Remembering Rafi
Naushad (left) and Rafi (right)
And yet he did go away…on that fateful day dated 31st July, 1980 the
world lost it’s greatest singer ever. Leaving behind a legacy of
humility and gentleness Md. Rafi passed away to other shores but
definitely not oblivion. He left behind a body of work which is as
gloriously mesmerizing as it is deliciously varied. There is not a
known genre of songs in Indian cinema which Rafi did not perfect…be
it the trademark soft romanticos to the high octane dance numbers, the
melancholic sad tunes to the pulsating qawwalis, the traditional
ghazals and bhajans to the comic styled songs designed for laughs…he
did it all and how!!!
Starting his career in 1944 with a Punjabi number in “Gul Baloch”,
Rafi established himself as a leading playback singer in just a few
years with songs like “Hue hum jinke liye barbaad”, “Suhani raat dhal
chuki hai” and “Meri kahani bhoolne wale”. But it was with Naushad
composed Baiju Baawra in 1952 that Rafi finally became the undisputed
leading singer of the industry, a stronghold which he maintained for
19 years till 1971 unchallenged. “Tu ganga ki mauj”, “O duniya ke
rakhwaale” and “Man tarpat hari darshan ko” were the three tracks
which catapulted Rafi into a league of his own.
The next few years were followed by one chartbuster after another…..
“O door ke musafir”, “Aye dil mushkil hai jeena yahan”, “Aankhon hi
aankhon mein”, “Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya” and “Tumsa nahin
dekha”…all of them gem after gem.
The year 1957 saw Rafi breaking new ground with O.P.Nayyar’s Naya Daur
and S.D.Burman’s Pyaasa. While on one hand were the romantic “Ude jab
jab zulfein teri” and “Maang ke saath tumhara”, on the other were the
brooding “Jinhe naaz hai hind par” and that sad lament “Yeh duniya
agar mil bhi jaaye”. Backing these came the delightful “Sar jo tera
chakraaye” and playback singing was being redefined over and over
again.
The year 1960 gave Rafi his first Filmfare for the utterly romantic
“Chaudhvin ka chand” but that was just one of the petals which formed
the complete flower that year. “Madhuban mein radhika”, “Do sitaaron
ka zameen par hai milan”, “Khoya khoya chand”, “Mili khaaq mein
mohabbat”,”Aye mohabat zindabad” and “Zindagi bhar nahin bhulenge”
were the others which constituted this yet another golden year.
The next year he gave the city youth a new chant in “Yaahoo” and the
village folk were gifted the brilliant “Nain lad jaywe”. The lovelorns
got a new ode in “Ehsaan tera hoga” while the depressed were taught a
new way of life with “Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya”.
1963 saw another flourish of jewels. While S.D’s Tere Ghar ke Saamne
had soothers like “Dil ka bhanwar” and “Dekho rootha na karo”,
Roshan’s Taj Mahal had romanticos like “Jo baat tujh mein hai” and “Jo
wada kiya woh”. ” But of course the greatest pearl was that title
track from Naushad’s Mere Mehboob which made a country go weak in the
knees.
1964 saw Rafi winning his 3rd Filmfare for “Chahunga main tujhe” in
LP’s Dosti. This was another feather with tracks like “Raahi mannwa”
and “Jaanewalon zara”. O.P. Nayyar’s Kashmir Ki Kali saw Rafi form a
delightful combo with Asha Bhonsle as they churned out gems like
“Ishaaron ishaaron mein”, “Deewana hua badal” and “Hai duniya usi ki”.
This same year saw Rafi making every eye moist in the country with the
soul stirring “Ab tumhare hawale watan saathiyon”.
1965 saw one of Hindi cinema’s best soundtracls ever come to life in
SD’s Guide…..with tracks like “Tere mere sapne” and “Din dhal jaaye”
Rafi was at the forefront of this magnum opus. The same year also saw
“Waqt se din aur raat”, “Pardesiyon se na ankhiyaan milana” and “Mujhe
dard-e-dil ka pata na tha”.
The magic continued unabated with the likes of “Bhari duniya mein”,
“Aap ke haseen rukh”, “Woh khushi mili”, “Baharon phool barsao” and
“Chalkaaye jaam”
1971 saw the rise of Kishore who acted as the first challenge for Rafi
in almost 20 years. 3 golden years for Kishore saw Rafi losing some
ground but even this seemingly lull period saw classics like “Chalo
Dildar chalo”, “Yeh duniya yeh mehfil”, “Teri Bindiya re”, “Aaj mausam
bada beimaan” and “Na tu zameen”.
But he came back with much more elan winning awards again with “Teri
galiyon mein” from Hawas. Laila Majnu, Hum Kissi se Kum Nahin and
Sargam followed….Md. Rafi was back on top again and that is where he
will always be.
The amazing thing about Rafi was that not only did he modulate his
voice according to the notes and scale but what he miraculously
achieved was sounding different for different actors. In fact a lot of
credit goes to him for launching and creating many a stars of
yesteryears. As comfortable in the lowest of scales as in the extreme
highs, it was Rafi who introduced “Yeowdling” which was later
perfected by Kishore Kumar. The talent of Rafi is also amply on view
in songs like “Jo unki tamanna hai”, “Din dhal jaaye” and “Choo lene
do nazuk honthon ko” where he manages to sound completely intoxicated
without consuming a single drop of liquor.
However, the greatest trait of Rafi was that being the great singer
that he was, he was a greater person. Good natured, affectionate and
often called “The Gentle Giant” by the industrywallahs Rafi did not
have any ill feeling towards anyone. Not for nothing did Kishore Kumar
rush to his defense when Anil Biswas targeted him saying “Rafi is no
singer”. Kishore was visibly disgusted with the remark from one of his
loyalists and said “I myself am a Rafi fan…if you insult him, you
insult me”.
It’s been 29 years since that genial soul departed but the magic
continues, the voice still echoes in the valleys and mountains and
everywhere in between, it lingers in every memory that has been
privileged to hear it, the ears still can’t have enough of Rafi and
the search is still on…..perhaps the feeling cannot be better
expressed than in Md. Rafi’s own voice when he prophetically sang the
following lines…..
Dil ka soona saaz taraana dhoondhega
Teer nigaahe naaz nishaana dhoondhega
Waqt mere geeton ka khazana dhoondhega
Mujhko mere baad zamaana dhoondhega
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Aaaah. The beauty of those songs. How I miss them. I wonder why there are hardly any songs from today which manage to stir the very soul. They’re a vexation to the spirit in comparison to the songs of those good old times. The songs that you mentioned are all amazing. Now I must listen to them again. Balm for frayed nerves.
Hello!! Hi!!
1}Rafisaab brought loud screaming to the music industry. Earlier guys used to hum but Rafiji started to holler out at the mike.
2)Also those days less number of songs were created in more span of time. The reason that olden type of songs are not made today is that the demand for quick delivery of songs has gone up. Earlier music directors had all the time in the world to ruminate on the tune. Today the delivery time is as short as a single night.
3]Also earlier music directors based many of their tunes directly on the Pakkad(inherited) of the raag. So many such Pakkads are exhausted u c.
4>Also earlier since the entire film industry was taking shape so talents used to walk in. Now-a-days favoritism has taken a root. But u’ll c an actors’ siblings becoming actors, directrs etc. But there are almost no hereditary takers for parturient, nascent work like the music direction or lyrics or scripts.
Waht say!!
I am a huge fan of Rafi saab – thanks for the nice summary of some of his well-known songs.
I have a question though – can you elaborate on your claim that Rafi (not Kishore) introduced yodeling?
Good tribute. Nice read Saim.
nice article, and what an ending!
one of my fav Rafi songs (there’s a long list) is Aaj Purani Raahon Se, which I think is a perfect blend of lyric, music & voice. there’s a haunting quality to that song, one dare not sing it casually.
Here are a few songs where Rafi is yodeling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVYBa4S4yVA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0xbgeJ4ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No2HARfB2ZI
(i guess there is another punjabi song)