Shankar Jaikishan, Rafi and Dev Anand
This article is written by Mr. Souvik Chatterji
Mohd Rafi, Dev Anand
Dev Anand, the stylish actor of the 50s and 60s was generally associated with towering composer SD Burman as he was preferred under the Navketan banner and contributed in most of Dev’s films from 40s to 60s. The team of Dev Anand comprising of SD Burman, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Lata, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Kishore, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, was different from the team of Dilip Kumar, Naushad, Shakeel Badayani, Rafi, or the team of Raj Kapoor, Shankar Jaikishan, Manna Dey, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Mukesh, etc.
But when producers and directors approached Shankar Jaikishan for composing music in Dev Anand’s films, they did not follow the existing trend. Shankar Jaikishan either broke the existing trends of music or created a new trend which was followed by the following generations. In the film Patita, in the 50s, songs were sung by mainly Hemant Kumar and Lata. But the combination of SJ and Dev Anand stormed bollywood from the time he used Rafi for almost all the songs in the film Love Marriage in 1959.
Love Marriage became super hit, with Dev Anand and Mala Sinha and the songs became everlasting hits. Rafi’s songs included “kahan ja rahe the“, “dheere dheere chal“, etc. The songs were mostly picturised in the studios but had great appeal. The combination of Rafi, SJ and Dev Anand created storms in the film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
Dev Anand
Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai was a musical film with Asha Parekh and all the songs became super hit in the early 60s. Some of them included “jiya ho, jiya ho jiya kuch bol do“, “sau saal pehele hume tumse pyar tha“, “yeh aankhe uff yummma“, “teri zulfonki“, to name a few. The success of the film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai was followed up in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Asli Nakli.
In Asli Nakli, Sadhna acted opposite Dev Anand, and all the songs were super hit again. Rafi and Lata’s songs included “tera mera pyara amar“, “tujhe jeevan ki dor se bandh liya hai“, “ek budh banayunga“, “asli nakli chehera“, etc. Some songs were picturised on the Bengali actress Sandhya Roy who played the role of the sister of Dev Anand in the film.
In the late 60s Dev Anand’s popularity decreased with rise of new stars like Shammi Kapoor, Rajender Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Manoj Kumar, etc., so the films like Pyar Mohabbat or Duriyan did moderate business if compared with the hits of the early 60s. So Rafi and SJ’s combination with Dev Anand could not get recognition to that extent. Even then the songs in the film Pyar Mohabbat, like “dil ki awaaz khuda khair Karen“, “pyar muhobbat” and duet songs with Sharda like “sun sun, sun re balam, dil tujhko pukare” were hits.
Music lovers across the country feel that had Shankar Jaikishan not been busy with Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Rajender Kumar in the 50s and 60s, the golden combination of Rafi, SJ and Dev Anand could have given many more number of melodious hits. The songs and the films should be preserved.
Souvik Chatterji, the author of this article
yes, in plain terms, it is sad to notice that dev was kind of ungrateful to rafi..after all dev is known for his 50s and 60s movies and music and not for rubbish movies (well, mostly) he worked in 70s and later.and it is a fact that most of his golden era movies playback voice was rafi..
dev was mostly in awe of kk and for reasons known to dev only..
Dev Anand was ungrateful to Md Rafi . No wonder he fell from grace from a hero to zero. Had some one else sung those songs of 1950, 1960 no body will even remember Dev Anand. Why did KK not sing for Dev in1950,1960. SD, had no choice but to take Md Rafi. If KK sings one great song(better than Rafi also) he spoils 100 songs music director doomsday. Md Rafi can sing 90 out of 100 songs hits So MDs prefer him. By taking KK Dev lost his market value and image after initial success in 1970 with KK and ended up a forgotten hero.He should have used both in 1970s
The whole discussion in the post – Dev Era makes a good piece of research. Views and views and more views!!! They are all legends who made misuc so precious, melodious – irrespective of their varying contributions. Now, look back & thing what sells today as music?? it is sad, indeed!
Anyone who says rafi songs in Guide were dull has to know more about singing c himself. Now I am not saying anything Its all legends are saying. Legends like S P Bala subramaniam say The way Rafi sang Din Dhal jaye was out of this world. How can a singer express so much pain even more than expressed by hero himself on the screen. Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai was chosen as one of the best songs in a survey by outlook Magazine. 3rd song Kya se Kya ho gaya bewafa tere pyaar mein all were great hits and lovely songs. But at the end of the day when Dev saheb is remembered he is remembered with rafi songs which made him ever green romantic hero . on his demise all day these songs ere playing on all channels and RaJ deep sardesai editot of CNN IBN said His caller tune ” Mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya” has stopped. Hema Malini who worked with Dev saheb in later movies had all kishore songs for Dev shaen in those movies But she said on TV while paying tributes to Dev saheb Very important point she made ” Dev saheb image of evergreen romantic hero was because of Rafi music “, These were her words. Thanks all dear let us not take the credit away from Rafi & S D Burman.
Partha says is very correct.kishore would have come up much earlier. SDb was a fan of kishore. actually dev wanted SDb to use rafi after jaidev’s success abnd rafi era. SDb had no alternative but to oopt for Rafi in gide to survive. yet he specifically demmanded kishore for gata rahe. once guide establisheds him he alawys used kishore. In guide the best songs are o musafir, aaj fir jeene ki tamanna ai. mose chal , and gata rahe. rafi songs are rather dull the onse wich stands out is din dhal jaye.sdb never said kishore u cant sing ” din dhal jaye”. no rubbish . in fact for chalri sajani with reservations he called mukesh as he did not feel that afis voice suited to the epth of this song. he wanted hemant/kishore otherwise but both were not in limelight commercially. likha hai eri s a wonderful fresh duet which only sd could composze. sdb did best use of rafi in song ” khoya khoya chand” which naushad/ sj could not. sj rafi is monotonpous but very fresh for dev anand sj combination. after 70s rdb nd ka made it a point never to use rafi for dev anand. rdb could have used rafi for dekho o diwane but he avoidec a rather unfortunate as rafis voice suited this song better than kishore.
Partha, no matter how much you guys bark, the fact of the matter is that Dev Anand will always be associated with Rafi sahab. All the channels were playing Main Zindagi Ka saath and Abhi Na Jaao Chhodkar when Dev left on a joiurney to another world. As long as you and I live, it will be Rafi sahab who would always come to mind whenever people would think of Dev. Kishore da has also sung great songs for Dev Anand, but what Rafi sahab did for him is simply divine.
If you think Kishore da is a great singer because he sang for the superstars, then I am not sure whether you are a grown up man or a still evolving creature. You are actually disrespecting him by remebering him through Amitabh and rajesh Khanna. Learn to respect him for what he was.
Whether you like it or not , there has never been a bigger superstar than Dilip Kumar. Rafi is the best not because he playbacked for Dilip Kumar, but by virtue of his voice and range, which only gods can parallel.
There are a lot of bengalis, unlike Mr. P. Haldar here, who for the sake of their geographical roots have always preferred mediocity over brilliance. But, Kishore da was not mediocre by any means. He was a great singer in his own right, but what Rafi sahab did with his voice is heavenly and for the gods to decipher.
dear souvik ji
Jab kishoreda ke fan kuch likh hi nahi sakte.to ish argument ka koi fayda nahi.
the combination of mohd. rafi and shankar jaikishan was superb in those days. shankar jaikishan were very popular in those years.they were trend settersthey used mohd rafi for devanand in many films songs like dheere dheere chal kahan ja rahe the,jeeya o jiya kuch bol do,sau sal pahle,teri zulfon se, kal ki daulat,cheda mere dil ne tarana, tughe jeevan ki dor se bandh liya hai,are still very popular even after 45 years.actually there is magic in the orchestration of all time greats shankar jaikishan the voice and style of mohd rafi has no match in fact the untimely death of wizard jaikishan was a big blow to the music lovers otherwise this duo would have given many more hits mohd rafi and shankar jaikishan will always remain in the heart of every music lover.
Dear souvik,
Its always gives me a pleasure to listen the combi of dev,sj n rafi.Pls continue to write article on 50’s songs.
Dear Souvik ji
Your article has raised a few responses, increasing knowledge of the 50’s hindi film industry.My only contribution is to wish that you could watch Films like Nirala & Nadaan in a packed cinema in 1950 when I was 13 years old. I still watch 50’s & 60’s films.
Keep it up you are good.H.Lekha
I suddenly chanced upon this posting. I believe Kishore da ‘suited’ Dev Saab more than Rafi. Actually it was the lobbying (maybe north indian + muslim community), that prevented the rise of Kishore da prior to Aradhana, where RD Burman broke the norms, and pushed for Kishore da for most heros of that era, and you can see the results.. Man, even a Rafi loyalist like L-P had no option but to go to Kishore da’s feet, and ask him to sing for them, just to stay in the musical rat race. S-J got wiped out, and so were the other oldies.
Another important point is that Rafi’s career started around 5 yrs before Kishore da’s, and hence he had gained a upper hand by the time Kishore da was mature enough to sing. Moreso, we all know Rafi was a ‘humble singer’ who could do ‘anything’ to please the music directors..
As for how ‘superstars’ are made, there is no other example than Kishore da lending voice to Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan.., are there any other superstars (what.. are there any other, other than these 2 guys) who have a better actor-singer combo?
Thanks,
Partha
Some of the songs of dev -sj-sd-salil are remarkable like;-Tin ka nastar pit pit kar gala faad ke chilana yaar mere mat bura maan yeh gana he na bajaana,
falsafa pyaar ka tum kya jaano
bolo bolo madam
upar wala jaan ke anjaan he
Aiese to na dekho
another gazal of teen deviya ?
ek butt banaooga
zindagi he kya sun mere yaar pyaar bhara dil mithi zuban
Kishore/the Ganguly family were close friends of the Burmans. Earlier in KK’s career, SDB had the view that Kishore had a long way to go before becoming a full fledged playback singer of top quality. Having said that since late 40’s SDB used Kishore for lighter numbers that did not require multi dimensional skills that Rafisaab had. Also the common factor was Dev Anand, who was also a friend of KK, one can hardly find any non Dev Ananad song in 50’s that KK has sung for another hero.
Its a well know fact that SDB nearly walked out of Guide when Dev insisted KK sing Din Dhal Jaye. In the recording room where KK was present, Burman da yelled and said ” ye gana tum nahi ga paye ga” yeh gana rafi he ga sakta hai.
Also its important to note that RD Burman used to call the shots for Burman da recordings in late 60’s and after 70’s and we all know where Panchams loyalties were specially with Asha Bhonlse around Pancham, its does not take much to add the jig saw puzzles as to why Rafisaab was under used by Pancham in 70’s.
And there are instances even in 70’s when Burman da stepped in and asked Rafi saab to render songs for his compositions. I think by that time Burman da had lost all motivation and also his music was not of that quality as was before 70’s which was due to lack of motivation.
Burman da’s best was behind him and he was already a legend by then, just like Rafisaab who was already a legend beyond compare by the 70’s. Two great legends had nothing more to prove although Rafisaab did the impossible by breaking through the politics and nepotism that existed in 70’s and the pathetic shadyantra that jealous people did against this noble man.
Rafisaab had the last laugh as usual and allowed his singing to do the talking and not clandestine and cheap politics which some of them even do to date…shame .
one of the greatest classical musicians of our generation, ustad ali akbar khan, passed away yesterday. I have been fortunate to hear him live on several occasions. Baba Allaudin Khan Sahab’s daughter, Annapurna Devi, a genius in her own right, lives in bombay.
ref post 35
dear nadkarniji
you are absolutely right. vijay anand was a major influence in brother dev’s success. and here, i am referring to vijay’s understanding of song picturisation. it invariably enhanced the beauty of the song.
to digress from the subject, the two brothers had their share of differences. and we all know what happened to the navketan camp when vijay anand was not in the picture.
the downfall started after prem pujari when we were saddled with inane films, a sorry state of affairs that continues even today. can’t believe it is the same dev whose movies were more listened than watched (with due regards to his handsome looks).
Post 31 & 32
Respected P Haldar Saab & Raju Korti Sir,
I fully agree with both of you in respect of your views/comments on the great S D Burman Saab.
Indeed Sachinda hardly had the habit of compromising on his choice be it either Bimalda OR Dev Anand for the matter of fact.
However there was one great gentleman in this industry by the sheer name of Vijay Anand who always carried a whip in his hand while directing be it either his own brother Dev Anand or any one else for the matter of fact friends.
And here Vijay had the rare quality in him in respectfully handling S D Burman also and therefore one can pick any song composed by the genius Sachinda and see the picturization of the same in any of Vijay Anands directorial films.
It is altogether an other story that from the film Prem Pujari how Dev suffered without Vijay as his director and ultimately how Dev himself was responsible for his own downfall is history.
I am personaly of the opinion that Dev & Vijay should have continued and the overall story would definitely had been different.
Respected Haldar Sahab & Korti Sahab ,superb post from the veterans ( too small a word)
,Sir please share your comments on one of my queries regarding `Jinhen Naaz hai `first rendered by M.Dey Sahab and subwequently by the Bdhshah,Haldar Sir I do not want to use any words for my query.
With Regards
ref post 32
in the para “it’s a big myth….” please read the word dad as dev. my apologies.
ref post 31
brilliant post haldersaab. you have hit the nail bang in the middle of its head. burmandada did make team with lata much earlier during the sazaa and naujawan days. asha arrived on the scene much later when he had kalpana kartik (before she became dev’s wife) use her services in films like nau do gyaarah (dhalti jaye chunariya…). if asha made her presence felt in the navketan (read sdb) camp, it was by sheer default. true to her form and style miss ivy had ego issues with dada (but then, with whom didn’t she?). so asha it was subsequently with a trendy dev always wanting something hip and hop.
as for the choice between rafi and kishore, you are right there about the geet and ghazal genre (again whatever that meant since rafi was unbeatable in all varieties).
i can vouch for the fact that if dev — though he has been my good old friend –was a narcissist and never looked beyond his screen image, dada was as stoic and stuck to his ways. and dev always admitted that he never had the nerve to look dada in the eye or question his judgement. it is a fact that dada really loved kishore, but on an objective level, he knew rafi was the ultimate. so he had his way all along. please recall his insistence on rafi for the “jalte hain jiske liye” sujata song.
i remember that dada had composed “kora kaagaz tha ye man mera” for dev in prem pujari. but dev for some reason wasn’t sold out on the tune (despite his leanings for kishore!!) and kept beating about the bush while clearing the song. the needle sharp brain that he had, dada quickly realised something was amiss. and finally, dev blurted out that he would prefer something better than that. with great reluctance, dada — mainly because of his long association with the navketan camp — relented and came out with “shokhiyon me ghola jaaye..” what happened thereafter is history, but dev confessed tom me that throughout the making of “shokhiyon me ghola jaaye..” dada kept throwing dirty glances at him. and dev with all his old world charm could do a fig little. the story here is dada was always stoic, stubborn and never gave in, come bimal roy or dev anand.
it is a big myth that dad was blinded by his love for kishore. yes, he did love kishore, but rafi always occupied the top slot. one may fault dada for his whims and fancies on the choie of his male singers, but the man who brought ravindra sangeet so soothingly to the hindi film industry, always knew what he wanted. well, dada may not have been as seeped in classical music as naushad was. or didn’t have the kind of mass appeal like sj did ( i agree he was somewhere between naushad and sj) but he was a great composer, a genius in his own right. and if one still nurses doubts, please recall his limitations with hindi.
i agree haldersaab. we rafi lovers keep bashing dada and that makes ganguly’s fans claim that he belongs to them. but, all i can say is: howsoever good, ganguly was just the cover(s), while the prophet had the entire field to himself.”
ref post 29:
Dear Usha ji,
Really enjoyed reading your post. I agree with the central theme of your message, that s. d. burman was a thorough professional who did not give a damn about personal relationships. Several years ago, in a response to a query from myk, I had said that sd had several qualities but loyalty was not one of them. Having said that, let me also state that he really loved kishore, and in his pecking order of singers, lata and rafi occupied the top two slots. This is my personal opinion based on the statements he has made from time to time both in the english and bengali press.
You wrote that “SDB was a thorough professional MD with the talent of Naushad and mentality of Bappi Lahiri- ie, he wanted success anyways… he never bothered about any singer be it Rafi, Kishore or Hemant as long as his songs were accepted and HE was accepted in the market..”
I wouldn’t mention Boppi-da’s name in the same breath as Naushad and S. D. Burman (rip). sd was not prolific in his output because he used to be very selective. If I plot a map, I would put sd somewhere between naushad and sj, probably more towards sj. But sj was much more prolific and probably more versatile. What sj and sd shared in their music was a mix of class and appeal.
The other thing that I’d like to argue is that sd has been using Kishore since the early 50s when no one took him seriously, knowing fully well that using Kishore could harm his own prospects in the market. That you can’t do unless you have conviction. What many folks, including our own Souvik, fail to realise is that SD was producing major hits with Kishore for Dev much before he started working with Rafi.
The switch to Kishore from Rafi for Dev did not happen after Aradhana; it happened with Teen Deviyaan and continued with Jewel Thief, Prem Pujari… If you read Dev Anand’s interviews carefully, you will know what the real reason was. In one interview, Dev says that he wanted Kishore to sing for him, but burman da always insisted on rafi. Then he goes on to say that the two of them made a pact, kishore for geets and rafi for ghazals, whatever that means. When an md goes against the express wishes of the producer-actor of the movie, he must have supreme confidence in and admiration for the singer.
If you look at the post-aradhana phase, it is true that kishore got much more songs than rafi. But honestly, other than “Phoolon ki rang se”, which kishore aced, and the tere mere sapne duets, what was so great about kishore’s output for sd during that phase? In fact, I would argue that rafi delivered two fantastic solos (“Mera man tera pyaasa” and “Mehbooba teri tasveer”) and two outstanding duets (“Yeh dil deewana hai” and “Teri bindiya re”). And if you count talash, there were two lovely rafi-lata duets. I still fail to understand why “mehbooba teri tasveer” didn’t become popular; it suffered the same fate as another brilliant sd-rafi song, “Dil mein ek jaane tamanna”.
You wrote that sd switched to lata in the mid 50s. That’s not quite true; he had major hits like “Tum na jaane kis jahaan me kho gaye” and “Thandi hawaye” much earlier with lata. If you look at his output during the 1970-75 period, you will find that lata, not kishore, was really his main singer. The irony is that the nightingale and her camp never mention his name and we rafians keep indulging in dada bashing, so it is natural for ganguly fans to claim dada as their own.
Lata M was the only singer to which SD remained loyal throughout(excluding the 5 years of their spat) otherwise he hardly cared for others.
Right from Masaahl to saza to jaal to taxi driver to devdas to munimji…….to guide……….. to Chupke Chupke to Milli, he had some fabulous songs with lata bai, i know many people who love Lata-sd combo as much as they like Lata-C Ramchandra, Lata-MM or Lata-Salil/Khayyam combo.
Anyways, who would come as a 2nd best composer for Dev, after SD? Well, it’s quite tough to say, S-J would be obvious choice for most of the people, but not to forget Jaidev, he did only 2 movies for Dev i think, and score of Hum Dono alone is enough to outshine any of the good scores by S-J or OPN for dev.
Hello all…
My name is Usha and I used to visit this community a lot but never posted anything.. Out of request of one of my friends, Mr. Anil Cherian, who is an active member here, I just thought to put two cents of mine here..
My mamaji, Shri Nirmal Prasad was a renowned tabla player in Jaipur and belonged to the Bhatkhande gharana of shri Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.. I am a music teacher in Jaipur and a close admirer of Hindi film music over the years.. I am 38 year old..
Let me tell you something about S D Burman here.. SDB was a thorough preofessional MD with the talent of Naushad and mentality of Bappi Lahiri- ie, he wanted success anyways but never compromising on quality.. Let me tell you, he never bothered about any singer be it Rafi, Kishore or Hemant as long as his songs were accepted and HE was accepted in the market.. He started with the bengali singers like Geeta Roy( Do Bhai), Kishore (Pyar), Manna De (Mashal), Sandhya Mukherjee ( Sazaa), Hemant (Jaal)- just to be in his comfort zone or stick to his OPEN THROATED BENGALI SCHHOL OF MUSIC ranging from udara(lower octave) to mudara( medium octave)… When market compelled, he turned to Rafi and Lata in the mid 50s, turning off all his earlier associates, in an attitude of “give you a damn” kind of thing.. In the 70s, he only switched to Kishore from Rafi and let me tell you RD did not have any role to play there… I personally have pictures of SD recording KK in Prem Pujari, Zindagi Zindagi, Sagina, Sharmilee, Abhimaan and Chupke Chupke.. So, please, forget all rumours.. From 1971-1975, RD himself used Rafi more than his father ( 23 songs against 5 of SD)… SD was a thorough prefessional, and when he found market wanted kishore, he switched to kishore turning back to rafi, just like what he had done to hemant, talat and asha earlier and also periodically to kishore(1958-1965)..
SD was a great music director and perhaps the “most versatile”, “most consistent” and “one of the greatest”.. But as a human being “he was never emotionally attached to anyone..”, yes, not even Kishore- with whom media tries to glorify SD unnecessarily nowadays… These facts are all told to me by my Mamaji and believe me, SD all did to make his own foothold stronger, nothing else…
And that is why he remained the top MD before he died at the age of 69.. At the age of 67, he could make compositions like “bye bye miss good night kal fir milenge”…
whatever!!!! but glamourous look of Dev aananda is only due to rafi sahab`s song,,,,,who can forgets,,,dil ka bhawar,,har gham ko dhuey`n me udta chala gya,,,,kahin bekhyal hokad yunhi,,,ham bekhudi me tum ko,,,,,sun le tu dil ki sada,,,,,songs of guide ,din dhal jaye,,,kya se kya,,,,tere mere sapne,,,count goes endless(however people of dry intelligence can count using stats),,,but in 70s when Devbanand switched over to kis kumar,,Devar from ultra mordern look,a heart throb,,,became a banarsi babu,,,,,and well said some one,,,,there remained no difference between Devanand and his duplicate,,,,,,people today don`t see devananda with same esteem as other living legend Dilip sahab,no one can deny,,,,nowa days people jokes,,,seeing dev anand,,,saying,,”ou dev annand ,,ever green hah ha ha,,,and in every laugh show they move their face like puppet,,,,,,,,,but case was different in 50sand 60s,,,people would have gone mad if they would have even just a sight of this man,Dev anand had such a personality as there would have been nothing that could have been imagined anything beyond this glamourous romantic image of him,,and romantic image beacuse of those songs of Rafi sahab,,,,,but he ruined himself in 70s by leaving Rafi…………………
Refer all recent posts on SD-Rafi combination. There is no doubt at all about the magic created by this combination. In fact with SD even Mukesh( a very rare combination) gave some masterpieces like O jaanewale ho sake to laut ke aana, chal ri sajni ab kya soche, kajara na …. SD had that special skill of extracting the best out of any singer.
Having said this, it is my purely personal opinion that when it comes to Rafi, he had equal masterpieces with music directors like S-J,Naushad, MM, Roshan, OPN ,L-P as with SD unlike other singers(of course with the exception of Lata).
I can sum up like this:
The top hits/chemistry with the music director :
For KK-SDB,RDB,KA,LP
For Mukesh-SJ,KA
For Lata-MM–then it is a long list
For Asha-OPN,SDB,RAVI,RDB
For Rafi–Naushad, SJ,SDB,OPN,LP ,MM then almost all music directors-I think if he had been alive even with AR Rehman he would have given a hit or two!!
Hello Mr. Halder,
Greetings!
When I mentioned Dev and SD’s teams, I purposely took away Rafi as Rafi was not original choice of Dev’s films in the mid-50s, remember the period when Dev Anand acted in films like Phantush, Munimji, Jaal, etc.
When you bring in CID in mid-50s, please dont make a mistake of considering that as Dev’s team. Guru Dutt was the producer of the film and Rafi represented the Guru Dutt and OP Nayyar team. Remember the earlier hits of Guru Dutt including Aar Paar, Mr. Mrs 55, 12 O Clock, having Rafi and OP Nayyar where all the songs were super hit.
In fact musical pandits argue that SD and Rafi’s combination gave their best in Guru Dutt’s films including Pyasa and Kagaz Ka Phool. Even if you want to bring in Dev’s Tere Ghar Ke Saamne’s song near “yeh mahalon, yeh takhton, yeh tajhon ki duniya”, or “bichre sabhi”, you will find they dont stand at all in comparison considering the richness of lyrics and the passion of SD Burman in the realistic films of Guru Dutt.
In fact there were films like Nau Do Gyarah, Paying Guest where Kishore Kumar sang majority of songs composed by SD Burman, during a time when Rafi was the first choice of Naushad, Roshan, Madanmohan, Ghulam Mohammad, OP Nayyar, etc.
When reference was made in respect of Shankar Jaikishan and Rafi combination you will know for yourself that SJ had given much more preference in films of Shammi Kapoor and Rajender Kumar. Dev’s consideration much later, and you would be able to show hardly 7 films where SJ had composed music for Dev Anand.
In around 200 films where SJ composed music, I doubt where he had at all faced hostility towards Rafi at all like the films of Dev Anand. I dont rememember any film of Shammi Kapoor, or Rajender Kumar or Joy Mukherjee or Biswajeet, where he had to compromise Kishore Kumar for Rafi. SJ used Mukesh and Manna Dey in a number of cases. But KK was only used in films of Dev Anand like Dooriyan due to insistence of Dev Anand.
In fact from the mid-60s, room was created in Dev Anand’s films for KK to dominate over Rafi and statistics show in each of those films, KK sang more songs in Dev’a films. In Jewel Thief Rafi had one song “dil pukare” while KK “likha hai teri ankhon me”, “yeh dil na hota bechara”, in Jonny Mera Naam, composed by Kalyanji Anandji, all the songs were sung by KK, in Gambler, Rafi just had one song “mera man tera”, as opposed to more songs of KK. In Prem Pujari, most of the songs were sung by KK.
It was another case that Rafi had outcast KK even with one song in these films, but the argument that Rafi was preferred over KK in Dev Anand’s films did not stand at all.
But again I agree with you that Rafi and SD’s combination gave jewels in different films, including “mehbooba teri tasveer”, or “yeh dil diwana hai” from Ishq Par Zor Nahin (a non- Dev Anand Film).
Souvik Chatterji.
tum kitna bhi bolo, magar main to likhta hi rahunga.
ref post 22 by haldersaab
SD-Rafi > SD-Kishore
SD-Rafi >> SD-Asha
SD-Rafi >> SD-Hemant
SD-Rafi >> SD-Talat
having been a student of engineering (and therefore mathematics), i think this is most wonderfully put. the sign >> (greater than) conveys just that, both qualitatively and quantitatively. at least the countless people that i know of — and i consider them not only true connieseurs, but also well-informed — have asserted and vouched without any dispute the sheer magic sd-rafi combination made. i have known devsaab for a long long time now. don’t be taken in by his apparent leaning towards kishore. somehow it got into his mind that kishore suited his on-screen image. and remember he always was the sauve and urbane guy, willing to take risks and come acrossas a flamboyant hero who would would make smoke rings out of his worries.
i know for sure devsaab has great respect for rafisaab. whenever i nudge him on this subject, he keeps it short and sweet: “din dhal jaaye is a song closest to my heart” and “abhi na jao chhodkar..” is the last expression in love and romanticism.” though the second one is jaideo’s brainchild, let’s not forget that he grew under burman dada’s shadow and in 1962, when hum dono was released and tipped for the cannes film festival, the composer had just come out of dada’s influence. dada himself was instrumental in getting the film for jaideo and he proved his mentor was right. a fact that devsaab candidly admits. it’s not as if dev saab has forgotten tere ghar ke saamne, guide, kala bazar, teen deviyaan, kala pani, jewel thief and gambler. and if we take a holistic approach on dev-rafi then the list gets even longer. whether it was sj in kahi aur chal, jab pyar kisise hota hai, asli naqli, or op nayyar in jaali note or cid, we all know how devsaab kissed new heights of popularity.
since we are essentially talking of the sdb-dev-rafi thread, let me make one thing absolutely clear. the sdb-dev-rafi combination will be a landmark in the history of film music.
i often wondered how sd communicated with rafi. there was dada who was ill-at-ease in hindi and at the other end of the spectru, there was rafi who spoke so very little. i know for a fact that often, dada had to get a song to be translated in bengali to understand its ethos and then use his musical genius to make a power point melody presentation. on the other hand rafi would just nod head in his characteristic style to grasp the nuances of his creations. given this situation, i think it is a sheer miracle that these two made such immensely popular and great music. if anyone doubts, let him/her. it does not make a fig of a difference.
ref post 18:
dear guru murthy ji,
I know that you, narayanan ji and countless other rafi fans love the sd-rafi team, as we do all the other famous rafi teams.
ref post 21:
Dear Souvik,
I noted with interest that in the SD-Dev team, you have included Lata, Geeta, Kishore, Hemant and Talat, but not Rafi. I’m not sure what you mean by “team”, but if I were you, the first singer I’d have mentioned as part of the team is Rafi. Among the singers you’ve mentioned, except for one, the SD-Rafi team is better than all the other teams by miles. SD-Kishore is good but can you really compare it with SD-Rafi? Mathematically speaking,
SD-Rafi > SD-Kishore
SD-Rafi >> SD-Asha
SD-Rafi >> SD-Hemant
SD-Rafi >> SD-Talat
I know the director of a film you’ve mentioned in your article quite well. He has worked with both sj and sd, and he is very close to dev anand. I can pick up the phone and ask him a series of questions, but I don’t feel the need to. Because it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the sd-rafi-dev output; no matter how many articles you write, you won’t be able to discredit that.
Akela hoon main is duniya mein…
Dear Halderji,
Greetings!
Unless you appear in the blog, my articles remain incomplete as ever. I agree with you the moment Rafi sang for SD it created magic. All the songs of “tere ghar ke saamne”, “kala bazar”, “kala pani”, “guide” were masterpieces. But you will agree yourself that Dev Anand had spoilt the entire folk aspect and deadly talent SD ( a genius of genius) by showing his blind favour KK.
You will agree more than any one Rafi’s song “aise to na dekho” in Teen Deviya had outcast the ordinary songs “are yaar mere dil bhi hai gazab” or “likha hai tere aankho” sung by KK. Honestly tell me, dont you think SD Burman with his immense talent personality could not reject the non-musical demand of Dev Anand?
Shankar Jaikishan could not be compelled to that extent by Dev Anand and that was the reason Rafi sang superf songs in Love Marriage, Asli Nakli, Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
Dont you think SD Burman should have blasted RD to dump Rafi in the 70s in the films of Dev Anand starting from Gambler to Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Prem Pujari, etc., knowing the range of Rafi’s voice and his versatality?
You will argue that SD Burman was sick and had to sucumb to RD’s demands.
But in that case he should have made sure that the composer’r. His name should have been RD Burman and not SD Burman as it had given wrong impressions.
If your argument is based on the fact that Dev Anand always compelled SD to use KK at the cost of Rafi, then I will infer that Dev Anand was the most unfortunate hero of 40s, 50s and 60s, as even villains and comedians of that era used to feel proud to get a song of Rafi in that age.
Please continue writing Mr. Halder. I enjoy your comments.
Souvik Chatterji.
ref to mr halder, guru murthy and other’s posts
i have had many long sessions and chats with my old friend dev anand who i always call lovingly as raju guide. (for one, it strokes my ego like nothing). i have known devsaab as not only among the most handsomest of men, but also very polished and very articulate. very soon, i will share with you all what dev saab had to say about the “legendary” (to use his own words) rafisaab. i hope it will enlighten many many rafisaab fans who speculate on the rafi-dev-sdb string so much.
Dear souvik ji
great article with popular combinations of SJ-MR-DA.
Mohd. Rafi’s versatile voice made a hit paring with Dev Anand, which enhanced the career of Dev, they ever created a sign of mark in the golden era of Hindi Cinema and Dev’s lover boy image also owed to Rafi Saheb . The voice of Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Talat Mehmood had been used for playback of Dev Anand’s for hit songs in his initial films. The trademark composer O.P.Nayyar had first used the voice of Rafi to playback for Dev Anand in the Guru Dutt Production’s CID (1956)and the songs : “Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein Ishara Ho Gaya Bethe Bethe Jeene Ka Sahara Ho Gaya†by Rafi-Geeta Dutt created sensations among the youths and the “Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar†by Rafi-Asha-Shamshad Begum was also very popular among common people. It was followed by SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, Modan Mohan, Jaidev, Salil Choudhury, etc.
Though the combinations of SJ-MR-DA was limited few films : Love Marriage, Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, Kahi Aur Chal, Asli Naqli, Duniya & Pyar-Mohabbat, etc. all the songs from the films were real gems and everlasting.
With best wishes & regards
Biman, Sivasagar, Assam
Haldarji,
Kya badiya naya equation diya aapne? SD + Rafi + Dev = Magic. Sachmuch, it was magic of sheer class. I personally feel Dev’s romantic image was mainly due to Rafi’s melodious songs. When Dev left Rafi, his romantic image also vanished. Just recall all those Rafi songs on Dev, Dev singing on top of Jeep, in Qutub Minar, among his Teen Deviyas, shaving using water as a mirror, his duet with Mala Sinha, Sadhana, his song to Vyjayanti in Juhu Beach, etc. etc. Deliberately I have not named those songs because just by reading these few words, Rafi fans can recollect the whole song situation.
Combinition of Dev Anand and Rafi Sb was very sweet and all of songs are truly melodious………….
Regards,
-Imran-
Dear Souvik,
What narayanan ji has written in post 15 is true. Here are my comments on your article. Please take my criticism in the right spirit. we have been around for a much longer time, so it’s natural for us to know a little more. Whenever someone writes about sj, I feel very happy, but there is no need to undermine other md’s who have contributed a lot to rafiana.
P. Haldar
————-
rafi sang for dev anand way back in nadaan (1951); the music was composed by the famous musician chic chocolate. (mr. korti and mr. arora might know of even earlier songs for dev.) But the real credit for fixing rafi on dev goes to op nayyar who used rafi successfully in cid and to sd who used him extensively from 1957 to 1965. Even in Gambler (1971), he composed a beautiful song for rafi.
op made sure that anyone who could move his lips on screen would do so in rafi’s voice. He did that with dev anand, with guru dutt, with raj kapoor, with shammi kapoor, with bhagwan, with johnny walker, with kishore kumar ganguly, with ashok kumar ganguly, with ashok kumar ganguly’s brother-in-law’s son…
sj didn’t get his money from navketan; sd did. by the time of “love marriage” almost every producer or hero wanted rafi. But sd had to deal with a patron who kept whispering into his ears: “dada, mujhe ‘shor chahiye”. And he also had to deal with a famous director who always wanted Talat. His last words to Talat before the recording of a very famous song were: “Talat, please don’t spoil this song.” That’s because he desperately wanted rafi to sing his composition. The fact that he used rafi so brilliantly in the face of such odds is a testimony to his admiration for rafi.
There’s a famous equation that’s well known to music lovers:
sd + rafi + dev = magic
No one can prove otherwise.
Dear Souvikji and Sudarshanji,
Fully agree with your views that for SJ it was always Rafi sahab as the top priority but SDB also did not lag behind due to all time hits of Dev anand from Guide, teen Deviyan,Kala Bazaar,Kala pani, TGKSamne and many others. Also Jaidevji with just Hum dono could create an equal impact to Dev-Rafi link.
So if Ungenuine( Mostly KK fans ) retro music lovers talk about Dev n KK then they are creating a historic blunder of not acknowledging dev-Rafi combination which is the best and compared to any hero combo with our Lord of singing Rafi sahab
Narayan
Dev Sahab’s personality looked more charming and lovable whenever he borrowed the golden voice of one and the only legendary ginger Mohammad Rafi Sahab.
it would have been really excellent to put the photograph of rafi sahab with dev anand & shankar- jaikishan. the same photograph of the writer of the article we are seing repititively.
Janab Siva Saheb, Salam,
I totally agree with your deep and comprehensive research.
Congratulations,
Long live rafi sahab,
Dr. Khaja Aliuddin
At the outset sorry for posting a comment that is not fully relevant to this article-may be you can say it is 2/3rd relevant as I am writing about SJ-Rafi combination(in fact a rare gem on which I had sent an article to this site but so far has not been posted). The hero is not Dev but Sashi Kapor. Hope everyone would pardon-I felt this is a gem of a song from S-J & Rafi -really a magical combination. I am only posting a truncated part as this is only a comment and not the full article.
Excerpt from the article
In the vast ocean of golden oldies, there are few pearls in which the tune, orchestration, lyrics and last but not least the singer come together in perfect unison to create sheer magic. The song “ Johoom ke gaa yun aaj mere dil†from the film Patanga , with the magic combination of Rafi sahib’s golden voice , music by Shankar(Jaikishen) and lyrics by Neeraj is one such pearl.
The song goes like this:
Jhoom ke gaa yun aaj mere dil, raat to guzare subah na aaye
Jaise koi bachhpan ki kahani, yaad bhi ho aur bhool bhi jaaye
Pardah utha de husn ki zid hai, pardha gira de ishq ki zid hai
Dil hai hamara aisa diya jo jal bhi na paye , bhuj bhi na paye
Hasti mitha de khud ko bhula de, apna safina aap duba de
Dhoond kinara woh ke jahan par, chain to aaye, hosh na aaye
Hont pe nagma , aankh mein pani, ek haqueekat ek kahani
Khushi ka daman gam ka kafan hai, dono barabar neend jo aaye
The voice:
Any Rafi fan would immediately identify the phrase “aur bhool bhi jaye†as the highlight of the song-especially the special stress on “bhool†. This is the special “midas†touch that Rafi gives to his songs that make them 24 carat gold. Similarly the way he sings ‘raat to guzare’ , ‘yaad bhi ho’ brings out the exact feeling. This song came in the early seventies which is considered as a lean period for Rafi. But the freshness of his voice is as good as it was in early fifties. One can feel the energy flowing in this song right from the beginning when Rafi starts off with “jhoomâ€.
The Lyrics:
The lyrics by famous poet Neeraj is simply fabulous-the use of oxymorons ( words that are in contrast to each other in a phrase), like yaad bhi ho aur bhool bhi jaye, jal bhi na paye bhuj bhi na paye, chain to aye hosh na aye makes this song so special. After Shailendar’s unfortunate demise, Neeraj had written many songs for S-J. Although associated with the senior Burman da he wrote lot of songs for S-J and many of his poems were tuned for Hindi film music. His magnum opus was Caravan guzar gaya from ‘Nayee umar ki nayee fasal’-sung beautifully by Rafi. Other great songs are Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo by Manna da from Mera Naam Joker, Shokiyon mein gola jaye phoolon ka shabab by Kishore &Lata from Prem Pujari, just to name a few.
The Music:
The scintillating piano, the violins and a typical instrument you would hear mostly in S-J’s compositions( remember the instrument that accompanies each line in “likhe jo khat tujheâ€) make this song so grand in it appeal. This is a typical, out and out Shankar’s style of song with a very grand orchestration.. Since I do not know much about the intricacies of music, if anyone knowledgeable can add something on this it would so nice to read about that. The tune is similar to another gem from S-J “aaya na hum ko pyaar jatana “ from Pehchan sung by Mukesh & Suman but note how S-J manage to bring out two different compositions in the same tune. I have read somewhere that they had composed nearly 40-50 songs in their favorite Bhairavi raag with each sounding different from the other. As always with S-J’ songs the interlude music is same for the first and third stanzas and different for the second stanza.
To sum up-simply superb voice, lyrics & music—when would such golden era come back to hindi film music??
i would further like to add for my friends who have said that sdb & other have also used rafi sahab’s voice for dev anand that even in those days sdb used kishore too for dev anand and it was like a reservation of kishore kumar as dev’s voice, but s-j continued with rafi sahab for him. s-j never followed rules set by others. so souvik ji is right when he says, Shankar Jaikishan either broke the existing trends of music or created a new trend which was followed by the following generations”. only in their last film ‘duniya’ they would have succumbed to pressure for using kishore kumar for ‘dooriyaan nazdikiyaan ban gayeen’
regards
sp/kol
fine article by souvik ji. most important was that shanker-jaikishen were able to create different style for different actors with whom they gave more than one film. like formating their music into rajkapoor style, shammi kapoor style, they introduced dev anand style and they were success. songs from one unfinished film with dev and sadhna also have that essence. but how unfortunate that dev anand did not mention them in his auto biography. according to some unconfirmed source, he is shy to speak anything on shanker-jaikishen for the reasons best known to him. hope any day or some day he will do it for the fans of s-j+dev combination.
http://shanker-jaikishen.blogspot.com
In reply to the comment of Mr. Gurumurthy, I agree in a number of films of Dev Anand where SD Burman gave music Rafi was the predominant singer in films like Kala Pani, Kala Bazar, Tere ghar Ke Saamne, etc. But there were lot of other films in the 50s and 60s, where SD Burman composed music for Dev Anand but the singer used was different than Rafi. In Paying Guest, Nau do Gyarah, Munimjee, Phantush, most of the songs were sung by Kishore Kumar. There were films like Jaal where Hemant Kumar sung most of the songs for Dev Anand. In films like Taxi Driver, Talat Mehmood was used by SD Burman as against Rafi.
In the 70s, Rafi hardly featured at all in any of the films of Dev Anand and SD Burman combination. Examples are Gambler and other films. The concept that developed in the minds of most of the Kishore Kumar fans all across the world was that Dev Anand’s films were mostly indebted to KK’s songs.
But Shankar Jaikishan always considered Rafi as the number one singer in the country. Dev Anand’s own insistence could not stop Shankar Jaikishan from giving songs to Rafi in films like Love Marriage, Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, Pyar Muhobbat, Asli Nakli, etc.
Rafi admirers should be grateful to SJ for contributing in Dev Anand’s films otherwise the brilliant songs would not have been created which are cherished generation after generations.
A lesser known film ‘Kahin Aur Chal’ had great comspositions by SJ for Dev Anand. Unfortunately many films from tinsel world come and go without trace for several reasons. KAC was a fine and sleek film produced by Fali Mistry. But the film sufferred because of financers and not because of its merit. The music by SJ is superb. The HMV issued a LP record – jointly with the sound track of ‘Janwar’, another SJ musical winner. The LP is among most loved LPs in my collection.
some more songs of sj-rafi-dev combo
falsafa pyar ka – duniya
doobte hue dil ko – kahin aur chal
o laxmi o sarayu – kahin aur chal
dear souvik
very good and detailed article, now i am waiting for your next updates write about rd burman and rafi combination
if we see the old movies like ‘ kala bazaar ‘ ‘kala pani’ ‘ manzil ‘ ‘ kinare kinare ‘ etc where the music director was sd burman sahab, hero dev anand but the play back singer was rafi sahab only.
it will be apt to configure that rafi sahab was the playback for dev anand during his black & white era & kishore kumar ji was the playback singer during the color era.
sorry its ‘ dil ki baat ‘ & not ‘ asli baat ‘
sandhya roy in ‘ asli naqli ‘ had one song, its ‘ lakh chupao chup nasakega raat ko kitna gehraa, asli baat kehedeta hai asli naqli chehera’. that was the only song.
There was a period in the early sioxties when SDB also used predominatly Rafi for Dev in films like Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, Kala Bazaar, Kala Paani, Baarish, Guide, Solva Saal, Teen Deviyan, etc.