This article is written by Bina. She belongs to the Baar Baar Rafi Fan Club in Bangalore.

Rafi Saab with Dev Saa

Tarannum woh ho ke jo dil se chale
Toh lab-e-shaayar mein jaadoo sanwar de
Magar hoton se jab goonje fiza mein
Toh zameen-o-aasmaan ko ek kar de…

Each and every heart reading this has at one point or the other come across a particular song that seems to be in your rooh, that which spreads a soft light in the corners of your heart and seeps into your conciousness giving an infinite moment of happiness.

Kahin Bekhayal Hokar is that song for me in Rafi Saab’s voice..An extraordinary voice that touches the heart of a simple listener…and hooks her for life…the voice of a man who is perfection personified.

This beautiful ghazal with a touch of the Sufi music in it is actually an ordinary ghazal…It is Rafi Saab’s voice that raises it above average and breathes life into it. I never can get hold of the right words to describe the thousand and one expressions and emotions that flit across that voice..

[audio:TeenDeviyan_KahinBekhayalHokar.mp3]
Listen to Kahin Bekhayal Hokar from Teen Deviyan

The velvety humming and the feathery touch of the three words of the first line captures my senses like no other song ever did..Its a song dreams are made of. …a song every woman would want her man to sing to her some time. In this song we have three women, Simi, Kalpana and Nanda looking completely bewitched with his voice…

Mere Dil Mein Kaun Hai Tu.. Ke Hua Jahan Andhera
Wahin Sau Diye Jalaaye Tere Rukh Ki Chandni Ne…

Rafi Saab..Your call makes my heart soar to heaven while my feet are firmly planted on terra firm….truly zameen-o-aasmaan ek kar ke…

Kabhi Us Pari Ka Koocha Kabhi Is Haseen Ki Mehfil
Mujhe Dar Badar Firaya Mere Dil Ki Saadgi Ne..

Vasudha, Utthara..Asha.,Vinatha….and all you girls out there will agree with Rafi Saab here na…..Divine Love is generous, so I am not at all jealous gals…

Mohd Rafi

Hai Bhala Sa Naam Uska Main Abhi Se Kya Bataun
Kiya Bekaraar Aksar Mujhe Ek Aadmi Ne…

Rafi Saab ..you are that aadmi…you make me stop in my tracks mesmerized by your voice…
The mood of the song is set with Dev Anand in a poetic mood in the midst of a mehfil in Kashmir…

Jo laakhon karodon ke samajh mein aa jaaye wohi meri zubaan hai
Jo laakhon karodon ko bhaa jaaye wohi mera jasba hai
Mera dil Hindu hai na Musalman hai, na Sikh hai na Isayee hai
Mera Dil Insaan Hai… Mera Dil Hindustan Hai

Majrooh Sultanpuri once said that this ghazal was actually composed by Jaidev, then Dada Burman’s assistant. But Rafi gave it the ‘soft croon’ the Rafi-Dada touch.

One among the five hits of Teen Deviyaan, and arguably one of the finest of soft renderings of Rafi Saab, this ghazal competed with the nasheela Aise Toh Na Dekho by the same captivating voice. .and won hands down in my heart..

SD Burman could not help giving his best genre of songs to Rafi Saab for Dev Anand in this movie, who has made no bones of the fact that he is a Kishore lover. KK could not have touched these songs and he knew it. The breezy Arre Yaar Meri Tum Bhi Ho Gazab, Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat and the evergreen duet Likha Hai Teri Aankhon Mein were right up KK’s sleeve….but the sweetness and cream of Kahin Bekhayaal belonged to Rafi Saab.

Arre Mujhpe Naaz Waalon Yeh Naazmandiyaan Kyon
Hai Yahi Karam Tumhara Toh Mujhe Na Doge Jeene..

That’s the simplicity of Rafi Saab speaking …Twenty nine years have passed without him in our midst. But is that really so?..is there ever a moment that his voice is absent from our lives? He has lived among us for an entire generation and will live for ever more and for ever more…

“What moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness, a longing for one more day, one more word, one more touch, we may not understand why you left this earth so soon, or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.”

Kahin Bekhayal Hokar Yoonhi Choo Liya Kisine
Kai Khwaab Dekh Daale Yahan Meri Bekhudi Ne….

And my dreams live on…

P.S.
Tarannum – the musical rendering of Urdu poetry
Lab-e-shaayar – the words of the poet, or the poem

This blog was published on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm and Last modified on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Audio Songs, Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.