Legendary singer, Mohommad Rafi, honored with commemorative stamp
After much afterthought, the Government has finally taken the move to release the commemorative stamps to honour the great four legendary singers of Hindi Film music. The efforts of Mr.Rajeev Shrivastava have finally yielded fruits and we owe our thanks to him for this. Along with Mohommad Rafi, the other three legendary singers, Kishore Kumar, […]
After much afterthought, the Government has finally taken the move to release the commemorative stamps to honour the great four legendary singers of Hindi Film music. The efforts of Mr.Rajeev Shrivastava have finally yielded fruits and we owe our thanks to him for this. Along with Mohommad Rafi, the other three legendary singers, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and singer-composer, Hemant Kumar have been honoured.
The stamps were issued on May 15 at a show organized by Swar Sansar, at Siri Fort auditorium, New Delhi. The stamps were released by Padma Balasubramaniam, Secretary in the department of posts of the communication and information technology ministry.
In addition to family members of these honored singers, this show was attended by well known legendary celebrities and yesteryear playback singers including legendary 83 years old Mannadey, who was honoured with a special award by Swar Sansar and officebearers of Y.K Gaiha and well known author Rajeev Srivastava. The family members of these singers included Mukesh’s son and singer Nitin Mukesh, Kishore’s wife Leena Chandavarkar and her son Sumit, Mohommad Rafi’s daughter-in-law Firdaur Shahid Rafi, grand son Fuzail Rafi and Hemant Kumar’s son Jayanta Mukherjee and wife Moushami Chatterjee.
Other celebrities included Udit Narayan along with wife, Deepa and son, Aditya. The veteran voice of radio, Ameen Sayani, senior writer, Kaleshwar and former cricketer, BS Chandrashekar with wife, Sandhya Chandrasekhar.
The special stamps, each costing Rs five with an additional Rs two each for first day covers, are available at all General Post Offices. A set of all the four stamps costs Rs 20. The Miniature sheet has been priced at Rs 20 each.
Mannadey remembers, Rafi as the most versatile singer of all time, and recalled the mischievous nature of Kishore Kumar. Nitin confessed that his father was a big fan of Mohammed Rafi. He thanked God that his father is still alive through his music even after 28 years of his demise. Jayanta Mukherjee, Moushumi Chatterjee, and Firdaus Shahid Rafi also spoke on the occasion.
Udit Narayan paid his tribute by rendering some lines from the songs of each of the singers who had been honoured :
- Phoolon Ki Rani
- Suhani Chandni Raaten
- Zindagi Ka Safar
- Bekaraar Karke Hamen
Vikas Khanna of Toronto who presented the voice of Rafi in a manner that left many eyes moist.
The last song of the show was Mukesh’s Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan, sung by collective voices of Rajesh Zaveri, Mukesh Khanna, YK Gaiha, Udit Narayan and Nitin Mukesh.
Please contribute pictures, if any, related to this show, so that we can display it on this page for all Rafians to view.
– mohdrafi.com
What a shame who so ever has put up / uploaded this article on the net. It can’t be Rajeev Shrivastava as he knows the truth as to who did this show at Siri Fort. Artistes Benevolent Guild of India Trust did this show together with Swar Sansar run by the then IT commissioner Y K Gaiha. These people came to my residence to rehearse …. I had represented Hemant Kumar by singing Suraj re jalte rehna besides Lata /Hemant duet Vande Maataram from Anand Math alongwith Mohana of Bangladesh; the 3rd song by Indraneel Mukherjee was the song from Devar by Mukesh ” Guzraa zamaana bachpan ka aaya hai mujhay phir yaad woh zalim” Mukesh ‘s 2nd son had tears in his eyes and said …. Main chaunk uttha … lagaa yeh Paapa kahaan se aa gaye dobaaraa !! Nitin Mukesh bhai was taken aback by his own brother paying such a compliment !! So much the correction of this article as this was the true fact about the show which was a good show of ours !
It is a great to learn that postage stamp is released in the name of Mohd Raffi sahab. Any honor is really a small in view of the legendary singer.
Sure a great & legendary dies, but alives in their voices/songs thousand years to come. It is a great pleasure to the inidan government honoring these legendary singers with commemorative stamps…
Great work Sir by publishing the postal stamps that were released by the Dept of Posts. I had not known this earlier and by just casual surfing through the old write ups, i came across this one. It is information that many should know and I will mail to others to visit the page.
Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.