Khayyam and Jaidev’s relationship with Mohammad Rafi
This article is written by Mr. Souvik Chatterji.
Khayyam with Mohammad Rafi
When we visualise the golden era of music in Indian cinema we primarily think about the giant music directors like Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad, etc., or lyricists like Shakeel Badayani, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri or singers like Rafi, Lata who made major contribution to the music of that age. Among the legendary giants there were other composers who composed music for less number of films but created their identity and everlasting appeal even with the less number of compositions. Jaidev and Khayyam are two composers who received numerous awards for their classic performance and still remain few of the offbeat composers without whom the firmament of music would be colourless.
Jaidev who came to Bombay initially from Ludhiyana to become an actor learnt music from K. Jaokar and Janardan Jaokar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and after ashort span of stay in his home town Ludhiyana, returned to Bombay with his immense command of folk and classical music. As he initially worked with Navketan Banner, he got a scope of working with SD Burman also. His debue with Chetan Anand’s film Joru Ka Bhai, 1955, gave him opportunity to compose independant music but he got recognition with the film Humdono in 1961.
Mohd Rafi with Jaidev
Humdono was also the starting point of Jaidev’s relationship with the man with the golden voice, Mohammad Rafi. The unique style of Jaidev included his tunes which appeared not to end with the antara or the sanchari and uniting them with the mukhra unlike other composers. Rafi’s voice had the effect of sedative which doctor’s prescribe for patients who cant sleep in the song “Abhi na jao chor kar, ki dil abhi bhara nahi” in Hum Dono. The way Rafi pronounced adhuri yaas, hardly any playback singer can think even today. The emotions of the character were kept intact and the musical value of the song was enhanced by Rafi in a tremendous way in Humdono. The ghazal in the film “kabhi khud pe kabhi halat pe rona aya” can be categorised as one of the ten best ghazals Rafi did sing in his life. At the same time the other song “main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya” which showed the carefree attitude of Dev Anand, who got admitted in military in the film, had the effect of santoor and the prelude and interlude followed the main song of Rafi that music lovers even memorised them as a song itself. Lata Mangeshkar’s performance in the song “Allah tero naam” in raag gara was probably one of her best performances ever. Jaidev’s return path of the sanchari was again evident in the classical bhajan which is still sung sometimes as prayer song at other times in temples and places of worship. The other film he composed music for include Mujhe Jeene Do, 1963, where Lata’s song “Nadi nare na jao sham” became hit. As it was female oriented film with Wahida Rehman providing the lead performance there were hardly sequences for male songs.
In the other film Kinare Kinare, in 1963, Jaidev asked Rafi to sing duet song with Usha Mangeshkar titled “maya anchal jale kaya ka abhiman“. His other notable songs for Rafi include “aaj ki raat hai bus jalwa dikhane ke liye” and “roop ki dhoop to dhalke rahegi” from the film Jiyo Aur Jeene Do, in 1969. Both were successful with Jaidev’s folk effect in the respective songs.
In the 1970s, Jaidev shifted towards Ghazal singer Bhupinder Singh for most of his songs, with “Do Diwane Shahar Me” and “Ek Akela is shahar me” from the film Gharonda, 1977, directed by Gulzar with Amol Palekar in the lead role.[1] Runa Laila’s song “tumke hona ho mukhko to itna yakeen hai” looked like it was never going to end with the brilliant lyrics of gulzar. The violin was played so brilliantly in the song “Ek akela is shahar me” depicting urbanised folk songs, that it identified the pathos of Jaidev who was a loner in life. The other successful film of Jaidev included Dooriyan, 1979, acted by Uttamkumar and Sharmila Tagore. There Bhupinder Sing’s song “Zindagi zindagi o mere ghar ana ana zindagi” and “zindagi me jab tumhare gham nahi the” showed Jaidev’s unconventional movement in the rise and fall of the antara and sanchari. Jaidev along with Madanmohan had composed music for Rishi Kapoor’s film Laila Majnu, 1977, where Rafi’s songs “barbad muhobbat ki dua saath liye ja“, “is reshmi pazeeb ki jhankar ke sadpe“, “likhkar tera naam zameen par” were superhits and marked Rafi’s tremendous combination with Rishi Kapoor.
Jaidev received national award for the brilliant composition of music in the films Reshma Aur Shera, Gaman and Ankahi, most of which included Rajasthani folk music. Jaidev never got the recognition which he deserved. It is a pity that Jaidev got a scope of composing music for female oriented films where he made the best use of Lata Mangeshkar, because Rafi could have made enormous contribution to Jaidev’s remote style of music composition. Even then the combination of Rafi and Jaidev carry enormous musical value for music lovers across the country.
Khayyam better known as Mohammad Zahur Khaiyyam is the other music composer, who had such an immortal appeal in his compositions, yet had not received the recognition he deserved. He was born in Jullundher, Punjab in 1927, and learnt music from Pandit Amarnath and Hunslal Bhagatram. Khayyam initially used Tala Mehmood in the song “Sham-e-gham ki kasam” in Dilip Kumar’s Footpath, 1954, where he made his debue and Mukesh in the songs “Woh subah kabhi to ayegi” and “phir na kije meri gustaq nigaho ka gila” in Raj kapoor’s Phir Subah Hogi, 1958. Although Rafi had one song “jo bore kare yar ko us yaar se touba” in Phir Subah Hogi, 1958 where it was a duet with Mukesh singing for Raj Kapoor and Rafi singing for Rehman.
Mohd Rafi with poet lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and composer Khayyam
But Khayyam acknowledged the golden voice of Rafi in the film Shola Aur Shabnam, 1961, where most of the lyrics were written by Kaifi Azmi and Rafi’s songs “dhunti rehti yeh ankhe mujhme“, “jeet hi lenge bazzi hum tum“, “pehle to aankh milna“, “phool ko dhoonde pyaasa bhawra” had a soft, passionate flavour of the soil of mountains. The songs were picturised on Dharmender. In the film Shagun, 1964, the song “parbaton ke paron par sham ka basera hai” sung by Rafi carried the intoxicating appeal of Khayyam. The next film Mohabbat is ko kahte hai, 1965, picturised on Shashi Kapoor had a fantastic duet song of Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur titled “thehriye hosh me alun to chale jaiyega” which was a form of a poetry where each of the poets answered one another. In Akhri Khat, in 1966, Rafi’s song “aur thori der theher” had the same folk effect of Khayyam. Lata Mangeshkar was brilliant with her performance of “baharo mera jeevan bhi sawaaro” and “mere chanda mere nanhe” in the same film.
In the 1970s, Khaiyyam composed music in lesser films but again came up with creative music and received the filmfare award for composing music for the film Kabhi Kabhi, 1975, where the title song written by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mukesh and Lata were well acclaimed by music lovers of India. His composition in Umrao Jaan, 1981, brought him the second filmfare award and amazed the musical pandits with classical mujra, which became extinct from bollywood music at that time. His songs in the film Bazaar, 1982, picturised on Nasiruddin Shah, titled “karoge yaad to” had ghazal andaz and Bhupinder Singh was sublime with his performance.
As Khayyam, like Jaidev, composed music in mostly offbeat films their presence was felt whenever the directors came up with thoughtful stories, powerful direction and rich lyrics. Although they have provided less number of songs for Rafi but the creations of the combination should be restored for the epic value of the folk and classical effects in the songs.
[1] Bhupinder Singh in his TV interview in DD1 Channel said he was an absolute admirer of Rafi. He said he got a scope of acting in Chetan Anand’s Haqeeqat, 1964 where the songs were composed by MadanMohan. There was a song “hoke majboor usne bulaya hoga” which had to be sung by Bhupinder, Tala Mehmood, Manna Dey and Rafi. He wanted to share the microphone with Rafi. As Rafi was shorter in height than Bhupinder a tool was provided during the recording to match both Rafi and Bhupinder.The song was very successful and was a landmark in Bhupinder Singh’s life.
Mr. Souvik Chatterji
Master of Law from Warwick University, Coventry,UK
Master of Law from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ref post 48:
dear myk, we have beaten this topic to death. We have given rd much more blog time than he deserves (and I am also to blame). We hardly ever talk about md’s like ravi and chitragupta, yet we keep posting thousands of comments on rd.
you said: “I find it ironic that RD gets blamed for ignoring Rafi-saab in the early 70’s, when it was in fact SD who did that. While SD was busy creating Sharmilee, Prem Pujari and Tere Mere Sapne with Kishore, and calling Rafi for choice songs, it was RD creating The Train, Caravan and Mela besides other scores with Rafi.”
All the rd films you’ve mentioned were signed before or around the time Aradhana was released. Also, remember it takes some time for the results to settle. Consider the number of songs rd gave to rafi in the 1972-76 period. Except for nasir husain’s films and some inconsequential songs in films like aandhi and balika badhu, he hardly did much for rafi. Only after hkkn, when the tide turned decidedly in favour of rafi and in the face of increasing threat from lp, did he really start using rafi again. I have no doubt that the rd-rafi combo would have rocked in the 80s. Between ramesh sippy’s andaaz at the beginning of the 70s and his shaan at the beginning of the 80s, there is one genre in which there was a lull for rafi; that genre is rock ‘n roll, where he was the king and monica darling was the queen. rd would have used this explosive pair to maximum effect in rock ‘n roll, as well as in qawaalis and folk-based songs. And he would be trying his best to come up with another “tumne mujhe dekha” or “tumhe dekha hai”.
In closing, let me say this: depending on the time period, rafi was rd’s no. 1 or no. 2 male singer. For lp, rafi was always No. 1. That is the main difference between the two. In the first half of the 70s, rd had more sway than any other md — this you will not understand by looking at binaca geet maala stats, filmfare awards and other dubious measures, but being actually present at that time. For ka, the story is different. They behaved as if Rafi was their No. 1 singer for some time, but in reality, rafi was not even in their top 3. Their top three male singers were Mukesh, Kishore and Mahendra Kapoor (in order of their inner preference, not actual use necessarily). Only they could have thought of using mukesh on feroze khan. ka never get the blame because rd was responsible for creating the wave at the turn of the 70s and no one could accuse them of ethnic bias.
There is another angle that no one talks about, which is equally if not more important. That is the dev anand-rajesh khanna angle. Combine this with the sd-rd angle, and you’ll get a better picture of what actually happened; it is not all that difficult. The immediate beneficiary of these rivalries was kishore, but the ultimate beneficiary was **** because if these events hadn’t unfolded, people would still not be arguing about who the all-time greatest singer is. Remember by 1969, rafi was the monarch of all he surveyed; there was bound to be some envy in certain quarters!
Dear Mr. Halder,
This is in reply to Post No. 40,
I were told that I dont have control over facts.
I am Assitant Professor of NLU, Jodhpur. And from my legal experience, Courts even go by Evidence to verify truth.
When I talked about LP bagging filmfare awards in mid-70s, I had statistics to justify it.
I am giving the full list of composers who received Filmfare awards for the best music direction frm 1953 to 2008.
Please check it minutely.
SJ bagged the filmfare awards for best music direction in 1971 for the film Pehchan, in 1972 for the film Mera Naam Joker and 1973 for the film Beimaan.
For 4 years 1974 to 1977, best composer award was bagged by SD Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, Rajesh Roshan and Khayyam. From 1978 to 1981, it was LP all the way. The films were Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Amar Akbar Anthony, Sargam, Karz.
Year Music Director Film
2008 A. R. Rahman Guru
2007 A. R. Rahman Rang De Basanti
2007 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna 2006 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Bunty Aur Babli
2005 Anu Malik Main Hoon Na
2004 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003 A. R. Rahman Saathiya
2002 A. R. Rahman Lagaan
2001 Rajesh Roshan Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai
2000 A. R. Rahman Taal
1999 A. R. Rahman Dil Se
1998 Uttam Singh Dil To Pagal Hai
1997 Nadeem-Shravan Raja Hindustani
1996 A. R. Rahman Rangeela
1995 R.D. Burman 1942–A Love Story
1994 Anu Malik Baazigar
1993 Nadeem-Shravan Deewana
1992 Nadeem-Shravan Saajan
1991 Nadeem-Shravan Aashiqui
1990 Raamlaxman Maine Pyar Kiya
1989 Anand-Milind Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
1988 no award
1987 no award
1986 Ravindra Jain Ram Teri Ganga Maili
1985 Bappi Lahiri Sharaabi
1984 R.D. Burman Masoom
1983 R.D. Burman Sanam Teri Kasam
1982 Khayyam Umrao Jaan
1981 Laxmikant Pyarelal Karz
1980 Laxmikant Pyarelal Sargam
1979 Laxmikant Pyarelal Satyam Shivam Sundaram
1978 Laxmikant Pyarelal Amar Akbar Anthony
1977 Khayyam Kabhi Kabhie
1976 Rajesh Roshan Julie
1975 Kalyanji-Anandji Kora Kagaz
1974 S.D. Burman Abhimaan
1973 Shankar Jaikishan Be-Imaan
1972 Shankar Jaikishan Mera Naam Joker
1971 Shankar Jaikishan Pehchaan
1970 Laxmikant Pyarelal Jeene Ki Raah
1969 Shankar Jaikishan Brahmachari
1968 Laxmikant Pyarelal Milan
1967 Shankar Jaikishan Suraj
1966 Ravi Khandaan
1965 Laxmikant Pyarelal Dosti
1964 Roshan Taj Mahal
1963 Shankar Jaikishan Professor
1962 Ravi Gharana
1961 Shankar Jaikishan Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai
1960 Shankar Jaikishan Anari
1959 Salil Chowdhury Madhumati
1958 O. P. Nayyar Naya Daur
1957 Shankar Jaikishan Chori Chori
1956 Hemant Kumar Nagin
1955 S.D. Burman “Jaye To Jaye Kahan (Talat Mehmood version)” Taxi Driver
1954 Naushad “Tu Ganga Ki Mauj” Baiju Bawra
Now with respect to Raj Kapoor, LP composed music for his films starting from Bobby, 1973, to Satyam Shivam Sundaram, 1977, Prem Rog, 1982.
Please note that other SJ, Raj Kapoor did not stick to one composer, only so Salil Choudhury composed music for RK Banner in the film Jagte Raho, Ravindra Jain composed music for the films Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Henna.
Regarding Manmohan Desai, it was LP all the way, from Amar Akbar Anthony to Coolie, etc.
When you are speaking about Shakti Shamanta, please remember OP Nayyar contributed in his films Howrah Bridge, Kashmir Ki Kali, SJ contributed in An Evening in Paris, Pagla Kahin Ka, SD Burman contributed in Aradhana, RD Burman was used in Amar Prem and other film, statistics does not show RD Burman all the way.
Regarding even Rajender Kumar, LP contributed in many Rajender Kumar films and continued the use of Rafi after Jaikishan’s death including films like Gora Aur Kala, Aap Aye Bahar Aye, more than RD Burman.
Shammi Kapoor’s last film as a hero was Andaz, where SJ was the composer, after that he grew his beard and starting acting as father of Big B, Vinod Khanna in the films Zameer, Parvarish, etc.
So one Teesri Manzil of RD Burman could have been countered by 22 other films of SJ, which I dont want to repeat, the list is too long. For Shammi Kapoor, Shankar Jaikishan was the only name, the question of any composer replacing does not arise at all.
For Rishi Kapoor, there is absolute conception of his preference, he admired LP more than any composer. It was LP who introduced Shailendra Singh for him in Bobby, who sang for no other hero but Rishi Kapoor only. LP brought back Rafi with Rishi Kapoor, the list of films are too long.
You are right to the extent that Randhir Kapoor had preference for RD Burman, his films Dharam Karam, Biwi O Biwi, etc. had music direction by RD Burman.
Even in films of Rajesh Khanna, LP had a fare share, including films like Aan Milo Sajna, Hathi Mere Saathi, Roti, etc., to mention a few, but obviously RD Burman had an edge as he preferred KK over Rafi and Rajesh Khanna himself was fond of KK.
I again mention at the end that Filmfare awards do not mean everything as some of the stalwarts of all times like Naushad got the filmfare award only once, Madanmohan never got it at all, Roshan got it only once, Salil Choudhury got it once.
But facts show that 70s meant the death of giants like Jaikishan, Sd Burman, Madanmohan, etc., and rise of LP and RD Burman.
LP faced RD Burman in the 80s, surpassed him, faced Bappi Lahiri and ended up being the most commercially acclaimed composer of all times after SJ.
Souvik Chatterji.
Ref Post 44:
Mr. Haldar,
SD was definitely no slouch when it came to western music. In fact before RD joined his team, we see SD coming out with quite a few western-based songs, cabaret gems etc. in the early to mid 50’s. SD’s orchestration was always great, many critics and composers labelled it as too simple or adding nothing to the song. I remember Anil Biswas mentioning SD was nothing compared to RD or Salil, and since Anil Biswas was fond of orchestration, its understood why he would put RD and Salil ahead of SD, since the two were also magicians of orchestration (personally I would rate S-J and RD ahead of Salil and Anil Biswas when it comes to orchestration). But we know Anil Biswas is fond of making ridiculous statements (even if they are his opinion), and he also said once upon a time that CR was the greatest composer, “even better than SDB” were his words, giving SD that high stature. Go figure.
By the time Abhimaan came around, RD and his trio had left, as you pointed out, and Anil Mohile and Arun Paudwal (Anuradha Paudwal’s husband) had come in as arrangers for SD. “Ab to hai tumse” is for sure a gem, and I have no doubts that SD was capable of composing such a number. He may have given Anil-Arun the directions of how to orchestrate the number. If you listen to this song, you will notice that it is different from the orchestration of SD’s gems when RD was his assistant. RD had a unique way of using his instruments, just as S-J did. This ofcourse is apparent in his own music, but even when orchestrating for his father, he would sometimes include his own influence. Take a song like “kaise kahen hum” from Sharmilee, it has the typical RD chord progression, which were different from trademark SD songs. I am not sure if RD assisted SD in Sharmilee, however I think Basu, Manohari and Maruti all were there in Sharmilee, so they may have taken a leaf out of RD’s book and orchestrated that song in the “RD way”. Then we have a song like “I love you, you love me” from Barood and that sounds pure RD to me. He may have orchestrated the song due to SD’s health problems. Moreover, even after RD left, there could have been some instrumentalists like Kersi Lord, Tony Vaz etc. who still played for SD and the likes of Manohari, Basu and Maruti may have helped out here and there, even though Anil-Arun had come in. These musicians were all part of the Burman camp, so they played for both father and son. People like Kersi Lord, Manohari and others also belonged to other camps too, for example they were regulars with S-J as well. Manohari although being RD’s assistant, continued to associate with others, as did Kersi Lord (remember he arranged “Tum jo mil gaye ho”) and the same can apply to others.
Even if RD orchestrated SD’s songs, besides SD giving him the go ahead to do whatever he wanted, I am sure SD must have also directed to his son precisely what he wanted (even in the western-based songs), and RD also knew how his father would have wanted his songs done (as I mentioned previously). From the mid-sixties onwards, the Burmans collaborated brilliantly (with a similar team) to produce music individually or together. One can find RD’s stamp and influence in many of SD’s songs, and the same is vice-versa for when RD was composing his own music. Also, along with noticing the RD contribution to his father’s songs, one can also notice differences as well between the way RD orchestrated his father’s songs and his own songs (i.e the brass section, the way the violins are used, use of certain instruments).
Now going back to RD coming into SD’s team in the late 50’s, SD’s orchestra being anyway excellent I think became even better with the inclusion of RD, because he brought a different sense and level or knowledge with him. Here was a person in his 20’s who had so much talent, and it showed up in SD’s music. If you compare SD’s orchestra in the early days to the later days, you will see that later on it was more polished, refined, and sophisticated as opposed to earlier (in my view). Not taking anything away from SDB, as he was the captain of the ship, but RD and his influence certainly made a difference. Add to this, RD also worked on quite a few background pieces for SD. Flash forward to 1994 with 1942 A Love Story, and RD took pieces of music in Rafi’s “Dekhi zamane ki yaari” and put it in “Kuch na kaho”.
I find it ironic that RD gets blamed for ignoring Rafi-saab in the early 70’s, when it was in fact SD who did that. While SD was busy creating Sharmilee, Prem Pujari and Tere Mere Sapne with Kishore, and calling Rafi for choice songs, it was RD creating The Train, Caravan and Mela besides other scores with Rafi.
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Ref Post 46:
Mr. XXX,
First off, and I know many here may not agree with me, but I rate RD higher than both Jaidev and Khayyam (with due respect to their great talent). The reason is simple, versatility. With RD you had Teesri Manzil and HKKN at one end which showcased his western genre ability. At the other extreme end you have Kinara and Parichay which showcased his classical skills. Talk about qawwali’s, and RD was arguably the best modern qawwali composer, the qawwali’s from HKKN and TBT would have made Roshan proud. Then we have Caravan and Mela that brought out the folk side of RD, something he learnt from his father. Then we have albums like Baharon Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam, Aandhi, Namak Haram, The Train etc. which showcase a variety of genres and class music. This for me is what makes RD better than both Jaidev and Khayyam.
No doubt Jaidev and Khayyam produced winners with Rafi and absolutely masterpiece songs, that would rank among Rafi’s best. However I still rate the RD-Rafi combo higher for its variety. With RD-Rafi you had all types of songs, many of which are among RD’s best, and since making an all-time best of Rafi is the hardest thing in the world to do, I’d say there are RD-Rafi numbers that would definitely merit recognition in that list.
Let me make another interesting observation. Jaidev composed the absolutely sensational “Teri tasveer bhi tujh jaisi” from Kinare Kinare. This is one of the finest songs in Raga Pilu in the history of HFM. Come 1967, and RD created his prized composition for the Badshah, “Tumhein dekha hai maine” that is as good as the former. It’s hard for me to say which one is better, as both are simply outstanding, and in the latter, Rafi sings in a very soft and soulful way, reminiscent of many of his SD songs. In Hum Dono, Jaidev-Rafi came out with “Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe” which was another masterpiece. Now come 1967, and we have “Zamane ne maare jawan kaise kaise” which in my view is as good as the Hum Dono gem. Rafi-Khayyam on the other hand came out with sensational ghazals (and other fine songs). RD was not known for composing ghazals but it doesn’t mean he could not atleast come up a times with a good ghazal (and there were ofcourse better ghazal composers like Khayyam, Roshan, and Madan Mohan). Take the CKP gem which I mentioned (which can match any of the best ghazals of MM, Roshan and Khayyam) besides other RD-Rafi songs in the ghazal structure such as “Deewana mujhsa nahin” or “Maine poocha chand se” etc. and you have winners there. They may not all be ghazals in the purest form (some are, some are not), and they may only be in structure, but they are exotic in nature which make them excellent for me. With RD-Rafi, you also have the finest western-based songs in its genre (along with S-J), the finest modern-day qawwali’s, and arguably the finest modern-day folk songs. Add to that, you have great romantic, pathos, philosophical etc. songs to make it a listener’s delight.
I am told that RD took special care when creating his Rafi songs, that he didn’t want to give him just any song, but songs that were deserving of his mammoth talent.
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Mr. Cherian,
Looking forward to your views and analysis in the RD thread.
Ref: Post#36.
Nice analysis, Mykji; I’ll reply to it in the “Did RDB prefer ……” thread, may be that’s where we should discuss it.
Mr.myk,
Your research on RD-Rafi is tremendous, Rd-Rafi combo was great indeed, and had the more variety than Rd’s any other association.
BTW, How would you compare the combo Rafi-Rd with that of Rafi-Jaidev and Rafi-Khayyam? Now if you look at Rafi-Jaidev, this combo had a lesser songs than Rafi-Rd but quality of the songs was so much high that most of them would easily made to the Rafi’s top 100 list, in fact the song “Kabhi khud pe” is one of the top 50 Rafi Renditions imo. Rafi-Khayyam also had the similar kind of songs. so how would you compare these two combos with Rafi-Rd?
Mr.Haldar,
Yes of course, the father had started following the son’s footsteps but if we see,Dada’s own style was also popular in 70s, dada’s very own style was so much irresistible that he was in high demand even when all his peers(CR,AB etc) had retired, and his successors(OPN,Ravi,Chitragupt etc ) were all failed to sustain their charm and mass appeal.
In fact his best and more popular songs from 70s came in his own style:
1.Teri binidya re
2.Tere mere milan ki
3.Mera mann tera pyasa
4.Jeevan ki bagiya
5.Mehbooba teri tasveer ..
Now what’s even more interesting is Hrishikesh Mukerjee who never cared much for sd before, used him in his three major movies (in the presence of Salil,Pancham and Shankar ).
coming back to Madan Mohan, when i said that he surpassed sd in 70s, i was talking of quality only, nothing else, combined impact of (Dastak,Haste zakham,dil ki Raahen,Heer Ranjha and Laila Majnu) is enough to topple anyone,that group of albums was a Great mix of (Composition+Shayari+Rendition) Then of course his other albums with Gulzar, HM etc were great as well.
Also,Even when Father and son were creating a new sounds, best orchestrated song came from MM’s stable: “Tum jo mil gaye ho” — Ironic
Regarding Rafi Sahab: He definitely ruled the high pitch in fact he ruled the playback arena, but in the low pitch, if we take the great singers of 30s and 40s also under consideration then i would rate Rafi sahab next to his own idol Saigal sahab in low pitch department. Anyways, you mentioned that Naushad Ji used Rafi sahab very well in high pitch, but in my view Rafi’s best low pitch songs also came under Naushad. What say? Just take following two songs as an example, from the movie Dillagi(1949):
1.Is dunia mein aey dil walo, dil ka lagana khel nahi.
2.Tere kooche mein armaano ki dunia leke aaya hoon.
ref post 43:
myk, I think you are right about prem pujari; I now remember rd being sd’s assistant for the film. it’s possible that he orchestrated the music. but “phoolon ki rang se” was based on dada’s original bengali song, which I had shared with you sometime back.
By the time of abhiman, all of dada’s famous “official” assistants (the troika) had left him. as far as I know, rd had nothing to do with abhiman. So my question is, who orchestrated “ab to hai tumse”? Just listen to the guitar chords and the theka. If I remember correctly, the man from Ratnagiri was by his side till the very end. Would it be wrong if I call him “Alfonso of the theka”?
myk, I got distracted by the pancham bug, which I shoudn’t have been. For as much as I love him, I hate him even more. I love him for the beautiful sound he generated in the late 60s and early 70s, but I hate him for rocking the boat (the Titanic, to be more precise). You can keep citing any number of winners you want to, but you cannot convince me otherwise of the negative role he played as far as the badshah is concerned.
Regarding SD sounding like RD, not taking anything away from Dada Burman, we have to give credit to RD as well for giving SD’s music that modern “sound”. Ofcourse SD’s music always sounded modern and fresh because SD was a brilliant composer, but RD also played a role in that.
RD was still SD’s assistant right up to Prem Pujari, and Gambler (when he had already made it big on his own). Ofcourse SD knew western music as well, but RD helped him in the orchestration department. Some examples, take a song like “Bagon mein bahar hai” from Aradhana, it sounds quite a bit like RD with the SD touch. Then we have “Kitni akeli kitni tanha” from Talash, where there are flashes of RD with the chord progressions and the rhythm. I am sure RD also contributed to a superb song like “Raat akeli hai” from Jewel Thief. SD left the orchestration of many of his songs to RD, and I think “Rangeela re” could fall into that category as well. Neeraj mentioned that 4 songs of the work in which he did with SD were composed by RD. It’s anyones guess as to what songs these are.
Furthemore, Basu, Manohari, and Maruti, all an integral part of RD’s team, also were a part of SD’s team when RD was an assistant. It was only from Tere Mere Sapne onwards that Meera Dev Burman became the official assistant to SD (she was always part of his team from the 50’s, but behind the scenes), and RD came in thereafter, when SD was ill to complete his scores/record songs for him.
I believe RD made sure that when orchestrating his father’s songs, he’d make it a point to include the touches of his father (after all, the final touch and approval was by SD). One can pick up many cues where there are RD touches in SD songs. It is also ironic that in the 70’s as SD was slowly moving away from Rafi, RD continued to produce winners and chartbusters with the Badshah.
ref post 39:
xxx, you are absolutely right; in the songs you mentioned, sd sounded like rd. Yes, the father had started following in his son’s footsteps. When I said that sd was rd’s only real competitor in the first half of the 70s, it was in that context. rd created a different “sound” altogether in teesri manzil, and later in pkm, caravan, hrhk and a host of other films. With jai gone and op having lost his touch completely, it was left to sd to compete with his son in the “sound” department, and he did a magnificent job.
why sd, almost all the top md’s used to silently admire mm. I agree with you that dastak was an exceptional score. And you are absolutely right that the mm-rafi combo was better than the sd-rafi combo in the 70s. But if you look at the overall picture, I wouldn’t say that mm had surpassed sd.
The final point I’d like to make is with respect to what mr. korti had said earlier, that rafi used to rule low pitch just as he used to rule high pitch. The two md’s who took him to sky high level were naushad and sj, and the two md’s who went thousands of feet below sea level were sd and mm. Tell me what you think.
about post 33 and further : mohd rafi’s immortal patriotic number “kar chale, hum fida, jaan-o-tan saathiyo, ab tumhare hawale , watan saathiyo… was aired continuously on all channels against the back drop of the terrorist onslaught on nov. 29. (film : haqueequat) . channels also played the number “hokar majboor humen, usne bulaya hoga, zahar chup ke se alongwith ae watan, ae watan and lata’s ai mere watan ke logon while showing the valiant role of cops who died in action – fighting the terrorists.
the politicians have again messed up the nation by their slumber and inaction during the “mumbai terror ordeal” which begun on the night of nov. 26th. the citizens of this country elect their leaders and it’s a sad commentary on the citizens and on our politicians – who look after themselves and their families – very well, once elected. most of them are utterly corrupt and liars.
in this hour of national tragedy lets all take a pledge that we will abhor violence and shun people and leaders who started the babri masjid row, the mumbai riots, the serial blasts, the gujrat holocaust, the mumbai and gujarat train blasts, the khalistan movement, the south indian and north indian “hatao” movements in mumbai and many other violent movements of the past including the communal agenda of parties.
we bow our heads in this hour of tragedy and pray for the souls of those brave men and women who lost their premature lives – fighting and facing terrorists in mumbai. let’s take a pledge that we will fight corruption and communalism – without taking sides and eliminate/sideline the vultures of civil society.
binu nair. mumbai.
ref post 29:
dear souvik, you don’t seem to have a good handle on facts. please don’t make statements like: “They (lp) in fact continued the battle after the death of Jaikishan in 1971, from where SJ left. They bagged all the big banners including Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, Subhash Ghai, to name a few”.
Producers/directors like manmohan desai and subhash ghai were babies at the turn of the 70s. Here are some of the big producers/directors who switched to rd from sj: g. p. sippy, ramesh sippy, shakti samanta, nasir hussain, ramesh talwar, bhappi sonie, rahul rawail, to name a few. Two stars who were closely associated with sj also used rd when they produced/directed their own films: shammi kapoor and rajendra kumar. Even raj kapoor used him in dharam karam; both randhir and rishi also used to prefer him to any other md.
You may not be aware but manmohan desai used rd for a musical hit. And the chopra brothers also used him. I hope there is no need to talk about dev anand, ramesh behl, hrishikesh mukherjee, gulzar and the rest.
Mr. Haldar,
First of all, let me recall one of the Dada interviews,from the year 1972, in which he mentioned the two names “Madan Mohan” & “Khaiyam” amongst his most favourite composers,i am sure you too must have read that interview.
In the same interview he also said that “Madan Mohan’s use of raga music in Dastak is an experience. It is one of the high water marks of Indian Film Music like Ravi Shankar’s music in ‘Pather Panchali’ or Vilayat Khan’s in Jalsaghar”
Well, very much acceptable to me, in my opinion this single album can outshine any of the albums from the 70s. Also, if any album which can be singled out as a “Best Lata-Gayaki” album from the 70s then it has to be “Dastak” only, and not to forget that lyrical values in the Madan Mohan’s music always remained sky high, which is again not the case with the most of the others. SD definitely churned out great music in 70s, but in quality IMO MM was supreme,closely followed by a tie between father and son.
That apart, Madan Mohan also came up with Many Supreme Rafi songs, we can easily bracket the songs like “tum jo mil gaye ho” and “Barbad-e-mohabbat” as a best songs from the early 70s–qualtiy wise.By the way, How about that “Raag-Mala” by Manna Dey from the movie “dil ki Raahen”? again a treat to listen for all music lovers, and in my opinion it’s a best song of 70s from its genre that is (Classical + Devotional). MM definitely composed the best of the best songs from 70s, in both male and female category.
Regarding “Rangeela re”, don’t you think that orchestra is more RD-ish(of course with the stamp of sd). I think this time Father picked up the cues from his son’s orchestra, even in the movies like “Gambler” and “Tere mere sapne” few of the songs(“choori nahi mera dil”, “Dil aaj shayar”, “maine kasam lee”) had the RD type of arrangements. what say?
Correction. In my last post, it should read as:
“For every great SD-Kishore song/album in the 1970-75 period, there is a great RD-Rafi song/album to match and even surprass that.”
Just to add more to the SD vs RD 70’s topic, for every SD-Kishore song/album in the 1970-75 period, there is a RD-Rafi song/album to match and even surprass that.
To name a few:
Sharmilee vs Caravan
Tere Mere Sapne vs Mela
Jugnu vs Raaton Ka Raja
“Meet na mila re man ka” vs “Gulaabi aankhen jo teri dekhi”
“Jeevan ki bagiyan” vs “Sanson mein kabhi”
“Duniya o duniya” vs “Jao jao tum bhi jao”
“Chudi nahin mera” vs “Churaliya hai tumne jo dil ko”
But the knockout punch came two years after SD’s death. “Badi sooni sooni hai zindagi”, Kishore in Mili (1975), RD responded with “Pyar hai ik nishan qadmon ka” Rafi in Mukti (1977).
Besides only the 70’s, if “Phoolon ke rang se” is one of Kishore’s best songs of the 70’s (and one of his best all-time under SDB), go back three years to a “Zamane ne maare jawan kaise kaise” from BKS which is miles above the Prem Pujari gem (imo).
Excellent posts by everyone here, an excellent read !.
L-P definitely have to be mentioned as competitors to RD when talking about the 70’s. One has to give them credit for unsettling Shankar-Jaikishan, a feat no composer(s) was/were able to do for a very long time. Ofcourse OP was a threat, but S-J passed that storm and in fact passed every other storm on their way to success. With L-P on the rise from the late sixties, slowly taking away banner after banner from reputed composers (including S-J, on a side note, S-J regardless made new associations if those banners were taken away or those banners that went came back to them), they zoomed their way to the top. As L-P were on the rise, RD stormed in like a thunderbolt with The Train and Kati Patang, and entered the top league. Ofcourse S-J were still supreme, when Jai passed away, they were still one of the Top 3 MD’s in the industry with more than 35 odd productions at hand (many of which went to others). With Jai gone, the spot was open, and RD fit that spot nicely. Had Jai not passed away, RD would have come in anyways and filled another spot but he would have S-J as competitors for most of the 70’s onwards just like in the 60’s. Having said that, 1971 was a turning point in HFM when the hyphen was knocked out of arguably the greatest musical duo ever.
K-A had a fabulous run in the sixties as well and they consolodated well in 1970, so they were always in the mix. Had Jai lived, S-J would have continued to be a force, and as pointed out by Mr. Haldar and Mr. Korti, had Dada Burman been well, he would have been a stronger force (as always). Basically, it was the LP-RD-KA-SD quad that were fighting for top spot. Include S-J (with Jai not passing away) and it would have been even more interesting.
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Mr. Cherian,
RD used Rafi many times on his own will (imo), and not whenever he was forced to. Leave aside the Nasir Husain films where one can say because it was a NH production, that Rafi had to be there (I still feel RD would have used him for those songs anyways regardless of the producer, because they were only meant for Rafi to sing).
Let’s start with the sixties. Rafi was always King regardless of what happened at any time, it is an insult to music to even associate anyone in his league (as many fanatics…oops I mean fans of other singers do, and we know which other singer in particular that is). We also know that Rafi was always in demand, at every point in his career, and in the 60’s it was at a peak period (as it was at other times too). So to get Rafi was hard itself, you had to book his dates in advance. With Pancham bagging films during this time, he could have easily used Kishore or Manna for the songs, but he chose to wait for Rafi because:
a) he needed his services as everyone did
b) he wanted his songs to be rendered by Rafi only
This is coming from someone who had made Padosan with Kishore and supposedly had a tiff with NH to include the Kishore version of “Tum bin jaun kahan” in PKM at a time when Kishore was about to pack his bags and go home (and because he had sung the Bengali version of the song).
Now lets observe the year 1970 and onwards with two of RD’s main contemporaries and rivals, LP and KA. KA always changed according to trends, and with Kishore becoming popular, they slowly started accommodating him in their repertoire which featured Rafi, Mukesh and to a lesser extent Manna and Mahendra Kapoor. Aradhana was released on September 27, 1969, and in 1970 you already see them employing Kishore in films like Safar, Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani, Sachcha Jhoota, Johnny Mera Naam etc. either before or after Aradhana’s success. L-P had used KK from the sixties in his own films but we see them even using him in Aansoo ban gaye phool for the hero in 1969. L-P also recorded “mere naseeb mein aye dost†for Do raaste which was also released in 1969, surprisingly with Kishore and the film released a few months at the start of December 1969 (according to most sources). I’m not sure whether L-P decided to record Kishore for Rajesh Khanna based on the popularity of the Aradhana because if the film released a few months after Aradhana, the songs would have been recorded months before, or around the same time as the Aradhana songs assuming the songs of both films were recorded around the same time (or not), or they just chose Kishore for that particular song regardless of the actor. Anyways that aside, my point is that in 1970, L-P used Kishore for songs in films such as Mastana, Jawab, Abhinetri, Khilona etc. L-P being Rafi bhakts were in a position to dictate by then, but still gave Kishore songs even if some of them had been recorded prior to Aradhana or not. Pancham had used Rafi for Rajesh Khanna in BKS before Aradhana and had contributed to the Rafi songs for him in Aradhana so he had no hesitation in using his voice on RK in the The Train (instead of Kishore). We see RD use Rafi for RK even after Aradhana but I guess due to the popularity of Kati Patang and Amar Prem he used more of KK on RK than Rafi.
Now look at Pancham, out of his 1970 films, most of them were Rafi based. Raton Ka Raja was a new hero, so more freedom to choose a voice, he still gave the entire score to Rafi, The Train, Ehsan (one KK song), Puraskar (mukesh-based). The two scores that went to KK were Kati Patang and SBKBT (I have heard kati patang was released in 1971 but others say 1970, anyways the soundtrack was released around 1970). Shakti Samantha mentioned that they wanted Rafi for Kati Patang but he was out of town, so if he had been available, RD would have had no hesitation in using Rafi instead of Kishore then too. So LP and KA gave Kishore more songs in 1970 than RD. Move on to 1971 and Rafi still has presence in RD films such as Pyar Ki Kahani, Mela, Caravan, Adhikar, Lakhon Mein Ek which is about 50% of Pancham’s films that year. Even in 1972, you will find Rafi in Parchhaiyan, Garam Masala (sole male voice), entire score of Dil Ka Raja, Raampur Ka Lakshman, and Shehzada. It’s only 73-76 where we see little of Rafi compared to before and after in Pancham’s recording room which could be due to various reasons such as Rafi cutting down on his singing, leaving town etc.
To analyze year by year would take ages, but I hope I’ve given you a small picture of how RD used Rafi on his own will and not when he was forced to. I feel overall L-P gave Kishore more songs than he deserved, and that RD gave Rafi lesser songs than he deserved but that’s another story for another time. Rafi still sang a lot for RD and RD’s greatest hits and best songs came through the badshah of singing. There are also genres of songs that Pancham never looked beyond Rafi.
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Mr. Haldar,
The standout Dev-RD albums in my view are HRHK, Joshila and Heera Panna. All the rest are average albums with a few good songs here and there. Certainly the SD and Rafi touch was missing from these albums.
refer post 33
i know this is not the forum for it. but it has been my misfortune to watch all the trauma and tragedy that unfolded in mumbai over the last three days. i happened to see all the live-wire action that took place at the taj, oberoi hotels and the nariman house. while it’s en entirely different story altogether, there was one coincidence (or was it?) that i could not miss.
even as our valiant soldiers were laying down their lives in that dare-devil anti-terror operation, i heard rafi songs played nearby. the strains of “watan pe jo fida hoga, amar wo naujawan hoga.. and kar chale hum fida” made a very poignant hearing.
quite clearly establishing that rafisaab is a man for all seasons.
ref post 27:
xxx, please don’t go overboard. You cited 10 mm songs that are great, but here are 20 sd compositions that you should carefully examine before stating that mm surpassed sd in the 70s:
1. Mehbooba teri tasweer kis tarah mai banawun
2. Yeh dil deewana hai, dil to deewana hai
3. Phoolon ki rang se dil ki kalam se
4. Rangeela re tere rang mein yun ranga hai
5. Mera man tera pyaasa, poori kab hogi asha
6. Dil aaj shayar hai gham tera nagma hai
7. Rama rama gazab huyi gaware
8. Duniya O duniya tera jawab nahin
9. Megha chaye aadhi raat, bairan ban gayi nindiya
10. Hey maine kasam lee, hai tune kasam lee nahi honge juda hum
11. Jeevanki bagiyan mehkegi, lehkegi chehkegi
12. Sunri pawan pawan puruvaiyya
13. Neend churaye chain churaye daaka daale teri bansi
14. Teri bindiyare hai hai teri bindiyare
15. Ab to hai tumse har khushi apni
16. Piya bina, piya bina piya binaa basiya
17. Tere mere milan ki yeh raina
18. Meri payaliya geet tere gaaye
19. Piya sang khelo holi phagun aayore
20. Piya maine kya kiya mujhe chod ke jaiyonaa
Granted that sd composed low-quality music in films like sagina and barood, but you have to remember that he was in bad health for most of the time. Also, he had to move on with the times; I’ll later give you examples where he actually sounded like lp or ka. But let me first compare him with his son.
The songs are chronologically ordered starting with 1970 and ending around 1975. As you go down the list, you’ll find an emerging pattern in his strategy. The singer with whom he associated closely for 15 years — and who hit almost all the sixers for him during six eventful years — was slowly being phased out and another singer, with whom he was associated for close to 25 (minus 6) years, was being used as the strategic weapon to counter the emerging threat.
sd saw the threat on the horizon much before anyone else did, when his good friend and patron dev anand requested him to share the credits with his son for prem pujari. sd politely declined and came up with an absolute sizzler: the song in question is “Rangeela re tere rang mein”. Listen to the orchestration and the magic in lata’s vocals and you’ll find that this one song may trump all the “sound” that rd created through asha’s voice. For six long years, sd belonged almost exclusively to asha, but an objective analysis would reveal that dada lost the battle to op and later to his son in handling mrs. hope. But when it came to lota, he demonstrated that the ivy could only climb higher and higher.
That dev ultimately turned to rd and started his own decline is another story.
In this hour of grief, let me first express my solidarity with all the people of mumbai.
refer to post 24
i agree with your observations, mr hadar, with a subtle addition. and this stems from what father sd felt about his otherwise illustrious son. sd once went on record, saying his son was very talented, but he needed to be kept under a leash, else he had that streak of spiralling out of control. and i for one couldn’t agree with him more. just study rd’s work in that span. it could swing between two extremeties — from brilliant to outrageous. i am referring to those transitional times between 1970 and 75. these were the times, as we all know, when sd suffered from indifferent health. so much so that he leant heavily on pancham. i will not elaborate on examples like mili, sharmilee etc since they have been dealt with ad nauseum in these threads. concurrently, greats like shankar-jaikishen were taking a backseat with just a few commercial hits like andaaz, sanyasi and kal aaj aur kal. shankar lost it after jai passed away. madan mohan the virtuoso that he was (and agree with you fully here) was just not cut out for the rat race. in fact madan mohan could never take to the commercial ways of the industry. two composing duos — one who started his career with a period film in 1960 and the other (in 1962) who delivered two hits with a beaten actor like mahipal and two young and unknown actors portraying the friendship between a handicapped and a blind — had started tasting new-found success. Of these two, one was allegedly involved in the fudging the sales of lp (!!!) records, on the basis of which the songs for the radio ceylon’s binaca geetmala were chosen. Stories had it that some unscrupulous composers would book recording rooms even when they had no song to record just to stall madan mohan. we all know madan mohan died a rather disappointed man (probably with sawan ke mahine me on his lips) with little work coming his way. but as you correctly said, his quality never suffered.
a clever rd then brought about a new trend that was instantly a hit with the newer generation. that he became a victim of the very trend that he introduced is just an irony in the tale. anyway, to cut this story short, with sd the governor out of his way, rd had a free run. remember this was the same rd who was brilliant in chhote nawab, teesri manzil, chandan ka palna, making some great tunes with rafi. it was the same ebullient pancham, who helped his great dad with some fabulous rafi compositions in the sixties in films like tere ghar ke saamne and kala bazaar. that association and combination could also be extremely fruitful with films like jewel thief where sd conceived the songs while rd matched him with the background score. if my information is right, amar prem was sd only on record but the brain was rd. just for your information, i may add here that teesri manzil was actually offered to dev anand and shankar jaikishen. for some strange reason, both refused and shammi and rd made history.
raju bharatan’s remarks that you quoted in your post should be understood in this context. you have hit the nail on the head when you say that in the 70s, sd was pancham’s only competitor. had it not been for sd’s poor health, the story would have been just what it always was — sd his baap in every respect.
Post 27: L.P team post the period of shankar-jaikishan were the no.one music composers. This musical duo gave great competition to composers from 1968 onwards. they never did leave mohd rafi in the seventies when there was a sudden drought of rafi songs. they experimented with every other singer and lata m. supported l & P to the hilt as she saw this duo emerging as the numero uno composers. this duo changed their comosing styles – every five years and remained ahead of the competition. all the s.j. producers by and large were with l.p. now. rdb’s ploy of using asha & kishore more or less back fired resulting in series of flops after flops – for r.d.b. but, l.p. experimented with many singers in the seventies and gave great hits with most of them. l and p remains the underrated composers but have great hits in their names in every decade. like s and j and k & a, there was a split between the duo in the eighties. the reason was again lata m. vs anuradha poduwal . with lata m. on tour for three months or more they used the voices of kavita and alka yagnik which the nightingale never relished. slowly, the music companies brought on new composers and the duo of l and p went in to the shadows after three decades of a illuminated career in h.f.m. more, laxmikant considered jai kishan his hero and imitated him in many respects. if jaikishan went down with liver cirrhosis (due to excessive drinking) laxmikant was lost due to his pan chewing habit. both had “great charisma” and their contribution to indian music along with their better halves shankar and Pyarelal on the other side can never be erased.
binu nair, mumbai rafi foundation……… cell 9833 250 701
Raju Korti sir:
Thank you so much for all the informative posts.
Haldar sir:
I too (like XXXji) am of the opinion that LP were either neck-n-neck or slightly ahead of RDB in the early ’70s. However I’ve based my opinion purely on stats (the no. of popular songs, mainly). Please tell us how the things actually were in that eventful period. Was the RDB tide sweeping away everything on its path? Were the LP songs that we (relatively) young people consider as big hits (Bobby, Aan milo sajna, mehboob ki mehndi, haathi mere saathi, loafer etc.) not really such big hits after all?
Mykji:
I’m afraid I’ve to disagree with you slightly with “Rafi was not only an integral part of Pancham’s storm arrival, but also his success, and greatest songs/creations throughout his career”. IMHO, RDB used Rafisahab when he had to and not when he willed to.
The SDB-Rafisahab relationship is a perplexing one (to me). It is almost as if the father had completely moved away from the source which was pivotal in his rise to the fore-front, once he established himself firmly.
This is in reply to the posts of Mr. P. Halder and Raju Korti. In the discussion relating to domination of Composers in the 70s, one name has been forgotten altogether, that is Laxmikant Pyarellal. In fact, they just got spread over bollywood the way fragrance gets spread in the atmosphere. They in fact continued the battle after the death of Jaikishan in 1971, from where SJ left. They bagged all the big banners including Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, Subhash Ghai, to name a few. They got the fimfare award for best composer one after the other in Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Sargam, Karz, etc, from 1977 to 1980. If anyone had brought Rafi back in his old role of domination then it was LP, giving full respect to Madanmohan, KA, and others, as they gave music in less number of films.
LP did not stop over there. After the death of Rafi, they went forward to create other singers who could follow the footsteps of Rafi including Shabbir Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, etc. If RD Burman faced the greatest competition in the 70s, they faced it from LP, not SD Burman.
Souvik Chatterji.
Mubarak Begum to give away Rafi awards
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 27
Yaadgar-e-Rafi Society will hold its annual programme Rafi nite on December 20 at Tagore Theatre. Mubarak Begum, a noted playback and ghazal singer, will be the chief guest of the nite. She will give away the awards to the winner of the contest held in July this year.
She is popularly known by the songs like “Kabhi tanhainyon mein hamari yaad aeyegiâ€, “Mujhko apne gale laga lo ai mere hamrahiâ€, “Jab ishq kahin ho jata hai†and many more. She will also give performance in this function.
Nearly 40 male and female singers from different states will sing melodious songs in the nite.
Last year a popular playback singer Suman Kalyanpur was the chief guest.
Re to p 24 of mr.Haldar,
please do include l-p also in the real competitors list of Pancham, L-P really created a great great music from 1963-73,also in 70s they were commercially more successful than pancham as Mr.myk pointed out some time earlier.
as for quality, let’s not forget that madan mohan ruled this department from 1970 -76(closely followed by Burmans),in quality he even surpassed the giant sd burman in that period,who used to be ahead of mm in the previous two decades–in quality:
On the ending note,here goes a sample of 10 songs by mm from that period, undoubtedly the best songs from 1970-76:
1.Baiyan na dharo, o balma
2.Tumse kahun ek baat paron si
3.Tum jo mil gaye ho
4.Ye dunia, Ye mehfil
5.Rasme ulfat ko nibhaye
6.More naina bahaye neer
7.Tum bin jeevan kaisa jeevan
8.Barbad-e-mohabbat ki dua
9.Dil dhoondta hai fir wahin fursat ke raat din
10.meri dunia mein tum aayi ..
DEAR RAJU KORTI SAHAB (POST-13)
WHILE I WAS WRITING MY COMMENTS (REF:POST-14) ,YOUR COMMENTS DIDN’T APPEAR THEN. WHEN I SAW YOUR COMMENTS , I WAS HAPPY TO NOTE THAT YOU TOO HAVE HIGHLIGHTED THE SOLO SONG -” MERI NIGHAON NE KAAM LAJAWAB KIYA… FROM THE FILM-‘MOHABBAT ISKO KEHTEN HAI ‘. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TRACK IT IS !
IN VIEW OF THE TOPIC OF THE ARTICLE, I AM MENTIONING HERE ALSO SOME PRIVATE ALBUM GHAZALS OF RAFI SAHAB WITH MUSIC BY KHAIYYAAM SAHAB :
1) ” MERI MOHABBAT QABOOL KARLO…..”
2) ” YE NA THI HAMARI KISMAT….”
3) ” GHAZAB KIYA TERE WADE PE….”
4) ” DARD MINNAT KASHE…..”
5) ” SHOUK HAR RANG…..”
6) ” POOCHH NA MUJH SE DIL KE FASANE….”
SECONDLY, I AM THANKING YOU AND HALDER BABU AS WELL- FOR POSTING SO MANY INFORMATIVE, INTERESTING & VERY ENJOYABLE COMMENTS !!!
BEST REGARDS/A.T.M. SALIM
Haldar-ji,
Looking forward to your post on the strategies that father and son adopted in the 70’s.
What is interesting is that if we take the period 1970-75 (where SD was alive and active), we see that Pancham used Rafi-saab much more than Dada Burman.
The SD-Rafi films in that period are IPZN, Prem Pujari, Gambler, Anuraag, Abhimaan, Us Paar and Chupke Chupke. Out of these, Rafi scored a sixer with “Mera man tera pyaasa” and “Teri bindiya re”.
Move on to Junior Burman and we have, just to name a few, The Train, Raton Ka Raja, Caravan, Pyar Ki Kahani, Mela, YKB, Humshakal, Benaam etc. Rafi scored sixers in all these films and more. Rafi was not only an integral part of Pancham’s storm arrival, but also his success, and greatest songs/creations throughout his career.
Can you please elaborate on SD’s and RD’s usage of Rafi during that 1970-75 period.
If Jai was alive, S-J would still have remained on the top, no doubt about that.
ref post 23:
mr. korti, enjoyed every word of your post. Any tidbits about these musical giants are more interesting to me than any masala film. By the way, have you started writing the book? Please do, otherwise the following generations will not know anything about the giants of those times, except for watching “resurrection” shows.
I agree with you that in the 70s every composer, big or small, was caught in the headwinds of a storm called pancham. But sd held his own against the threat. (Madan Mohan’s music quality never suffered, whether it was sj, op, sd or rd ruling the air waves, but he was never in the commercial rat race.) In the first half of the 70s, I consider sd to be pancham’s only real competitor. Had jai been alive, I believe it’d have been a three-way race between sj-sd-rd, and what a treat it would have been for fans like us. There was a time when raju bharatan used to make a lot of sense, and I’m providing below a paragraph of his that I’ve read over and over again:
“Both composing and singing now became more freewheeling, on the hero, in Hindustani cinema, so that, while Rafi remained the bastion of tradition, Kishore became the harbinger of change — as father and son, SD and RD, metamorphosed the sound of music at the turn of the Seventies. ”
In the next post, I’ll talk about the strategies that father and son had adopted; let’s see if you agree with me.
ref post 18
mr haldar thanks for refreshing the memories of the shamji ghanshamji duet where rafisaab sang with his stylish gusto. i remember this song had become almost a daily feature with vividh bharti and the all india radio (urdu service). the composing duo had approached rafisaab on the basis of the magnanimity he had shown for them with the thokar song “apni aaknon me basakar..”. and the singer that he was, it mattered least to our hero that his co-singer was a nobody called krishna kalle. incidentally, most of these small-time composers were swept away, as among some big-time composers in the wake of a storm called rd burman. at this juncture, let me add that one of the reasons why rdb made such a stormy inroad from the beginning of the seventies was a whole lot of newer, younger generation was being fed on his revolutionary style that had innovative use of instruments. shamji ghanshamji could have no way survived this onslaught.
as for sahir’s personal life, i must be honest in admitting that i don’t know much. in 1978, i had a chance meeting with the writer who never hid his socialist-leftist leanings and in fact, injected them so richly in his poetry. i was, as was the case with many others, in the awe of him. it was a fleeting meeting that lasted hardly 15 minutes where he explained his commitment to movements like the ipta (india people’s theatre association). it was late manmohan krishna and ak hangal — his co-activists in the movement — who jovially provided me with tidbits of his personal life.
though born to a rich father, he had to face a lot of financial deprivation in his younger days, thanks to the irreconcilable differences between his parents.
he was expelled from the college as he was found cosying up with a female student on the college lawns. it was around this time that amrita pritam fell for him. she made no bones about her love for him and said as such in very many words through her impressive essays and writings. it was also the time when sahir’s flair and brilliance was being noticed even by the intelligentsia.
unconfirmed story had it that sahir was expelled from the college at the behest of amrita’s father who frowned upon their “relationship” because of the religion divide and his “modest” economic background.
a bitter sahir then came out with his collection of poems “talkhiyaan” that won critical acclaim. from then onwards, he got sucked into communit movements. his inflammatory writings resulted in his arrest in (now) pakistan. sometime in late 1949, sahir managed to flee and decided to come to mumbai (then bombay). his earliest friends then included gulzaar. it was with guru dutt and sd burman that he struck a purple patch. unfortunately, pyaasa brought about a divide between burman dada and sahir. dada was sour that sahir walked away with all the acclaim when the fact was his own work won no less appreciation. in the later stages, sahir stuck around with yash chopra. he died barely three months after rafisaab left for his heavenly abode. incidentally, the period between july and october seems jinxed for most notable personalities associated with music.
as for mds’ wives. i know for a fact that ira roshan played a significant role in her husband’s career. but as far as my knowledge goes, meera burman played a far bigger role in boosting dada’s career. though there is no official word, informed sources told me that many tunes that went to dada’s credit officially were actually meera’s brainchild. i had the misfortune of seeing meera burman when she was lodged in a destitute house in mumbai, utterly lost and forlorn after rdb passed away.
we all know how a female singer knocked the hyphen out of shankar-jaikishen, thanks to the former’s insistence. jai knew the arrangement wouldn’t work and he was proved right. the singer faded into oblivion after delivering a handful of hits. not much is known about op’s life except that he was estranged with his wife and left everything, including his decent house in mumbai’s prime churchgate. he wasn’t the kind of man who would brook any interference in his affairs — both personal and professional. khayyam married jagjit kaur and that was that. the only twist in the tale was provided by late anil biswas who indeed harboured the impression that meena kapoor would be the next nightingale. but the composer, who made those famously uncharitable remarks about rafi, had to hit a discordant note with meena kapoor disappearing fast.
In reply to Mr. Halder’s post, there is no doubt that private albums of legends are richer than film songs. I do agree with you that Rafi’s bhajans composed by Khayyam are masterpieces. If you keep information on bengali modern songs of 50s, 60s you will know for yourself that Manobendro Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra, Satinath Mukherjee, Akhilbandhu Ghosh, Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya, etc., were big names in the world of modern songs and some of their basic discs are masterpieces, yet the bengali film songs were only restricted to the songs of Hemant Kumar and Sandhya Mukherjee till mid-60s, as their voices suited Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen.
Rafi is too big a name to have an influence of any bollywood actor to create the market for his quality song, but dont think that bollywood films did not matter for quality composers. Naushad made Bade Ghulam Ali Khan sing a thumri, in the film Mughal – i -azam, it was heard by even those sections of the audience who are not musical experts, where the box-office presence of Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Naushad, all worked together. Shankar Jaikishan made Bhimsen Joshi sing a pure classical song in the film Basant Bahar, where the box-office of Bharat Bhushan, Shankar Jaikishan and Bhimsen Joshi were at issue.
In fact the music of films of 50s, 60s, were of very high standard and film music mattered to legendary composers like Naushad, Madanmohan, Roshan, etc. The moment the standard was lost in the 70s, the question of quality musicians creating their work in private albums was in question.
If composers like Khayyam wanted to create private album on mujras, he would not have composed music for the film Umrao Jaan. If films never meant anything to Naushad, he could have created a private album with Rafi and never required to create ghazals in the film Mere Mehboob.
The films of the 50s and 60s reached out the unique compositions of Naushad, Roshan, Madanmohan, Shankar Jaikishan, Khayyam, Jaidev, etc., mainly sung by Rafi and Lata to millions of music lovers across the world.
Some of the composers had box-office presence and big banners with them like Shankar Jaikishan and Naushad, while others like Jaidev and Khayyam had to restrict themselves to off-beat films ( which includes the reference of Raju Korti’s film Shagun where the main actor was Kanwaljeet).
Souvik Chatterji.
refer to post 17
thanks mr bhagchandani for making a mention of those non-filmi devotional numbers. they are absolutely stunning. these bhajans clearly establish rafisaab’s stamp of authority. the songs have no real orchestration to boast of. the entire weight of the song, the words and the devotional depth is carried so effortlessly by rafisaab on his powerful shoulders. these bhajans may be easy on the ears, but are tough to sing. to maintain the purity of “sur” where there is no back-up of instrumental music is no joke. the strains in the bhajans resonatingly convey the strength of bhakti ras. and mind you, we can’t lose sight of the fact (though that sounds a little cliched) that rafisaab wasn’t a Hindu. the late vasant desai rightly called him a “shaapit gandharva” (a cursed singer of the god who came to earth by mistake).
what doesn’t really stop amazing me is from amongst his thousands of songs, begum bilquis (rafisaab’s wife) chose shaam se neha lagae, paon paroon tore shyam and tere bharose he nandlala as the ones she liked most.
now isn’t there a big story here?
refer to post 16
haldarsaab is bang on target. remember, in khayyam’s lala rukh, it was talat mehmood who was the hero, but rafi walked away with all the honours with his feather-touch hai kali kali ke lab par. i remember rafisaab recalling that song as one of his best renditions.
i am quite impresed by that coinage: recency effect. its sums up beautifully the non-discernible listener who is so often amnesic that what lingers on his lips is relegated into pages of history in no time. but rafisaab’s songs are beyond any shelf life. haldarsaab was absolutely right when he said the maestro had made inroads into the psyche of britishers long before
sonu(ji!!!)’s parents had even thought of him.
i remember there were folklores about the dev anand’s eternally youthful looks. i will relate one of them at the height of the rajesh khanna wave. once dev and one of his sidekicks was supposed to be on way in a car when the latter sought dev’s attention to a big poster of rajesh khanna. “that man is the king today,” he told dev. upon this, our style icon angled his handsome head out of the car window, and looking non chalant said, “okay, we will talk about him after another 25 years.”
the recency effect is just what it is and what it means. it wears out in recency. singers will come and go, lightworms will come and glow. but the sun comes out everyday in full glory and shine to throw light around the entire world.
get what i mean?
Nice article, Sauvikji. Khayyam and Jaidev are two personal favourites and it really irks me that these two are not accorded the fame and respect they deserve.
Nice to see you back in action, Haldar sir. You are right when you said that Rafisahab should have focussed more on non-filmi songs with melody-based MDs when he realised that the play-back industry wouldn’t do justice to his great voice and singing. However, it seems he had a point to prove (rightly so) and as you rightly said his fans wouldn’t have allowed him to have his way, anyway.
ref post 13:
mr. korti, thanks for a fantastic post. Another khayyam composition that comes to mind is “ek dil ne kaha, ek dil ne soona”. In the 70s, shamji ghanshamji composed a real beauty for the film gaal gulabi nain sharabi: “meri hasraton ki duniya”. Someone should write about this song.
On a different note, let’s talk about Sahir, the common factor between khayyam and jaidev. What a towering personality he was! But what intrigues me most is that he could never marry the lady — that famous poetess — of his dreams. Contrast that with all the md’s who got such talented musical personalities as wives: roshan got ira moitra, SD got meera sen, anil b got meena kapoor and khayyam got jagjit kaur (corresponding to all four possible bengali-punjabi combinations). Even shankar and op got to spend so much time with their lovers. Do you have any insights into sahir’s personal life? Also, among the wives, who do you think was the most talented? An old friend of mine told me that anil b’s demise started when he thought meena kapoor was the next lata!
Everyone is forgetting Khayyam-Rafi combination’s non-filmi bhajans. They are simply superb, out of this world. ‘Tere Bharose he nandlala’, ‘Paaon padoon tore shaam’, ‘Shaam se nehaa lagaae’, ‘More shyaam, more shyaam, pal pal more mukh se nikle nis din tero naam’, ‘Suniyo arz hamaari, prabhuji’, ‘Mein gwaalo nandlalo maiya’ etc. are some of the finest bhajan’s one can ever hear. Only Rafi saab could have sung these gems.
dear souvik:
read mr. korti’s post carefully and see if you can recognise the name of the actor who sang “tum chali jaogi” on screen, let alone who his wife is. the point I am trying to make is that rafi doesn’t need a dev or dharmendra to sell his songs. He was india’s first and best acting singer; he made heroes out of zeroes. I’ll cite another khayyam composition to make the point; does anyone know who sang “hai kali kali ke lab par” on screen? There are many other examples that I can cite, but my most favourite one is naushad’s “suhani raat dhal chuki”. It’s been almost 60 years, but you can bet that even 60 years from now, music lovers would be listening to that song and saying “wah wah rafi saab”.
there is a term i had coined sometime back when some people tried to compare another famous singer with rafi saab; it is “recency effect”. Because of the popularity of big b, his fans keep listening to his songs, mostly sung by this singer. So let us wait for another 25 years — I might not be alive then — and see which songs have a shelf life of more than 50 years.
Post 7 – Binu Nair.
Tera Husn Rahe mera ishq rahe is a wonderful composition by Hemant Kumar from “Do Dil” Biswajit singing for Jaishree. Rafi Saheb’s voice suited Biswajeet a great deal. Unfortunately this actor could not reach top, but songs of his movies under OPN & SJ were super hits.
DEAR SOUVIKJI
THANKS FOR YOUR EXCELLENT ARTICLE !
ALMOST ALL ‘GEM’ SONGS OF JAIDEV/KHAYYAAM/RAFI SAHAB COMBINATION ARE MENTIONED BY YOU & OTHER RAFI FANS HERE.
I AM MENTIONING ONE SONG TOO :
” MERI NIGHAON NE KAM LAJAWAB KIYA….” ( FILM : MOHABBAT ISKO
KEHTE HAI; MUSIC BY KHAYYAM ).
IT’S A VERY SWEET & MELODIOUS SONG BY RAFI SAHAB UNDER KHAYYAMJI’S MUSIC DIRECTION.
BEST REGARDS/ A.T.M. SALIM.
dear haldar saheb
we have forgotten some beautiful compositions by jaidev and khayyam. please listen to that lilting ghazal from kinare kinare: teri tasveer bhi tujh jaisi haseen hai lekin. quite simply mesmerising.
If you allow me, let me make some observations on Khayyam.
I think we have missed a great “najm” that the almighty rafisaab sang for him in Shagun. now this sixties movie was not theme-based like s d burman’s pyaasa, kaaghaz ke phool or sj’s basant bahar. it boasted of an out and out obscure hero like kanwaljeet (whose only claim to public recognition was his marriage to waheeda rehman.) and although the song too looked out of place, rafi still made a tremendous impact. one can only listen in trance as his voice rises in crescendo in the dying moments of the song — yeh raat bahut rangeen sahi, is raat mein gham ka zeher bhi hai — and then scales down in the same intensity and “laya”. naushad once told me that in the higher pitch rafi could be as straight as an arrow. but in lower pitch? well of course, he still had no match. refer to you own jaane kya dhoondti hai from shola aur shabnam. if there ever was an artiste who could glide through any pitch with the same “laya”, and effortlessly at that, it had to be rafi hands down.
again in the same shagun, you had another rafi masterpiece in tum chali jaogi, parchhaiyyan reh jayyengi… The sublime mystic of this heavenly voice also had the lyrical back up of a giant like saahir.
one always unfailingly mention the rafi-suman duet thehriye hosh mein aa loon from mohobbat isko kehte hain. But hear out this rafi gem in meri nazar ne bhi kya kaam laajabab kiya from the same film. And to cop it all, it was picturised on our marathi manoos ramesh deo. Bring on any artiste on screen, rafi was unarguably the marvel behind it.
In raj kapoor’s sensitive and saahir’s socialistic phir subah hogi, mukesh may have been the “settled voice” of the hero. and yet, one cannot deny that rafi outclassed him hopelessly (as he always did) in jis pyaar mein yeh haal ho, us pyaar se tauba.
Shankar Hussain may have been forgotten for its cast, but let me open a chapter from the past. Khayyam was at his “pahaadi” best (forget o p nayyar’s pun on the word) in rafi’s vintage kahin ek maasum naazuk si ladki, although he had two lovely Lata solos (aap yun faaslon se gujarte rahen and apne aap raaton mein chilmanein tarasti hain) to compete with in the same film.
i do not want to deliver a harangue, but i feel that sometimes the best of compositions remain in the realms of the unknown simply because they get incommoded under the weight of the most popular numbers. or perhaps, we as listeners are not discerning and sharp enough to grasp their intricate beauty. i shall be happy if you bring out these fineprints.
so many composers– beginning with frontline greats like nayyar and second-line masters like ravi get branded as “types”. weren’t even greats like c ramchandra, madan mohan, s d burman, and shankar-jaikishen and naushad cast in a particular mould? I suppose each had a distinctive style of their own and fed us on some heady and wonderful music for decades until cacaphony took over in the late seventies.
The article written by Souvik is great, compliments to him, good information on Khayyam and Jaidev.
A great write-up as well by P. Haldar, a treat to read, and I do agree with your views, but we Rafians wanted him to do everything, churn out hit after hit in the commercial world, record private albums, tour the world and give amazing concerts, and so forth.
P. Haldar, since I am a RD-Rafi fan, I would like you to please elaborate more on the combo in the following RD-Rafi thread:
http://www.mohdrafi.com/meri-awaaz-suno/did-rdb-really-preferred-kk-over-rafi.html
I have posted some comments there, and would like you to please reply to them.
Please keep sending me all the info about Rafi saab as I too consider myself as his biggest fan ever.
Please think…..
we cant ask Lataji to sing disco barring a very few exceptions, we cant ask Ashaji, Kishorda to sing bhajans again barring few exceptions ( with Ashaji ). But ask Rafi saab to sing anything on this earth and you will see why he is according to me the best and the greatest playback singer of all time.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot Mr. Halder about reminding the fact about the private albums of Rafi and Jaidev which were even richer than the film songs. I actually refer about the film songs for the reason that they appeal to the masses even more as more people watch bollywood films for decades. Just because composers like Naushad, Jaidev, Madanmohan, Roshan, Khayyam were extremely respected by the film makers and the viewers, their compositions for Rafi became superhit and the quality songs addressed not only to the musical analysts but also the common man. Naushad’s creation for Rafi “madhuban me radhika” being totally classical was very popular in the 60s due to sheer popularity of Dilip Kumar. Roshan’s creation for Rafi like “jo wada kiya ho” in Taj Mahal became super hit with the enhanced fanbase of Pradeep Kumar. Jaidev’s song “abhi na jao chor kar” became big hit as Dev Anand’s popularity carried it with him. My point is these legendary composers did quality experiments with Rafi and even educated the viewers with classical ragas, bhajans, etc. They were bold, courageous and learned at the same time.
I appreciate the comments of Mr. Shashank Chickermane for his balanced views. He had never shown any biasness on any of the celebrities and the comments echoed his respect for Mohammad Rafi. I owe my gratitude to all the learned contributors of mohd. rafi forum as I have learned and unlearned a lot from them.
Souvik Chatterji
If I am not wrong Khayyam ji used mohd Rafi for Non-Filmi Ghazals from any other MD….
when ever I listen to song “kahin ek masum nazuk si ladki” I feel how great use of mohd Rafi by khayyam ji…..
dear RAFI SAAHEB lovers : please listen to the song ” tera hussna rahe, tera ishq rahe , to ” : its a slightly different mohd rafi crooning the delightful song. could someone throw more light on this enchanting number please?
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let me remind all music lovers that we are having the “inauguration” of pune rafi foundation on Nov.30 at the s.m.joshi hall at 7.30 p.m. please attend the inauguration by shri enoc daniel the distinguished hfm musician and piano artist of rare repute.
it will be followed by a musical evening and the singers of rafi gems are : kakaji, kumar, jannavi,dr.arjun gopinath with others.
please contact mr.venu nambiar for invitation and more details.
pune rafi lovers to note and attend
Cell : 9822332009
binus2000@hotmail.com, cell : 9833 250 701
dear souvik,
you have highlighted the contributions of two outstanding composers. along with madanmohan, these two composers provided some of the highest-quality music throughout their careers, though the volume of their output was low. I’m going to make a comment for which I might get a lot of flak, but I’ll make it anyway. I wish rafi saab had quit the rat race in the 70s singing for the mean and selfish producers, and focused instead on producing private albums composed by the likes of madan mohan, khayyam and jaidev. Even in the 70s, if you have to select his top five film songs, you must consider madan mohan’s “tum jo mil gaye ho” and khayyam’s “kahin ek masum nazuk si ladki” (which you forgot to mention).
You have identified some great rafi-khayyam songs from films. But no discussion of this combo is complete without mention of the private songs they have produced together. Two of the greatest bhajans, “tere bharose hey nandalala” and “paon padu tore shyam”, were their creation. According to a recent interview with khayyam, rafi saab himself had given a set of base tunes to khayyam and requested him to compose the bhajans. The other album, which surprisingly very few rafians talk about, consisted of several ghalib ghazals composed by khayyam. Here are a couple of songs from that album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c213rkrQfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNCfYPF3grQ
Listen to these ghazals and you’ll forget the same man used to sing filmy songs. If I remember correctly, along with this album, khayyam produced another ghalib album with none other than the queen of ghazals, begum akhtar.
I cannot be fully sure of rafi saab’s inner desires in the 70s, but a singer of his class would have definitely known that the golden era of playback singing was slowly coming to an end. begum bilquis rafi sahiba had once said that she liked his private songs better. But in a way we rafians (rhymes with “ruffians”) are to blame; we wouldn’t let him quit the commercial film world. No matter what, we wanted him to churn out hit after hit, forgetting that if he had worked with quality composers like madan mohan, khayyam and jaidev in the 70s, those compositions would have lasted for an eternity.
Respected Khaja Aliuddin Sahab, abbas sadik masanvi sahab, and other respected readers of the Forum. Whenever I have heard Rafi’s songs like “abhi na jao chor kar”, “mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya”, “kabhi khud pe”, etc., composed by Jaidev, I get lost myself, I feel Rafi had almost reached use to Heaven. I dont have any alfaz to express them. I just share what I felt for the farishta to all the other Rafi lovers. Everyone loves him and with our discussions I feel the respect for Rafi just increases and increases. Please continue to comment in the site. They are rich and educative.
Souvik Chatterji.
Fantastic and superb article souvikji, very informative article u have given us. My favourite songs is “parbaton ke paron par sham ka basera hai†by Rafi-Suman, “jeet hi lenge bazzi hum tum“ by Rafi-Lata & “Simti huvi ye gadiya” by Rafi-lata in Khayyam’s composition. The way u have described 2 music directors with rafis relationship is really fantastic. Yes, “Kabhi khud pe kabhi halat pe rona aaya” is the song which is very near to my heart, composed by Jaidevji. Really grt8 music director he was and gave most memorable songs in rafis voice. Souvik keep it up!
shashank chickermane
janab souvik sahab,
thanks for giving such information about rafi sahab my dream.i think i am the biggest fan of rafi sahab in the world.and i have thousands songs of rafi sahab.
Janab Souvik Chatterji Sahab,
Very informative and an excellant writing. Comgratulations.
I am writing one Sahir’s sher, which fits perfect on you. Your knowledge is like an ocean. Keep up the good work on Rafi Sahab.
“duniya ne tajrubath hawadis ki shakal me
jo kuch mujhe diya hai woh lauta raha hun mai”
With regards to all Rafi lovers,
Long live Rafi Sahab,
Khaja Aliuddin, MD
Chicago
Jaidev and Rafi combination also gave the following wonderful songs.
1. Ab Koi Gulshan Na Ujade – Muzhe Jeene Do.
2. Hamare Dilko Tumne Dil Bana Diya – with Asha in Alingan.
3. Is Tarah Jao Nahin Jao Nahin – Alingan.
We also cannot forget the following Jaidev compositions.
1. Prabhu Tero Naam – Lata in Hum Dono.
2. Allah Tero Naam – Lata in Hum Dono.
3. Yeh Dil Aur Unki.
4. Tere Bachpan Ko Jawani Ki Dua Deti Hai – Lata in Muzhe Jene Do.
5. Tu Chanda Mai Chandani – Lata in Reshma Aur Shera.
5. Raat Bhi Hai Kuch Bheegi Bheegi – Lata in Muzhe Jeene Do.