Mohammed Rafi – Dilip Kumar – Naushad & Shakeel Badayuni = Combination Par Excellence & the Greatest Ever
By Mr D.P.BIJOOR & Mr MILIND BIJOOR
Mohd Rafi and Naushad Ali
In the year 1967 when the Colossal & Classic film Ram Aur Shyam was released, I was at my tender age of 10 and considered myself fortunate enough to witness the sheer magic of Dilip saab. The scene which really captured my mind and of course the minds of millions of fans was the song “Aaaj kee raat mere dil kee salami lele kal tere badmase diwana chala jayega shamma rahe jayegi parwana chala jaega” enacted by Dilip saab with great ease and confidence. A film I cherish all my life.
No doubt it was the sheer magic of Dilip Saab. But no less was the contribution of the other three great maestros Rafi Saab, Naushad Saab & Shakeel Baduyuni Saab. Their contribution, though not visible to the eyes, can be noticed whenever this great evergreen hit is played or heard. It sounds like pure magic pouring out and which has mesmerized millions of music lovers till date across the world. And will continue to do so for the next generation too. Truly a terrific combination of the greatest artists & performers which the film industry has ever seen
We are all aware that the great singers like Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor have all sung great songs under the baton of Naushad saab. But in how many films? Mukesh sang for films Anokhee Ada, Mela, Andaz, Sathi, Talat Mahmood for Babul, Aadmi & Love & God, Manna Dey for Mother India, Shabab & Love & God, Mahendra Kapoor for Sohoni Mahiwal & Aadmi & Hemant Kumar for solo song in Ganga-Jamuna & a duet with Lata Mangeshkar for the film Shabab. The list is not that exhaustive.
But with our beloved Mohammed Rafi Sahab, the entire picture changes. He has sung with his magical, honeyed, soothing voice for almost 41 films comprising approximately 149 songs under the music baton of Naushad saab.
DILIP KUMAR THE TRUE THESPIAN
Dilip Kumar alias Yususf Khan who was born on 11th December 1922 at Peshawar is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors the Indian Screen has ever produced. He started his film career in the year 1944 with the film “Jwar Bhata” and almost retired in the year 1998 with the film “Qila”
A flourishing career spanning almost 54 long years he was associated in almost 62 films and in the vicinity having won 8 Filmfare Awards for his excellence coupled with 19 nominations to his credit. He still holds the unique record of winning the coveted Filmfare trophy for the most times in the best actor category i.e. 8 times which comprises almost 13% as compared to his total films and 19 nominations which comprises almost 31%. Indeed an incredible & unbreakable average/percentage of all times.
Awards:
8 Filmfare Awards
- Daag in the year 1954
- Azaad in the year 1956
- Devdas in the year 1957
- Naya Daur in the year 1958
- Kohinoor in the year 1961
- Leader in the year 1965
- Ram aur Shyam in the year 1968
- Shakti in the year 1983
Other Posts & Awards
- Sheriff of Mumbai in the year 1980
- Padma Bhushan in the year 1991
- Filmfare Life-Time Achievement in the year 1993
- Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the year 1994
- NTR National Award in the year 1997
- Nishan-e-Pakistan in the year 1997
- CNN-IBN Indian of the year – Lifetime Achievement Award in the year 2009
SHAKEEL BADAYUNI THE TRUE CURATOR
Shakeel Badayuni was born on 3rd August 1916 at Badayun, Uttar Pradesh. His inclination towards poetry was not hereditary like the other shayars. Since one of his distant relative Zia-Ul-Qadiri Badayun was a religious shayar, Shakeel was influenced by him and the contemporary environment of Badayun led him to Sher-o-Shayari.
Shakeel Sahab had an altogether different taste – his poetry was more often not romantic and close to heart. He always used to say:
“Main Shakeel Dil Ka Hoon Tarjuma
Keh Mohabbaton Ka Hoon Raazdaan
Mujhe Fakr Hai Meri Shayari
Meri Zindagi Se Juda Nahin”
His first film was “Dard” with Naushad in the year 1947 produced by A.R.Kardar and the songs of this film proved to be very successfully especially the song sung by Uma Devi (Tun Tun) and the words were “Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon”
Only few are so lucky that they attain success in their very first film but Shakeel Sahab deserved success which started with Dard and thereafter continued on over for several years.
3 Filmfare Awards
- 1961 – Chaudhvin Ka Chand – Ravi
- 1962 – Gharana – Ravi
- 1963 – Bees Saal Baad – Hemant Kumar
Shakeel Sahab penned numbers for almost 89 films approximately and in addition wrote many popular ghazals which are still popular. He shared a very close friendship with Naushad, Ravi and Ghulam Mohammed. Shakeel Badayuni ultimately succumbed to chronic Diabetes complications at the age of 53 years on 20th April 1970.
RAFI & NAUSHAD THE SUPERLATIVES
In the year 1944 with the film Pahele Aap and with the song “Hindusthan ke hum Hindusthan hamara” was the first hindi song of Rafi Sahab with Naushad. But before this song under the music supervision of Shyam Sunder Rafi had sung “Ajee dil ho kabu mein tho dildarki ho aaisee taisee” from the film Gaon Kee Goree and in fact this song was actually recorded before the song from Pahele Aap but since Gaon Kee Goree was released later in the year 1945 it was considered that the song from Pahele Aap was Rafi Sahab’s first ever hindi film song.
In the same film “Pehele Aap” the other couple of songs which Rafi Sahab sang were “Tum Delhi mein aagaye mere dil se nikale hai” and “Bekhabar jag jara, kiskee aulad hai”. In all these 3 songs Shyamkumar the then actor/singer of those times had also lent his voice.
Mohd Rafi and Naushad Ali
After “Pehele Aap” Naushad & Rafi came together in the titan film “Anmol Ghadi” (1946) with the master-piece rendition “Tera Khilona toota balak tera khilona toota” which can be considered as Rafi Sahab’s first solo song under the music supervision of Naushad. In the year 1948 with the film “Mela” the superlative composition “Ye zindagee ke mele duniya mein kam na honge afsos hum na honge” and in the year 1949 with the 3 films namely “Chandni Raat”, “Dillagi” and “Dulari” where Rafi Sahab was on the platform singing for the heroes of these films. In the first 2 films namely Chandni Raat & Dillagi the hero was Shyamkumar whereas in the third film Dulari the hero was Suresh. Who on earth can ever forget the great songs “Dil ho unhe mubarak jo dilko dhundthe hai” from Chandni Raat and “Tere kuche mein armanonkee duniya leke aaya hoon” and “Iss duniya mein dilwalon dil ka lagan khel nahee” from the film Dillagi and the superlative song “Suhani Raat dhal chukee na jane tum kab aaogee” from the film Dulari.
It was in the year 1947 that Rafi Sahab started singing for the Thespian Dilip Kumar in the film “Jugnu”, followed by “Shahid” with music by Gulam Haider and “Nadiya ke Paar” with music by C Ramchandra. However the actual start of this greatest combination started with the gigantic film “Deedar” in the year 1951 and thereafter the voice of Rafi Saab automatically became the voice of the Tragedy King Dilip Kumar. Who can ever forget the great and unforgettable melodies from the sheer voice of Rafi Sahab and the melodramatic role enacted by Dilip Kumar from the film Deedar? “Meree kahani bhulne wale tera jahan aabad rahe”
After the stupendous success of Deedar it was Mehboob Khan’s “Aan” in the year 1952 and what great songs the film carried. “Muhobbat chume jinke haath jawani paon pade din raat”, “Dil mein chupake pyaar ka toofan le chale hum aaj apne maut ka samaan le chale”, “Maan mera ehsan arre nadan ke maine tujhase kiya hai pyaar” and “Dil ko huwa tumse Pyaar”
In the year 1955 it was another milestone “Udan Khatola” produced by Naushad himself. (The other 2 films which were produced by Naushad were “Babul” (1950) and “Maalik” 1958 with music score by Ghulam Mohammed). The super hit renditions were “Muhobbat ke rahonpe chalna sambhal ke yahan jo bhee aaya gaya haath malke”, “Oh dhoor ke musafir humko bhee saath le le re hum rahe gaye akele” and “Na toofanse khelo na saahil se khelo mere paas aawo mere dil se khelo”.
Dawn the year 1960 and it was “Kohinoor” with superlative compositions by Naushad Miya and to be precise a few of the songs were “Madhuban mein radhika nache re giridhar kee muraliya beje re”, “Do sitaronka zameen par hai Milan aaj kee raat sari duniya najar aati hai dulhan aaj kee raat” and “Koyee pyaar kare pankha pasare jara mankee kiwadiya khol saaiyan tore aage khade”
The year 1961 brought forth a colossal film by Dilip Kumar himself in the sheer form of “Gunga Jamuna” and the song “Nain lada gayeen hai manawama khatak hoyee bekaree” became a stupendous hit. Rise the year 1964 and it was yet another gem in the form of “Leader” in which the songs were super duper hits for e.g. “Apnee azadi ko hum hargiz mita sakhte nahee”, “Hamee se mohabbat hamee se ladayee arre maar dala duhayee duhayee” and “Mujhe duniya walon sharabi na samjho main pita nahi pilayee gayee hai”
“Dil Diya Dard Liya” was yet another milestone when it came to the melodies in the film concerned. “Dilruba maine tere pyaar mein kya kya na kiya”, “Gujare hai aaj ishka mein hum uss makam se”, Koyee sagar dil ko behelata nahin”. Dawn the year 1967 and it was the fluent classic namely “Ram Aur Shyam” in totality my own base film. The songs in this film were terrific “Ayee hai baharen mite julma sitam”, “Aaj kee raat mere dil kee salami le le”
The year 1968 brought 2 great films namely “Aadmi” and “Sanghursh” and the compositions were superlative: “Na Aadmi ka koyee bharosa na dosti ka koyee tikhana”, “Aaj puranee rahonse koyee mujhe awaz na de” and “Main tootee huwee ek naiyya hoon mujhe chahe jidar le jawo” from the film Aadmi.
“Jab dil se dil takarata hai”, “Mere paironme ghungroo pehena de tho phir meree chala dekh le” and “Ishka diwana husnbhi ghayal” from the film Sanghursh
Starting in the year 1948 from the film Mela to Andaz, Babul, Deedar, Aan, Amar, Kohinoor, Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jamuna, Leader, Dil Diya Dard Liya, Ram Aur Shyam, Aadmi and Sanghursh etc were Dilip Kumar films with music by Naushad. In almost all these films Rafi’s voice was definitely there but in Mela, Babul, Andaz, Amar & Mughal-e-Azam it was not picturized on Dilip Kumar. In Mela & Andaz Mukesh had sung for Dilip Kumar, whereas in Babul it was Talat Mehmood. In Mughal-e-Azam the song “Zindabad Zindabad” was picturized on the character artiste M Kumar whereas the song “Insaaf ka Mandir hai ye Bhagwan ka ghara hai” was a background score. Similarly in the film Babul Talat Mehmood sang “Chod Babul Ka Ghar” initially and immediately thereafter the death scene of Nargis the lovely & soothing aalap was sung by Rafi Saab.
It was from the year 1951 to 1968 between these 17 long years the master blaster Naushad Miya never ever thought of utilizing any other voice than that of Rafi Sahab exclusively for the Thespian Dilip Kumar with enjoyable and evergreen lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.
“Shakeel Badayuni would dearly pen down the great notations/words in the form of sheer lyrics, Naushad would beautifully weave these golden words/lyrics into immortal compositions, Mohammed Rafi would at his ease & ever best recite the compositions in his incomparable velvet touch of class and Dilip Kumar would create magic of these renditions on the silver screen/celluloid with great ease”
The combination has bagged total 18 Filmfare Awards with Dilip Kumar winning the highest 8 awards followed by Rafi Sahab with 6 awards, Naushad with solo 1 award for “Baiju Bawra” and Shekeel Badayuni claiming 3 awards.
Friends I for one always consider myself to be an ordinary mortal who can never ever visualize the unforgettable & tremendous contribution put forth by each one of these immortal legends and probably YES may be the actual reason as to why I consider this combination as the Greatest Greatest Ever!!!
Respected sir /
I want to know that dilip kumar and rafi shaheb both are greatest in their fields and I donot want to make any competition between them but one question always make me in dilemma that both these are great and have different field but we can know that who had more fans in the world Dilip kumar shaheb or Rafi shaheb .. many says that both these have equal personality but my mind says that Mohammed Rafi shaheb was more talented.
here I want to know that who had more fans in india and foreign countries also. Thankyou
Truly, there was an era where Dilip, Naushad & Shakeel were ruling the hearts of millions. I also respect similar groups who have rendered matchless services during the golden period of Hindi film music. But Naushad did popularized the classical Indian music in his own style; rather matchless. Simultaneously I pay respect to Rajkapoor, Devanand and Gurudat and their music directors and song writers.
post 113
binu ji
it is well known that royalty share was his for the taking if he had agreed with the lata proposal. also he never tried to sideline his mds for the rafi concerts which were otherwise solely based on his popularity. other singers moved with their own orchestra.
another thing less known is the rumours with were floated by the lata camp to give a communal turn to the combination of the quartet which is being discussed in this thread. this rumour did hurt him a lot but in the end nobody took notice of the rumour and it died down.
i would like to share my experience last year which will show why rafi is so popular. i reside in rohtak, haryana. people in my circle know that i have a collection of old songs particularly of rafi. so one day a friend of mine came with a stranger with a pen-drive to load songs. i was amazed at the very classy songs of rafi which he wanted, particularly so because he runs a sawing machine or living in a very small township. one example i would give of the song ‘subaha na aayi’ from cha cha cha. he remembered the name of the film but had forgotten the mukhda. when i told him the mukhda and also that i have the song he became so happy, because he had not heard the song since a long time. for 2 hours he continued his farmaishes though he had come just for half an hour.
i wonder can the legend of rafi die down, seeing such admirers around. but, one thing worries me. the admiration of rafi in most of the younger generation appears to me only skin deep.
my thanks to people like you who are devoting time to get people to remember the one and only rafi.
haldarji and hansji,
both of you are musically inclined lovers of retro music – and rafi fans to top it up.
i request you both to garner all your intellect and energies in furthering rafi sahab’s legacy – lets all get into research of rafi sahab. may be decades on fans will continue what we start now and still not see the end of the tunnel.
that is the strength – rafi sahab. so when you have such a colossus in front of you – i feel you both and the others should give up – this continuous talk of sdb – rdb – who did what to whom. who was good – who was not. let them all rest in peace.
no offence meant – with great admiration in both your indepth knowledge – i am just trying to divert your attention to some true positivity with regard to rafi sahab.
one upmanship will always surface in this kind of exchange of comments that the two of you are expressing.
once to the both of you – no offence meant at all – i have great admiration for both of you.
haldarji – is yet to send me that personal email that he promised me almost a month back.
meanwhile hansji – you are welcome to communicate with me if you wish to unless you wish to remain private and stick to this website only.
rafiaarenkay@gmail.com
rameshkurpad@gmail.com
adaab rafi,
ramesh narain kurpad
haldar ji
“Let bygones be bygones.”
it is not clear whom you mean. if it is you, i have nothing against you or anybody else. i normally say what i feel and then let it pass. even in the rdb thread 2 years back you had made uncalled for comments on me, yet i replied within limits. i never start on harsh things.
so far as sdb is concerned, i can differentiate between being a fan and still criticise him on his shortcomings which may not be possible for you because he comes from the same state.
“do a little research and find out in how many songs Dev used Rafi after Dada’s “Mera man tera pyasa” in Gambler” AND “why, when he was so enamoured by Rafi, Dev forgot to press”
you are twisting the facts and attributing to me what i have never said. i have never said dev was enamoured by rafi or that he did not use kk for other mds after 1965. i had only said that it was sdb who fixed kk on dev. i had said that both father and son finally succeeded in fixing kk on dev in 1965. i had mentioned 3 films of other mds after 1965 in which rafi was still the voice of dev and none of those films was of a later period than 1968. i never said he continued with rafi after gambler.
you have given no weightage to facts given by me which clearly show that no md used kk on dev prior to 1957. you were earlier trying to project as if other mds had fallen prey to dev’s requests but sdb used his veto power. in fact, the interview referred by you does not help your cause because that interview is quite recent. there is nothing to show that dev insisted on kk in 1957. but i have given enough facts to show that it was sdb who was keen on setting kk on dev.
i gave you figures of dev films. now let us see kk figures. kk started coincidentally with shikari – sdb’s first film. upto 1965 he sang in 45 films out of which he acted in 28 films. of the remaining 17 for 14 films music was given by sdb or rdb (in bhoot bangla in 1965). only three mds used kk and none on dev in the initial years. it was khemchand prakash in rimjhim (1949), chitragupta in hamari shan (1951) and madan mohan in adaa (1951) and they never repeated him. so it was clear that no md used kk in his first avataar in sdb recording rooms upto 1957. he was given a second break by sdb in 1965.
“He set the “tune” for RK Films.”
if he set the tune for rk films then i wonder why he employed sj. it is true that in those days producers interfered in the music rooms, the fact resented by all the mds, but to say that raj set the tunes is far-fetched and unfortunately that has been the propaganda through times. but i do not believe in that at best he could have interfered more than other producers. if he was such a genius why did he even need mukesh.
producers or directors certainly guided mds or lyricists about what they wanted, but beyond that there role was not important. for example take two 1957 films pyaasa and naya daur. after hearing the songs can you believe that songs for these two films were written by the same man.
Post 110.. hans, .. i am moved by your lines when you say…that great personages do not get hurt. mohd rafi – was there to give and not to take….
rafi saab was not given his due by many after using his services. the father and son being the leader of the brigade were planning how to keep rafi out big time.
two singers who never could stand the sight of anyone else getting the limelight enthusiastically joined in. earlier in the sixties, one of them was ‘instrumental’ in keeping the other – younger one out of the singing zones using some family pretext.
so, a caucus had developmed and the lobby boasted from every address system that rafi’s days are over. the illustrated weekly carried a ‘story’ and there were letters to editors mostly against it for three long months.
music fans and rafi lovers were – angry and livid with the artificial setting of musical winds by this lobby. they came back with a silent ‘vengeance’ and rooted for rafi saab in every song that was released or any live rafi show that were held.
the rafi shows were all full and this has continued to this day. only rafi is not there and hundreds of rafi singers have taken his place. yet, the thirst for rafi songs never die and never does rafi song discs – stop selling.
post 106
thanks for coming down to worrying for my future generation instead of attacking rafi and other legends.
i may assure you that my father was a rafi fan and a bearer of the torch of truth, which i have followed and my son is also following that. we do not project lies as facts and do not hesitate to tell the truth.
i would not ask you to improve yourself, because i am not a preacher.
HANSJI, – POST – 110,
who ever hurt or tried to cause hurt to rafi sahab – were actually hurting themselves and a divine musical enviroment which prevailed then.
rafi sahab’s personaa – changed anybody who came in contact with him professionally or personally.
probably my recent article published last week 20 feb 2011 – an open letter – a clarion call – i knew will not be well taken by all the great commentators here.
i am making a personal note of how fans respond to rafi sahab. i always spoken about rafi sahab not having got his due – and all have maintained – that rafi sahab – is above all awards.
all these examples fit him well – infact you say anything nice it suits rafi sahab. whether that does any thing substantial or not.
SOME FANS WHO ARE SERIOUS AND RESPOND RESPONSIBLY – HAVE SOME TRULY TRULY PIOGNANT THINGS LIKE ” THEY SHOULD AWARD HIS DIVINE NAME “.
hansji – the fans of rafi sahab internationally – should sit down – seriously research on anything and everything about rafi sahab.
centuries may go by – the research would deepen and the end no where to be seen.
my appeal to all nations loving rafi sahab and their efforts to honour him will catch momentum and bear fruit.
ramesh narain kurpad
post 100
kurpad ji
thanks for the comments. actually i do not have so much knowledge as you assume. whatever i have said can mostly be got by compiling the info available on the net and you can also do that if you have time and inclination. it is true that some others like haldarji and binu nair ji have real first hand info picked up from their inter-action with people in film industry.
but believe me what is keeping rafi alive in the memories of generations is the true love and sentiments of people like you. he does not need stats to stand on. his immortal songs are his own arguments. if the coming generations can hear and understand them then he will remain the same hero for the coming times also. and in this the zeal of people like you becomes important.
so far as the question of hurt to rafi is concerned you have already answered that. great personages like rafi do not get hurt. he was there to give and not take. that was the reason he was able to sing songs like ‘mera man tera pyasa’ for sdb even after he was slighted by both father and son.
i love sdb music, but nothing can force me to respect him as a person. i wanted to bust the notion that sdb was a rafi man. the idea to research first came to my mind when in the thread ‘did rdb really preferred kk over rafi’ people were blaming rdb for sidelining but praising sdb for being a rafi man. i started watching films in 1967 and i remembered that sdb-dev films of later period either had few or no rafi songs. so i went on a search for facts and found that sdb was the one who maltreated rafi and rdb was just following him.
Chura ke le gaya jaam aur pyas chhor gaya
Wo aik shakhs jo mujh ko udaas chhor gaya
Jo mere jism ki chaadir bana raha barson
Na jane kyion eo mujhe be libaas chhor gaya.
My email sakhikhalid@yahoo.com
Post 107
Beautiful post.
Post 103:
The link provided by you of Dev Anand’s interview with Simi Garewal, it is more than clear that Mr. Dev Anand is suffereing from Long Term Memory Loss and that also selective. Because in some other clippings of the same interview, he can very well recall Surraiya in the history.
Apart from this, there is another interview of press statement on camera, i recall having seen him talk on similar lines that ” Kishore Kumar meri awaaz ban gaye.” Compared to such “intellectual” outpourings, “the silence of lambs” is golden.
It is fair enough to conclude that no actor, no music director in the industry was so faithfull so as to use rafi only consistently. Only Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar, after they became successful and were able to demand such previlege did they have rafi only sing for them, till he was alive. Even then, shammi was unable to do so for RK banner “Manoranjan”.
As far as Music directors are concerned as the creators of the song in the first place, they had every right who was most suitable for the song. So Naushad, SDB, Madan Mohan, LP, SJ, have all used other singers as n when situation demanded or as a matter of expediency and prejudices from time to time.
Rafi’s voice and singing may have made some of mediocre actors stars and superstars, but no one can exclusively claim that I made Mohammed Rafi, the legendary singer that he became, not even the music directors. Nobody has dared to so far as i know, but just making a point.
Hans,
Following Mr. Halder’s post it seems that you are a senior (in terms of age) rafian. I just hope that you will leave behind a better generation.
some facts…..
music has always played a big part in the saleability of the film. How ? the mahurat of a film started with breaking of the sacred coconut and the recording of a song.
in the screen weekly there used to be many pictures of mohd rafi and lata manageshkar with the films stars and dignitories – week after week. The signing of the composer, the hero/heroine and the singers meant incoming finances for the movies productiion.
sdb once told mohd rafi’s friend that he took the singers on the merits of the song. this may not be fully true.
but, it’s a known fact that the song ‘jalte hai jiske liye’ was to be sung by rafi and not by talat. the insistence of the producer bimal roy prevailed and sdb had to take talat for the number.
even after the recording has been done, it was said that sdb did not like talats singing – since he had rehearsed rafi for the song.
again, shakti samanta had said to me that since rafi was on a foreign tour he asked sdb to persuade kishore to sing in aradhana.
it was an effort by sdb to persuade kishore who said that he sang only for dev anand and that he will not sing for any one else.
in fact, all the male songs of aradhana was to be in the voice of rafi and since he was not available, the songs went to kishore kumar.
the rest is history known to many.
Correction to post 102:
“But it was Goldie and Dada who fixed Rafi’s voice on Dev in the first place…” should have been “But it was Goldie and Dada who fixed Rafi’s voice on Dev in the first place for Navketan”. OP had already used Rafi to great effect on Dev.
Hans ji, here it is…
“Kishore Kumar used to be my voice. Whenever he used to sing, in front of the microphones, he used to keep me in his mind as an actor…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n52TxuuA-is&feature=related
But when asked to sing, he starts humming “abhi na jao chhod kar”.
Since you have given the count of sd’s tunes for Rafi, why don’t you give us the count of Rafi songs for Dev between “mera man tera pyaasa” and “logon ka dil”? After all, Dev used to control the purse strings for most of his films and had the absolute power to choose his singers.
Hans ji,
As you know, I’ll not change my views. If you want proof of whether Dev said, “Kishore was my voice” or not, let me know and I’ll find it for you. I’m a little busy now, but if you really want it, I’ll try and find it for you. You might also do a little research and find out in how many songs Dev used Rafi after Dada’s “Mera man tera pyasa” in Gambler (ignore an inconsequential LP qawaali) before baby Roshan responded to “logon ka dil”. And ask yourself why, when he was so enamoured by Rafi, Dev forgot to press the nalayak son, as well as the other two bluff masters.
Numbers never tell the full story. I’ve always maintained that SD shouldn’t have sidelined Rafi the way he did. But it was Goldie and Dada who fixed Rafi’s voice on Dev in the first place.
The other thing to note is the mutual respect between an md and a singer. From whatever I’ve seen or read, each held the other in the highest esteem. Sure, Dev Anand may understand better music than you or me, but someone who goes around saying that he reserved Rafi for ghazals needs to hone his musical skills.
I didn’t say Raj Kapoor was in favour of Rafi. But to say that Raj Kapoor understood music more than the other two would be an understatement. He set the “tune” for RK Films. And I love the songs in his films — I have nothing against Mukesh or Manna. They, along with Lata, did a marvellous job. Who are we to complain when the music was so great?
You are the first Dev Anand fan I’ve met who says such harsh things about SD. When I hear “hum bekhudi mein tum”, “apni to har aah ek toofan hai”, “saathi na koi manzil”, “din dhal jaye hai” or “mera man tera paisa”, I sometimes wonder if this could be the best md-singer-actor combination that Hindi cinema ever produced.
Let’s not dig up old feuds. Both of us are getting older and we need to mellow down a little. Let bygones be bygones.
With best regards,
P. Haldar
hansji – with utmost respect to your fantastic knowledge of yester year trivia and also haldarji and so many other writers – your post – 100 – showed deep hurt caused to rafi sahab – by him getting ignored and trampled by SDB, RAJ KAPOOR and many others.
you have made me more sad – as rafi sahab – is an avataar for me – and it pains me that he was trampled to such an extent.
however, avataar’s dont get affected, its mortals like me who get affected.
kaliyuga has its own way to put its ugly head up and cause this distaste in us.
i greatly admire your knowledge and same goes to haldarji and others.
ramesh narain kurpad.