This article is written by Mr. Biman Baruah from Sivasagar, Assam, India.

“Assomire Sutalate, Rudalire Senehate, Maramor Faku Khele, Rangate NachePakhili, Mate Muke Haath Bauli“. ( In the valley of Assam, Sunshine play with colures, Butterflies Dance in Joy and Call me with beck of Hands ) Remembering a Mohammed Rafi Assamese song under compositions of mumbai-based noted Assamese music director Jitu-Tapan.

Rafi was an Indian playback singer who has sung in 11 Indian languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Assamese, etc., from 1944 to April,1980. But he is mainly remembered for his songs from Hindi Cinema. Mohd. Rafi has sung more than 26,000 super hit songs, for which his name was entered in Guinness Book of Word Records after his death in 1984.

Rafi was born on 24th December 1924 at Kotla Sultanpur, a town near Amritsar in undivided Punjab in a middle class Muslim family. His father was Hajji Ali Mohammad and he had five older brothers. Rafi’s pet name was Pheeko, who started singing by imitating chants of a “Fakir” in his village. His elder brother-in-law Mohammed Hameed was aware of Rafi’s love for music and first to take notice of the divine gift in Rafi’s voice. He decided to concentrate all his efforts to provide all the support needed by Rafi to make it big in the music world. Rafi learnt Hindusthani Classsical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Wahid Ali Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami.

A Sketch of Mohd Rafi

One day Rafi and his brother Hameed went to attend a function by K.L.Saigal. But the legendary singer refused to sing due to power failure at the venue. Hameed went up to the organizer to ask whether his brother-in-law could sing to keep the audience quite and that was the Rafi’s first public performance at the age of 13.

Rafi started his career at the age of 20, with a duet Punjabi song, “Soniye Heeriye, Teri Yaad Ne Bahut Sataya” with Zeenat Begum under composition of Shyam Sunderji in the Punjabi film “Gul Baloch” which was released in 1944. The producer was impressed by Rafi’s style of singing and booked Rafi for all his future films. In 1944, Rafi became the very popular singer; teenagers and school-going kids sang many of his songs. On getting invitation from actor-director Nazeer, Rafi decided to move to Mumbai and from this point there is no turning back.

In Mumbai, he was introduced to some leading film producers like Abdul Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan and famous music director Naushad. Initially Naushad used Rafi’s voice for a Chorus and Rafi’s first song with Naushad was “Hindusthan Ke Hum Hain” with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin and others from A.R. Kardar’s “Pehle Aap”(1944). At the same time Rafi sang a song “Aji Dil Ho Kaaboo Mein” for the film “Gaon Ki Gori” (1944) under composition of Shyam Sundarji, which was considered his first Hindi language song. In the mean time, Rafi’s voice, Naushad’s music and Shakeel Badayuni’s lyrics would become super-duper hit and the songs were being heard in all corners of the streets. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as a part of chores, including “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi” with K.L.Saigal for the film “Shahjahan”(1946). He was first noted for the song “Tera Khilona Toota Balak” for Mehboob Khan’s “Anmol Ghadi(1946). His duet song “Yahan Badla Wafa Ka” with Noor Jehan in the film “Jugnu”(1947) became a hit. Rafi also appeared in the screen for the song “Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha” in the film “Laila Majnu”.

In 1948, Rafi was called and settled as playback singer. He sang a song “Suno Suno Aye Duniya Walon, Bapu Ki Yeh Amar Kahani” when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, written by Rajinder Krishan and compose by Hunslal Bhagatram, which touched all nations and was a great hit. Rafi was invited by the PM, Jawaharlal Nehru to sing at his residence. He received a silver medal from Nehru on the Independence Day in 1948.

In 1952, Rafi was established as number one playback singer in film industry with the songs of Vijay Bhatt’s “Baiju Bawra”. Naushad was very impressed by Rafi’s performance for the song “O Duniya Ke Rakhwale” from “Baiju Bawra”. It was said that Talat Mehmood was the Naushad’s favorite singer and once Naushad found Talat smoking in recording room, he annoyed and hired Rafi to sing for “Baiju Bawra”. Rafi refrained from smoking and drinking alcohol as a devout Muslim. Later on Naushad started using Rafi in almost every song composed by him. Rafi sang about 149 songs for Naushad.

In 1950s and 1960s, Rafi also became the favorite singer of other music composers too, notably O.P.Nayar, Shankar-Jaikishan and Sachin Dev Burman. S.D.Burman patronized Rafi as the voice of Dev Anand. Rafi’s notable songs with S.D. Burman included songs from the movies Tere Ghar Ki Saamne(1957), Pyassa( 1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool(1959), Guide(1965),Aradhana(1969) and Abhimaan(1973). O.P.Nayyar used Rafi’s voice to sing a song “Man Mora Baawara” in the film Raagini for singer-actor Kishore Kumar. Rafi also sang for Kishore Kumar in other movies such as Baaghi, Shehzaada and Shararat. O.P.Nayyar used Rafi an Asha Bhosle for most of his songs and the team created many hit songs for movies such as Naya Daur(1957), Tumsa Nahin Dekha(1957) and Kashmir Ki Kali(1964). Rafi sang about 197 songs for O P Nayyar. Shankar-Jaikishan and Rafi is noted for the songs picturised on Rajendra Kumar and Shammi Kapoor. Rafi sang about 341 songs for Shankar-Jaikishan. Madan Mohan was another composer whose favorite singer was Rafi. The team of Ravi and Rafi produced several hit songs, notably from the movies Chaudhvin Ka Chand(1960), Neel Kamal(1968), China Town(1962), Kaajal(1965) and Do Badan(1966). The duo composer Lakshmikant-Pyarelal also patronized Rafi as singer since perception for films Parasmoni(1963), Dosti(1964), etc.

Between 1950 and 1970, Rafi ruled as an emperor in Bollywood over his contemporaries like Talat Mehmood, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Mukesh and Mehendra Kapoor. In 1970s, with the emergence of Kishore Kumar, Rafi’s career suffered a major setback. Kishore Kumar was accepted as the “voice of Rajesh Khanna and Amithabh Bachchan”. Kishore Kumar’s rise and R.D. Burman’s patronage to him sidelined Rafi’s career in early 1970s. Rafi made a brilliant comeback in mid 1970s, with Jhilmil Sitaron Ka Angan Hoga (Jeevan Mrityu), “Teree Galiyon Mein Na Rakhenge Qadam Aaj Ke Baad” (Hawas), Gulabi Aankhen (The Train), “Kya Hua Tera Wada” (Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin), “Pardah Hai Pardah” ( Amar Akbar Anthony) and “Ramji Ki Nikli Sawari” (Sargam). Rafi gave many other hit songs in late 1970s for films Laila Majnu(1976), Apnapan(1978), Qurbani, Dostana, Naseeb, Shaan and The Burning Train (all in 1980). Rafi was very happy singing with Amithabh Bachchan in the song “Chal Mere Bhai Tere Haath Jor Ta Hoon” in Monmohan Desai’s Naseeb. Rafi’s last song “Shaam Phir Kyun Udaas Hai Dost” recorded by Lakshmikant-Pyarelal for the film “Aas Paas” on Thursday, July 31, 1980. On the same day, Rafi died at 10.50 pm due to massive heart attack, leaving behind thousands of songs and millions of mourning listeners.

Mohammed Rafi was a versatile singer and could sing any type of song; let it be pop, qawali, bhajan, gazal, romantic, bhangra, sad song, rock’n’roll, parody, duet, fast numbers, slow numbers… anything he was remarkable. He was the first to fit into the role of playback singer in a convincing way. His unique voice enhanced the brilliance of actors like Dilip Kumar, Bharat Bhusan, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, etc. The songs of Rafi are known not only for their achievements in music but also for their lyrical richness. Rafi belonged to the golden age of Hindi lyrics, when lyricist like Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Hasrat Jaipuri were in full form.

Government of India honored him with the Padma Sri Award in 1965. He got his first National Award for best male playback singer for the song “Babul Ki Duaen Leti Ja” from the film Neel Kamal(1968) and second for the song “Kya Huwa Tera Vaada” from the film Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin (1977). In 1974, he won the Film World magazine Best Singer Award for the song “Tere Galiyon Mein Na Rakhenge Qadam Aaj Ke Bad” from the film Hawas composed by Usha Khanna. Rafi won the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for six times for songs: “Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho” (Chaudhvin Ka Chand-1960), “Teri Pyaari Pyaari Surat Ko” (Sasural-1961), “Chahunga Mein Tujhe” (Dosti-1964), “Baharon Phool Barsao” (Suraj-1966), “Dil Ke Jharoke Mein” (Brahmachari-1968) and “Kya Hua Tera Vaada” (Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin –1977). He was also nominated for Filmfare Award for several times.

There will never be another Mohammed Rafi. Now, Rafi is not amongst us, but his divine voice and soul will never fade from this Earth. He was, and remains, a major force in film music, the music of love, despair, hope, humor… etc. The coming generations will appreciate and savour the richness of his songs for years to come. His song in the film “Ek Nari Do Roop” says it all: ”Dil Ka Suna Sans Tarana Dhundega, Teer Negaheen Aankh Nissana Dhundega, Are Mujkoo Mere Baad Zamana Dhundega, Waqt Mere Geetoon Ka Khazana Dhundega”.

This blog was published on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.