
The list of missing songs is endless so I don’t think anybody can claim about the total number of songs by Mohd. Rafi except Rafi himself where he had already mentioned in his interview with BBC (i.e. more than 25000 songs). To me that is more authentic. To validate this, I have already mentioned few of the songs that has not been given in Saleem-ul-Haq’s book and if he still claims that the songs list is complete it is completely unacceptable. I still appreciate his efforts for consolidating songs list of Mohd. Rafi but not to his claim about number of songs for the reasons mentioned above.
dawoodahmad9@yahoo.com
http://www.mohdrafibiography.com/default.HTM
visiy this site http://www.mohdrafibiography.com/aboutrafi.htm
Hi Sudhir,
A well written articile on Rafi Saab. In Delhi probabiliy you can get in touch with Dr. Vinay Kamal, he is a die-hard Rafi Fan. vinaykamal@hotmal.com – Cell – 9818001202.
There is person in Mumbai Mr. Binu Nair who is currently collecting information on writing a biography on Rafi Saab. You can forward any details or photographs on the e-mail binus2000@hotmail.com.
i’m looking for a song titled ‘a watan humko teri kasam’
if any rafian have this song please send me
vipin_rafian@yahoo.co.in
i will be much greatfull to you
Dear sir,
thanks 4 article,sir that is onlybone singer when u know more about him u love more and more him and he is Mohd Rafi no one else.offourse Lata ji is great singer but when u read about her as human u r love come less same as KK was 2 good singer or u can same all in one man but when u r read about him!!!!!!!!!!!
Mohd Rfai was a great human as we read and as people said who worked with him because of that I think God gave him an award no other singer has.