To The Editors of Esteemed Publications
By Mr. Binu Nair and numerous fans of Rafi Sahab.
MY heart goes out to writers, staff and workers who want to read and write about music, melody and Mohd Rafi Saaheb and pay their tributes to the God of singing on july 31st, his day of demise and on dec 24th his birthday in their publications but are prevented by the policy makers and their bosses.
In the process we are trying to forget our legends, our culture, our music, our history and our traditions.
Lets’s now all forget our culture and remember the page 3 characters which includes scantily dressed socialites, sipping coloured waters, and men and women falling over each other.
Let’s make our home-spun Mallika Sherawats and Rakhi Sawants as our ‘NEW’ symbols of national unity and national integrity.
LONG LIVE INDIA.
FROM BINU NAIR, RAFI FOUNDATION, MUMBAI.
HELLO BINU JI, I AM AL FOR YOUR IDEA OF HAVING RAFI SAAB WAX STATUE AT MADAM TUSSAD. LETS GO FOR IT (MUKESH KHANNA)
Dear Binuji,
You are right .Why a wax statue of rafi saab not there.
This is because he is not a ordinary actor taking out shirts like salman khan , he is not over hyped actor like shah rukh khan,he is not miss world aishwarya doing nothing for society etc etc.
That is why the whole world , hindi film industry , media forget our rafi saab who is considered their idol /guru by singers like yesudas, balasubramanium , udit narayan , sonu nigam and the list is endless.
So why such an ordinary singer should be given space in Tussad Musuem.Shame on all realy very sad to see a singer of rafi saab’s statutre being ignored.
But I again salute your efforts Binuji for keeping our dear rafi saab live
i expect the britishers to be very prompt and also believe that they have a ear for good melodious music. madam tussad officials will surely bow to public demand and instal the wax statue of mohd rafi saaheb especially since aishwarya rai, shah rukh khan and amitabh bachan’s wax portrait is installed there.
mohd rafi’s recent concerts in the u.k. were sell-outs. now sonu nigam will be taking the concerts to the u.s..
will some fans in u.k. write to the museum officials and request them to go by popular sentiments and honour mohd rafi saaheb at the tussads.?
binu nair, rafi foundation, mumbai… binus2000@hotmail.com
u.k. Fans of Rafi Saaheb : Could the hordes of Rafi fans tell Madam Tussad officials that a singer like rafi saaheb is born – once in many centuries; he is the first indian musical genious who has set his foot and made london his second home;has toured almost all parts of the globe – for the sake of music and his fans; has the most music fans – in almost all parts of the world and is a great indian icon revered by milions of people – everywhere even after 28 years of his passing away. More, There is no second where his songs are not played anywhere in the world and that even after so many years – rafi is a one man industry providing employment to innumerable singers and musicians around the globe thus enabling to run their households year after year.
why is his wax portrait not installed in madam tussad museum in london?????
binu nair, mumbai… binus2000@hotmail.com
Dear Binu,
Could you please help me to get this song from ( I think this is the movie), Hamara Adhikar………rona tera ghadi, ghadi, mujhe rulanade, so ja meri………..bahut sazaa na de.
It is a beautiful song by Rafi Saab, which I have been looking for over the past couple of years,
If some has it, please send it to me on my e mail id, which is godfather62.h@gmail.com
Thanks and regards
Saifullah
Dubai
Binu Nair: Would it be possible to upload the August 9, 2008 musical event on this website. I have no words to thank you for the incredible work you are doing to keep Md. Rafi’s memories alive.
dear rafians,
day by day we feel the loss of our beloved rafi saab.
the only happiness is his evergreen songs and the
comments of “respectful rafians” in this “heavenly site”
long live rafi saab,his songs and his devotees.
Dear Rafians,
Will anyone have this song from Hamara Adhikar ( I hope the name of the movie is correct), which goes like – ‘ Rona tera ghadi, ghadi, mujhe rulanade, soja meri, meri ……..bahut sazaa na de’?
I have been looking for this songs for many years now. If any one has this one, please send it to my mail id, godfather62.h@gmail.com
Thanks and regards
Saif
n.g.ramaswamy ji….. 2 points… never try to debate the number of songs sung by someone for u will surely end at the dead-end.
second: pls hear to mr.srikant narayan, panchal at least once. they are the best rafi centric singers today in mumbai and anil bajpai could also be included in the list.
mr.pyarelal ji and the members of rafi family are mostly spotted in music concerts of srikant narayan.
binu nair…. mumbai.
The media today is all ‘body’, whereas a Rafi Sahab was all ‘soul’.
Most of these newpapares hardly pay any tribute to our legends. This applies to even Rafi’s contemporaries as well. Recently on Kishore’s birth anniversary, the Bombay Times wrote about his association with all the Bollywood actresses, but hardly wrote any thing about his singing. The present generation hardly knows anything about the music of the golden era. In other words “If we forget our history, history will forget us”.
gururaj of bangalore rafi foundation called me up and reported to me some great things about his experience in mauritious – about how a taxi driver refused to take his fare of rs.4000/- – when raj spoke about rafi saaheb and hummed the tune – chaahunga mai tuzhe, saanjh savere.
not only in mauritious but in surinam near holland and in africa and other parts of the world there are rafi lovers , making the rafi lovers group one of the biggest group in the world – musically , perhaps immediately after the popularity of elvis priesly – the actor and the popular singer.
elvis is close to our own yahoo guru shammi kapoor. and rafi is shammi’s soul if shammi is the body – in hindi cinema.
dear rafi lovers please be aware of such facts and make it known to ediotors of the media who must not forget our musical legends. more, rafi should have been honoured with the bharat ratna award long back.
coming back to the bangalore team of narayanan, gururaj, ashok and many others – i wish them all the best for their sell-out programme of 17th august in bangalore.
binu nair. mumbai.
First of all congratulations to Binu Nairji for writing boldly about the fallacy of indian journalism – the print media in particular – for devoting all their synergies on page 3 to the likes of rakhi sawants and mallika sherawats. a big body blow to the stature of the “fourth estate”, as they so fondly would like to remind all whenever they are bullied by the powers that be. they have little or no ethics but lose no opportunity to shout from their rooftops about the social evils that our country is beseiged with. they have an explanation to offer to all the genuine music lovers of this country on their abject silence on matters that are so dear to millions and millions of music lovers. their failure in not carrying any news item on rafi sahab during that time shows their utter irresponsibility and hollowness of ethics. where are the hundreds of reporters/correspondents of the print media who have grown up listening to the songs of rafi sahab and the other contemporaries ? one reason is that news or factual reporting on such great indians is not ‘masala’ which will prop up the sales of these publications. individually, we the fans of rafi sahab could send messages to all the newspapers and magazines, marking our protest. such protest messages can be sent to the websites of the print media houses.
it was with a lot of interest that i was reading the comments that followed the above write up by binu nairji. rafi fans like saifullah, n g ramaswamy, nasir ali, gagan and shashank chickermane had all relented the role of the print media and i could not have concurred more with their observations.
yes the magic of rafi sahab will spread farther and deeper into all the homes and their is no stopping it. the rafi fans themselves will step into the shoes of these shameless media and spread the fragrance of rafi sahab. although the reach of the magic of rafi sahab is omnipresent and unilaterally in all parts of the country, it is still imperative that the “chapters” of rafi foundation are formed as early as possible. i am happy that chandanji has once again revived the efforts to launch the chennai chapter and each one of us can ask our contacts in various other smaller towns to begin this exercise. let this be our noble mission for the remainder of this year so that the dawn of the new year will proclaim the rafi foundation as one of the largest organization of music lovers.
Binuji,
Thanks for your message. “Small is always beautiful” to start with and this is what I always believed in. When the person who spoke to me talked about 5000 people and that he claimed he knew everyone on this mother earth, I was not too sure about his true capabilities. This is in no way to demean anyone but things have to happen in the best interest of every true Rafi lover, however small it may be. Binuji – if I may tell you – there are not a few but a few hundreds in Chennai who worship our guru!. We will start soon.. I want to tell you that Jagat is one true lover and a wonderful person in Chennai to interact and there are many others. Not to worry. I feel elited and personally satisfying as much as you do, to start the chennai chapter. It will happen soon.
Warm regards
Chandan
post 14 re: ramchandran ji…. u are a committed rafi fan and congrats. we have discussed the grouping of rafi fans in chennai but it could not work out as the gentleman to whom i spoke wanted to organise a show with 5000 people attending. the gentleman is not in “touch” now.
this is impractical i felt and now it’s proved. i had said the same to mr.narayanan our national co-ordinator and to my friends.
now, i request you to come together , assemble five genuine rafi lovers including jagat ji and start a rafi fans club – which will be hugely successful.
take a leaf out of our bangalore counterpart. the group of rafi lovers story was published in the times of india, bangalore edition last sunday and they have a rafi concert this 17th aug and its a runaway success already – thanks to the brilliance of mohd rafi saaheb. rafi centric singer and the best in the trade shrikant narayan is the lead singer .
congrats bangalore unit of rafi lovers including guru raj, narayan, ashok dalmiya and the hundreds of them…
binu nair. mumbai, cell : 9833 250701
Dear Rafians,
When Rafi Saab passed away in 1980, I still remember Indian Express and newspapers like Malayala manorama carrying a small insertion about his demise. When our people cannot even remember or pay tribute to this great soul the day after he passed away, can we ever expect them to remember him after so many years. No !!! they have so many other things to do. These are all a bunch of ungrateful people. They never realise how much Rafi Saab has contributed towards popularising Hindi Songs ( for that matter, Indian music – because Indian music is known outside India more or less through Hindi film songs ) within the international arena. I have spent my childhood in Malaysia/ Singapore and I know how popular Rafi Saab was and still is, in such places. Our people are busy running after lesser mortals like KK.
Maybe, we Rafians, through The Rafi Foundation must play a much bigger role in carrying on the legacy of our Rafi Saab. We must ensure that this great singer is popular among the younger generation too. We must educate the younger generation on the greatness of this singer. Maybe, we should organise more and more prgrams in his memory. This will need a collective effort and we should all contribute our bit to The foundation , especially Binu Nair’s efforts in this direction.
By the way, does any one have this song from Hamara Adhikar – I am not sure of the name of the movie —-Rona tera ghadi ghadi, mujhe rulana de, soja meri, meri nazar, bahut sazaa na de……………..It is a beauty by our Rafi Saab, If anyone has this song, please send it across to my mail id in mp3 format — godfather62.h@gmail.com
Thanks and regards
Long live the legacy of Rafi Saab !!!!
Saif
Dubai
Dear all,
I had the opportunity to sing on August 3rd 2008 at the Russian Cultural Center, Alwarpet, Chennai 600 018 alongwith other participating singers. Since we have not yet started the Chennai Chapter of the Rafi Foundation, I was quite happy that I could sing five numbers of Rafi Sahab close to his death anniversary to pay tribute to the legend – Woh Jab Yaad Aaye (Parasmani), Mere Mehboob Tuje (Title Song), Madubanme Raadhika (Kohinoor), O Mere Shahe Khubaa (Love inTokyo) and Abi na Jaao Chodkar (Hum Dono). Please click the following link to view the video interview with http://www.sify.com
Please click the following link to watch my video interview before the show…
>
> http://sifymax.com/bbhome/max_newpopup_new.php?f=Uniquesinger_Clive_05Aug08-128k.wmv
>
> pl click on this link or log on to-
>
> http://www.chennailive.in
>
> K.S. Ramachandran (Chandan)
Residence: “Amritha”, 2nd Floor, E58A, 21st Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai 600 090, India. Res Tel: 044-2446 8896 / 044-2446 1790; Mobile: 98410-71388; Email: chandan0106@gmail.com; ksrc0106@gmail.com;
Film crew visits Rafi’s village
Documentary on legendary singer soon
Tribune News Service
Kotla Sultan Singh (Amritsar), July 29
A team of Films Division, led by Kuldeep Sinha, chief producer, today visited the native village of legendary playback singer Mohammad Rafi to shoot a documentary film on him for the first time.
The film will be shown during the forthcoming 39th International Film Festival to be held in Goa from November 22 to December 2.
Talking to The Tribune, Sinha said he had conceived the idea of making a documentary film on Rafi in 1980 and it took about 28 years to implement it.
He said his team had interviewed Rafi’s son Shahid and a number of actors, singers and music and film directors.
The team had already met Shammi Kapoor, Pyare Lal and Amin Sayani and would be shortly interviewing Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Dev Anand and other contemporaries of Rafi.
However, the team comprising filmmaker Bipin Choubal and cameraman Shanker Patnayak were shocked to see that a modern house had been constructed in place of Rafi’s old house.
A former sarpanch of the village, Gurbax Singh Gill (97), and Kundan Singh (84), who had studied with Rafi till the fourth standard, gave fresh information about his childhood days.
The yesteryear singer’s story reads like a fairy tale: Pheeko, a poor barber’s son, lived along with his five older brothers in this nondescript village, which was Muslim dominated before Partition.
His father Hajji Ali Mohammad was a respected member of the Muslim community. At the time of festivals and marriages, he would cook rice in seven colours. Haji shifted to Lahore in 1935-36 and his family followed him a few months later.
Gurbax said there was a fakir who went around the village every day begging alms in the name of Allah.
In his melodious voice, he chanted, “Khedan de din char ni maen….†Young Pheeko began to imitate him.
This was the beginning of the career of the great singer, who won the hearts of millions with his songs.
His father apprenticed him at his uncle’s hair-cutting salon in Lahore, which was a famous film centre in pre-Partition days.
It was Pheeko’s good luck that a famous music director visited the salon and heard him humming softly.
He found his voice a divine gift and asked him to visit his studio. And, the rest is history. Kotla Sultan Singh village is about 25 km from Amritsar and falls in Majitha police district.
There is nothing on this stretch to indicate that Mohammad Rafi belonged to the village. Only on the outskirts of the village there is a signboard saying “Mohammad Rafi Margâ€.
Interestingly, Rafi had written his name on the trunk of a mango tree in the village when he was a child. Before leaving for Lahore in 1935-36 with his family, he told the villagers not to cut it because it would remind them of him.
The tree, however, doesn’t exist today. His close friend, Luddan (Kundan Singh Samra), who studied with him till Class IV, says the memories of their childhood are still fresh in his mind.
——————————————–
A team of Films Division, Government of India, during the shooting of a documentary on Mohammad Rafi at his native village Kotla Sultan Singh in Amritsar on Tuesday.
This post has been edited by Marcilo: Jul 30 2008, 02:59 AM
God your geat,after 28 ago still Mohd Rafi at the top of the singers that is the gift of God.
In 1970’s all Bollywood was one place they tried but they was not able to do anything to the God gift king of the music.The greatness of Mohd Rafi that actors and MD who was great because of mohd Rafi they back again that is God gift.
Thanks you God
mark my words rafi lovers : Maestry rafi saaheb is unparalled and he has the maximum of music fans -all around the world. the press will take notice but rafi lovers have to “take their pen” and write to these new age editors who have very less knowledge about music.
the rafi lovers also have to group themselves for the sake of good music – like they have done in bangalore, hyderabad, delhi, calicut, chandigarh etc. pls. enjoy good music and give your comments. also, support rafi groups.
binu, mumbai, rafi foundation.
Rafi remembered in native village
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , July 31, 2008 at 1822 hrs
PrintEmailTo EditorPost CommentsRate this articleAvg. Rating:10The native village of Mohammed Rafi near Amritsar is doing its bit to keep the memories of the legendary playback singer alive by developing a park to be named after him.
As the 28th death anniversary of Rafi falls on Thursday, his village Kotla Sultan Singh remembers its greatest hero, whose name will always be among one of India’s greatest singers.
“The village Panchayat has given an acre of land near the main road for a park which is named after Mohd Rafi. We will also be putting up Rafi Sahab’s statue over there,” village sarpanch, Santokh Singh said over phone today.
He said a village school gate and a road had earlier been named after Rafi, who died on this day in 1980. A Club named after the singer also exists in the village, which has a population of about 1300.
He, however, lamented that promises made by a few politicians in the past to build a suitable memorial in the name of the singer was yet to be fulfilled.
Nevertheless, he hoped that the village Panchayat may soon get funds to expedite different works in Rafi’s memory with local MLA and Punjab’s Information Minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia taking keen interest in the matter.
Rajbir Kaur, vice principal of a school at Kotla village, however, says more needs to be done to educate and create interest among the present generation about the great singers of the past like Rafi.
“In Rafi’s own village, we don’t have adequate facilities to teach music to our children. Rafi Sahab remained so attached to the land where he was born, but not many children here can recall or sing his greatest numbers, which is sad,” she said.
It was not without reason that the current great Sonu was born on July 30th, a day prior to Rafi Sahab’s departure to heaven. Time and again, Sonu remembers Rafi Sahab by writing something or the other about the king of music or by giving concerts especially during July. According to Sonu, Rafi Sahab is unseen God. He was only six when our Sahab departed. Kudos to Sonu & thank God for having given Sonu to the music world for taking over the responsibilities of Rafi Sahab. Recently, in a reality show “Jo Jeeta Woh hi Superstarâ€, which was won by Rahul Vaidya and runner up Abhijeet Sawant, Abhijeet Sawant showered praises on Rafi Sahab by saying that though they also follow Kishoreda, Rafi sahab hamen Bhagwan ki tarah hein. Soon Rahul vaidya was also interviewed in which he was also mentioning that if you simply say we are fans of Rafi Sahab it will not sound good whereas actually we are Rafi Bhakths and he pelted jhalaks such as Abhi Na Jao chodkar, aaj mausam bada, tere mere sapne, kabhi khudpe, kya hua tera vaada etc. etc. When he was asked to sing a high pitch song of rafi sahab, he apologised and went for soft and romantic songs. Just see the impact.
As far as number of songs rendered by singers are concerned, it is my opinion that many a times people go by the number when it was first published and repeat the same. According to me, if lataji’s collection can go around 30000 after Rafi sahab’s departure, Rafi sahab’s collection would be easily around 26000 plus. In one of the articles, I even spotted Kumar Sanu’s collection as 10000 songs. can it be so? I hardly know 10 to 12 songs only of the Kumar Sanu. In Kerala, one ardent fan of Rafi sahab had already collected 16000 songs of Rafi Sahab and was in search of further songs. Anyway, these number games are played by many just to please others. But one thing is certain Rafi Sahab has the maximum number of songs and also maximum super hits and hits which cannot be surpassed at all just like Don bradman’s batting average of 99.96. Mr.Murty, I hope the above is clear. Pl. let me also know from your end. Thanks. “Rafi sahab zindabadâ€.
Please don’t blame the press or even those who try to suppress the ever-growing nostalgia of Rafi Sahaab. What to do? They can’t help it. Included among them are those who are frightened by the standards unwittingly set up by Rafi Sahaab in his zeal of dedication to the love of music. Now, If they cannot come up to it, can you blame them? Also included them are those who know the truth of the stature of Rafi Sahaab both as a human being and as a great playback singer but still choose to ignore the fact. Some eminent personalities too are included but please don’t blame for they are astonished that even after 28 years of his untimely demise the Legendary Rafi Sahaab continues to hold sway as the greatest playback singer in the sub-continent in particular and the world at large, while they continue to hold various TV shows to retain the popularity or remain the memory of public while still living. All of them are honourable persons and cannot be blamed. If their conscience is sealed who are we to wake them up. But such people should remember: Can they stop the sun from shining or its rays reaching the earth? Can they stop the flowers from emitting sweet fragrance? Can they stop the nightingales singing sweet tunes? Certainly they cannot. Such is the eminence and posiition of Rafi Sahaab. As years slide by the fame and name of Rafi Sahaab will never diminish but go on increasing since he was such a gem of a person and a rare personality who brought out his goodness through thousands of his memorable songs which are etched in the living memory of millions of his diehard fans.
RAFI SAAB IS THE SYMBOL OF INDIA’S RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE.HE WAS THE ONLY SINGER IN PLAYBACK ARENA WHO IMMORTALISED THUMRI,GHAZAL,QWALI,BHAZAN,SUFI,PATRIOTIC,FOLK,SEMICLASSICAL & VARIOUS OTHER COLOURS OF MUSIC.HE RESIDES IN THE HEARTS & MINDS OF BILLIONS OF INDIANS.YET IT IS DISHEARTENING & SURPRISING TO SEE SOME TV CHANNELS COMPLETLY IGNORING HIS ANNIVERSARY.I HOPE GOOD SENCE WOULD PREVAIL IN THEM NEXT TIME!!
The legend of Rafi Saahab will continue to live on forever regardless of the ignorance of Indian media. Nobody elso on this planet has touched millions of people like the maestro has through his singing, so its the Indian media’s loss that they are ignorant of this fact and are highlighting trivial issues in the press, which has become the bane of journalism.
Can anyone please suggest a great book or an autobiography on Rafi Saahab through which one can know more about the legend with certain unknown facts about him. If so, then please contact me at gagandreams@hotmail.com
Gagan
Dear Binuji,
We all wish you success in this noble cause of our rafi saab.Indeed you have rightly mentioned that english print media is neglecting only rafi saab.Other singers such as kk ab and lata are always mentioned but not rafi saab.
WHY ?
I also thank NDTV for showing a small but still satisfying for all rafi saab lovers like me that atleast he was remembered .
AUG. 9, 2008 AT 7.00 P.M. IS THE next presentation of “saturday night rafi fever” musical at naushad hall, sion, mumbai and its the second saturday of the month.
the singers are kumar subramanian, anupama, dhanya sukumar, majmudar, joginder kakaji, barraj and noorie. the programme begins at 7.00 p.m. sharp. the saturday night rafi fever programme is held every month on the second saturday and its main aim is to pay homage to our music legends and to bring rafi lovers on a common platform.
binu nair. the rafi foundation, mumbai : binus2000@hotmail.com
please call for more details:
shirish kulkarni: 98204 52 562, 9833 250 701.
thanks Binuji. Yes indeed this time there was little response from the newspaper agencies to remember the legend Mohdrafi. Only one or two newspapers have written an article on rafisahab, but other newspapers ignored it. May be they dont know what to write or busy in writing in other things. No prblm. But try to respect Mohdrafi as a great playback singer of the film industry by all the newspaper editors also. I have sent one article in two newpapers but didnt published, this is way, they remember mohdrafisahab. But we keep remembering rafisahab forever in our heart.
Thanks Mr binu nair for exposing hypocricy of some sensation dependent media. Gold is gold and what glitters on these channles is glamour nothing else ,it fades away quickly.Singers like rafi rule the hearts of music lovers.
My special thanks to ndtv national and delhi, almost all the news channels barring the times now, gujrathi news papers : gujrat samachar and Bombay Samachar, the p.t.i and i.a.n.s. news agencies who splashed rafi saaheb homage on july 31st to all parts of the world.
the english press was wanting and they were busy discussing whether deepika must carry her boyfriends tatoo on her self and the yet another change of boyfriend of failed c grade actress amita arora and in-between discussing about our home spun mallika sherawats and rakhi sawants – in their entertainment pages.
the press wants us to forget our Music Legends, for sure but the surge of love and affection shown by rafi lovers – has withstood the test of time and will withstand all efforts to do so in the future too.
rafi lovers , please start writing to the editors – not to suppress popular sentiments and persistence with this “suppression of hard news” will tell upon their “credibility and circulation” in the long run.
binu nair , mumbai… cell 9833 250 701, binus2000@hotmail.com