By Achal Rangaswamy

Mohd Rafi Sahab and Rakesh Khanna

A slim, almost impoverished looking young man, albeit with a twinkle in his eye and a charming smile, wooed his lesser known heroine in a low-budget film. The film would go on to be sent to various film festivals, become known as the first film in which Bhupendra sang a solo, but most people would not remember it as the first film in which the winner of a major talent hunt would be playing the hero.

Jatin Khanna, now rechristened as Rajesh Khanna wooed Chand Usmani, who would later go on to play either sister to heroes in B grade films or maybe the mujre wali in B- grade films. But the song that was chosen for this occasion was hauntingly beautiful.  The hero urges the lady to stay on, by singing “ aur kuchh der thaher aur kuchh der na ja….”. The song was rendered flawlessly. (more…)

By Onika Setia

Mohd Rafi

हिंदी    साहित्य   का   कला    के साथ   बहुत   गहरा रिश्ता  है  या यह कहो की दोनों एक   दुसरे के   पूरक हैं .कला   चाहे   जो भी हो ;नृत्य,गायन, अभिनय, लेखन . हिंदी   साहित्य   इनकी आत्मा बन कर   इसमें समाहित   है.  और   हिदी साहित्य    का मूल आधार  है नव रस .

अर्थात  प्रेम-(   संयोग /वियोग)  ,शांत ,रोद्र ,करुण,   भक्ति ,   वीभत्स ,   हास्य, वीर   ,  वात्सल्य   .  हर    कला    इन नवरसों के बीना अधूरी है .मनुष्य  अपनी   भाव अभिव्यक्ति  कला के माध्यम   से करता है  और कला   का स्थान मनुष्य के दिल में है ,आत्मा में   है ,और अपने भावो को व्यक्त करने हेतु उसे   कला का सहारा लेना पड़ता है ,कला   मनुष्य के जीवन    के   साथ साथ  चलती  है  मनुष्य का पूरा वजूद कला के बीना अधुरा  है ,और एक कला ही है   जो मनुष्य को मनुष्य बने रहने के प्रेरणा देती है. (more…)

By Aparna Sridhar

Mohd Rafi

I have wanted to write about this for ages. There is a video of Mohammed Rafi singing O Duniya Ke Rakhwale that I have watched countless number of times and still am not tired of it. In fact I have watched several videos of Rafi singing live, and continue to watch, being a die-hard fan of Rafi. It was a live show on Doordarshan with a complete live orchestra, with Naushad conducting it. It was the most wonderful and enriching 15 minutes of my life. We all know what a lovely, emotion-packed and moving song O Duniya Ke Rakhwale is. And to watch Rafi sing it live is a great experience. (more…)

By Salim K

Mohd Rafi

It is common to see people excel in certain traits, during certain times and under certain conditions but to see someone excel over nearly 4 decades and beyond is rare and unheard of. This rare feat is achieved by Rafi Sahab in the art of playback singing.  From his first assignment in early 40’s to his last in July 1980, one sees a career that remains unmatched and uncompleted to date. Rafi Sahab is not only a singer but an institution – a gharana that is now called the “Rafi Gharana”.

Legend of legends: It was Mukesh, Mana dey, Hemant Da and  Talat in 50’s – but Rafi Sahab made a permanent mark in that era. It was Mukesh , Mana Dey and Mahendra Kapoor in 60’s but Rafi Sahab became an inspiration for these great legends and it was Kishore and Yesudas in the 70’s but Rafi Sahab kept on surprising us and raising the benchmark of singing. Rafi Sahab proved that he was  the uncrowned king of singing, what come may and such was the impression he made in his so called quiet years that the music charts in August and September of 1980 had him with more songs on the top of the charts compared to all other singers, male and female. (more…)

By Ronny Noor

Mohd Rafi

You could never forget me
Yes, you could never forget me
Whenever you listen to my song
You will always hum along.
– Hasrat Jaipuri

There does not seem to be a four-letter word that is dearer to the human heart than love. It is the most potent force that inspires us to action. Lanka was set ablaze for it and the Taj Mahal was built for it. That is why it resonates most from the pens of great poets to the pages of great books. Although it is often confused with lust, true love is not about sensual feelings, as the celluloid diva Mumtaz teaches her screen partner Sanjay Khan in the movie Upasana. (more…)

By: H.A.K. Walijah

Mohd Rafi and Naushad Ali

Although Mohammad Rafi could sing any type of song, my choice of his best songs are classical based; and though he has sung more hit classical based songs for a few composers like Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, S.D. Burman.  He was the favorite of all illustrious MDs of his time such as Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan, S D Burman, C Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, O P Nayyar, Roshan and later R D Burman, Kalyanji –Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. In the film ‘Ragini’ O P Nayyar even used Rafi to playback for Kishore Kumar for the song ‘Man mora Bawara’ which was classical based. Naushad used to compose very tough classical based songs which none other than Rafi could sing. (more…)

By Onika Setia

Mohd Rafi

१, दिल    से   भुलाने   की   कोशिश    की   बहुत   मगर ,
तब भी   हटी    तेरी   तस्वीर   मेरी   निगाहों   से.

२, काश   ए    यार  !   तेरे   जैसे    यह   जहानवाले  होते ,
तो  यह ज़मीं    जन्नत   से कम    न होती .

३,हमसे   ना उठाया    जाता था   यह जिंदगी   का बोझ   तक,
तुमने    साथ दिया    तो   होंसला    बढ़ा   हमारा. (more…)

By: H.A.K. Walijah

Mohd Rafi, Laxmikant, Pyarelal

Praising Rafi Saab, Pyarelal ji once said: “What can I say about a man jo tareef se bahut hi oopar hai, and had countless golden qualities? I am only able to feel my deep regard for him, not to express it. Rafi Saab aisi sargam thi jisse koi bhi raag ban saktaa tha. He could sing in any range or octave. If today’s composers are to flower, the Almighty should create nine Rafis more! Can we find even a single song of his that is badly rendered? Of course, he had a major role in our career, and yet I would single out one song to show his greatness as a human being. Laxmi-Pyare have the honor of composing the maximum number of songs for the King of Melody, Rafi Saab. Their total output for Rafi is closely followed by S-J. Together the LP-Rafi combination gave us many treats and amongst Rafi saab’s best ever sung songs are those composed by L-P.  “Tere pyar ne mujhe gham diya” from Chaila Babu (1967) lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri was LP & Rafi saab’s first song together. It was recorded in 1961 but it got released in 1967. After the song was recorded LP gave Rafi saab 1000 rupees as that is what they could afford. (more…)

By Onika Setia

Mohd Rafi

मेरी जिंदगी में रफ़ी साहब का स्थान बहुत अहम् है. संघर्षों से भरी हुई इस जिंदगी में पल भर का भी ठहराव नहीं होता, हर क़दम पर हर नई समस्या जन्म लेती है, रोज़ नया इम्तेहान, दर्द, टीस, तड़प, संताप, ओह! मतलबी लोगो से भरी हुई इस दुनिया में जहाँ सच्चा और निस्वार्थ प्रेम ढूढने से नहीं मिलता , ऐसी सुखी से बेरंग जिंदगी में रफ़ी साहब बहार बनके आये. ना-ना वोह खुद नहीं आये उनकी मधुर ,रंगभरी ,जादूभरी और जिवंत आवाज़ ऐसी शम्मा बनके आई जिससे मेरी जिंदगी के सारे ग़मों के अँधेरे दूर हो गए. मैंने जब से उनका दामन थामा मेरे परिवार वाले कहते है की मैंने अपना जीवन बर्बाद कर दिया अपना carrier चौपट कर दिया ,इसीलिए वोह हमेशां इस चाहत के विरोधी रहे . नादान है वोह ,! खुद तो किसी को ठीक तरह से राह नहीं देखा सकते ,कोई मुश्किल में हो तो बजाय निकलने के कोसने लगते हैं , सही रास्ता दिखने के बजाय भटका देते है . (more…)

By Mahesh Prasad Rijal

Mohd Rafi

Mohammad Rafi was a tremendously blessed singer and truly a good human being (as far as I have seen him in his videos and interviews). I never got my biggest opportunity to meet my most adorable person actually in real life as I don’t live in India nor Pakistan but in Nepal, a country that is close to where he had been coming and going during his lifetime, unfortunately I didn’t got my chance to get near the appraised one, but I have kept him very close to my heart. He has given me a sense of love towards his country and I feel that I too belong to the same group below him and following him, living on his songs and admiring his voice every-time I hear them.

I believe that although everybody can give birth to children, but as a child he was someone who could not be limited to a normal child but blessed from the day of his birth, his internal ability flourished later but as it did his voice was recognized to be one of the greatest that would plough an evergreen tree into the sands of music and give millions a chance to enjoy its fruits for generations to come. (more…)