Mohammed Rafi
Spelling: 'Mohammed Rafi' Is the spelling officially accepted by the Government of India in its postage stamp in honour of the singer.
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A backgrounder
Shajan T Mathew, July 31, 2015: onmanorama.com
Number of songs?
It is acknowledged that he has sung a total of 26,000 songs, but researchers have found only 7,405 songs yet. How did the error came into effect: During a foreign music concert while introducing Mohammed Rafi, the anchroman declared that he had sung 26,000 songs and everybody just accepted it without much of fact checking. Unfortunately, even Rafi Sahab himself believed it to be true. Apparently, nature also mourned Rafi’s death — Mumbai was soaked to the bones as heavens opened its doors to welcome that celestial voice. The film capital of India witnessed an unprecedentedly crowded funeral procession as people braved the rains to bid adieu to their favourite singer.
R.D. Burman was the catalyst for bringing about an end to Rafi’s domination in Bollywood music industry when he introduced Kishore Kumar who stole the hearts of the youth with romantic numbers like Mere Sapnom Ki Rani. Even though there was a healthy completion among them, which always a point of discussion among music critics of that time, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar were good friends. It was heartwrenching to see Kishore Kumar sitting next to the mortal remains of Mohammed Rafi sobbing for hours together.
Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar once challenged each other without their own knowledge. R.D. Burman was the one who behind this as well. For the movie Pyaar Ka Mausam (1969) he made both of them sing the beautiful song Tum Bin Javum Kahaan. The song needed to be sung by two different characters in the movie in different situations. Rafi’s voice was used for Sashi Kapoor’s character while Kishore Kumar’s was suited for Bharat Bhushan. The version sung by Rafi turned out to be more popular.
Rafi has also sung for Kishore Kumar. Rafi’s voice was used for the characters played by Kishore Kumar, who has proven his expertise as an actor too, in the movies Shararat (1956) and Ragini (1958). The glory of singing in maximum number of languages by an Indian play back singer goes to Mohammed Rafi. With his charming voice, he has sung in 14 Indian languages and 4 foreign languages. He has sung only 162 songs in other languages. All the remaining songs were in Hindi.
Researchers have found out that he has given his voice to 517 different characters in movies.
Rafi has also demonstrated his skills as an actor in the movies Laila Majnu and Jugnu. Both the movies were financially successful.
In E Mohabbat Zindabad song of Mugal-E-Azam, which was released in the year 1960 and sung by Rafi, featured the voices of 100 people as chorus.
Rafi sang most of his songs for music director duo Lakshmikant Pyarelal — he sang around 369 songs for them, out of which 186 were solo songs. The last song sung by Rafi was also for Lakshmikanr Pyarelal — Syam Phir Kyom Phir Udaas from the movie Aas Paas.
In the duet section, most of the songs sung with a female singer were partnered with Asha Bosle while majority of the male duet songs were with the famous singer Manma Dey. Altering his voice, yodelling and whistling in between songs were the style of Kishore Kumar. Once Rafi also tried to adopt that style for the movie Reporter Raju ( 1962) — Rafi sung for the character of Firoz Khan. Rafi’s song Jaan Pahchaan Ho from the movie Gumnaam (1965) was used in the Hollywood movie Ghost World released in the year 2001.
An interesting fact about Rafi is that he used to encourage other singers as well. He met Mehboob at a musical concert in Kochi and fascinated with his singing, Rafi invited Mehboob to Mumbai. But Mehboob was hesitant to leave the city, so he declined the offer.
Rafi never sang in Malayalam due to his difficulty in pronouncing the language. But the initiative of producer Abdul Khader, who was an ardent admirer of Rafi, made him sing the Hindi song Shabab Lekhe Voh in a Malayalam movie Thalirtta Kinaakkal released in the year 1980.The lyricist of the song was Ayish Kamal.
Jithin Shyam was the only Malayali who received a golden opportunity to compose music for a Rafi song.
The Malayali actors who got a chance to appear as a couple in the visuals of a song by Rafi were Kuthiravattom Pappu and Adoor Bhavani.
Remuneration was never a constraint for Rafi. He never sang after settling on an amount as remuneration and he never quit a song because of payment issues. In fact, he sang a song for music director Nisar Vasmi for which he received only Re1 as payment.
HMV has decided to release a collection of Mohammed Rafi’s sad songs. For this purpose they required a photo of Rafi with a gloomy face and they searched their whole library, which is in essence big in collection, but could not find a photo of Rafi in a sad mood. Finally they have to give up the idea and the collection was released with a smiling Rafi on the cover of the album.
Has the always smiling Rafi ever quarrelled with anyone? The answer is “yes” and it was with Lata Mangeshkar. They had a dispute over the royalty of songs in which Mangeshkar argued that the royalty of the songs should be shared with the singers as well while Rafi’s stand was that after receiving the payment for a particular song, the singers morally don’t have any right to claim the royalty. Both of them didn’t talk to each other or sang together for six years from then and later it was in S.D. Burman Music Night organised in Mumbai that they shared the stage and sang a duet together.
In a fine morning of 1960, the producer of the movie Kohinoor came to visit Rafi with a gift and some flowers .The producer was guilty that initially he refused to incorporate Rafi’s song in the movie but in reality the song has worked as the key factor for success of the movie. In response, Rafi accepted only the flowers and rejected the gift. He said that the public has already gifted him by accepting the song and that is the best gift he could get.
Born in Kotla Sultan Singh village of Amritsar on December 24, 1924, he started public singing at Lahore ,while he was only thirteen years old.
While he was a child, Rafi was affectionately called as ‘Feekko’ by his relatives and friends.
There was a fakeer (mendicant monk) in his village who was was also a singer. Young Rafi used to imitate this fakeer and those funny attempts were the early experiments of this great singer.
It was his brother’s friend Abdul Hameed who recognised the great talent hidden in young Feekko. Rafi started considering music seriously because of the encouragement of this friend.
He was a family man and a religious person. His most favourite hobby was kite running!!!
Rafi was kind and compassionate to his fellow beings. He has given an amount of 88,000 to charity just before his death.
He used to send a Money Order to a widow living in the neighbourhood. After Rafi’s death when the money stopped coming, the widow went and enquired in the post office. It was only then that she came know who the sender of the Money Order was!!
“All the singers, including me, have their own limitations. But if there is one who can sing anything then that is Mohammed Rafi,” these were the words of Manna Dey.
Lata Mankeshakar, who is generally reluctant to reveal her opinions in public, has expressed her feelings when Rafi passed away. She said: “Darkness has spread around us, the full moon has set.”
On July 31 1980, Rafi had a chest pain in the morning while he was rehearsing a Bengali ‘bhajan’ on Kaali mata. He died at 10.25pm on the same day.
Two days National holiday was declared by the Central Government to mourn Mohammed Rafi’s death.
A summing up
Avijit Ghosh, Dec 24, 2024: The Times of India
From: Avijit Ghosh, Dec 24, 2024: The Times of India
On returning from a trip abroad sometime in the 1960s, Shammi Kapoor gave a listen to a song recorded for him by Mohd Rafi and was astounded by how the singer had captured his verve and ‘andaaz’ to the last detail. “I asked him how he did it. Rafi saab smilingly said, ‘I imagined this is how Shammi would jump or roll or lift his hand or shake his leg or head, and sang accordingly,” the filmstar told TOI in 2010, a few months before he passed away.
It was this ability to infuse an extra dimension to any song — love duets, farewell ballads, boisterous qawwalis, immersive devotionals, uptempo folk, soft ghazals, complex classicals, naughty nightclub numbers — that made Rafi the most popular and versatile male playback singer of the 1950s and ’60s. He could even yodel; just listen to ‘Unse rippi tippi ho gayee’ (film: Agra Road, 1957). Shringar, karuna, hasya, roudra, veera — his voice could effortlessly express each rasa (emotion). On his 100th birth anniversary, it’s evident that Rafi’s popularity is undiminished. On every digital music platform and online video portal, Rafi playlists abound. There are adoring fans in the unlikeliest of places and a Rafi clone in every small-town orchestra. But talking to those who shared both the recording booth and stage with him, one realises that their indelible memories are as much tied to Rafi, the singer, as Rafi, the man. And they run out of adjectives in describing his humility, nobility and gentleness. As singer Sudha Malhotra says, “He was perfect in everything.”
Singer Usha Timothy remembers how he made her relax during the recording of her first duet, ‘Tu raat khadi thhi chhat pe’ (film: Himalay Ki God Mein, 1965). “Kalyanji (Anandji’s composer half) told me, ‘ Jamm ke gaana, aapke saamne sher hai. (Sing with gusto, you are facing a tiger).’ I was a teenager, got nervous and fumbled during the recording. But when ‘saab’ (as she refers to Rafi) came to know why, he immediately put me at ease with his gentle demeanour.” Other singers, too, acknowledge his human touch. Malhotra talks of ‘Naa To Karvaan Ki Talash Hai’ and ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai’, two iconic qawwalis from the film, ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’ (1960). “He was very encouraging and made me feel like I know everything and am singing very well,” says Malhotra. The qawwalis had multiple singers with Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle and SD Batish also joining in. Rafi didn’t have any pretensions. Preeti Sagar remembers recording for comedian Mohan Choti’s film, ‘Dhoti, Lota aur Chowpatty’ (1975), when a musician said something in English that Rafi couldn’t understand. “When the guy went away, he just asked me, ‘What’s he saying?’. He didn’t feel embarrassed asking me. He didn’t pretend to understand. Everyone knows he was an extraordinary singer. But he was also an honest soul. He never behaved big or flaunted his seniority. He was very affectionate, just wonderful.”
Another incident showcases his professional and benevolent side. In 2010, music director Khayyam told TOI that during the recording of the poignant ‘Jaane kya dhoondti hain’ (film: Shola Aur Shabnam, 1961), Rafi had a 102-degree temperature. “But he was worried about the producer’s losses and we went ahead with the recording. Despite the fever, nobody could have sung it better.”
Loved In Tokyo
Rafi captivated listeners home and abroad. Timothy, who toured worldwide with Rafi as part of a musical troupe, recalls a show in Tokyo for a mostly Japanese audience that didn’t know Hindi or Urdu. “We wondered how they would react. But when he started singing, ‘Madhuban mein Radhika naache’ (film: Kohinoor, 1960), there was all-round applause. The announcer later told him, ‘We just love listening to your voice, even though we don’t understand the words. His voice had that kind of taseer (effect),” she says.
Born in Kotla Sultan Singh village, about 20km from Amritsar, Rafi left for Lahore when he was 12 to assist his elder brother, who ran a barber shop. But as Sujata Dev writes in the neatlydetailed biography, ‘Mohammed Rafi: Golden Voice of The Silver Screen’, he was obsessed with music. In a radio interview, Rafi named the peerless K L Saigal, Vidya Nath Seth and Pankaj Mullick as the singers who had influenced him.
The biography also recounts how Rafi, still a teenager, was “giving a shave to a customer” and singing when he was heard by chance by Jiwan Lal Mattoo, All India Radio’s Lahore programme executive. Impressed, Mattoo offered him an audition in 1943, which he passed easily.
A year later, he left for Bombay with mentor Hameed, a friend of his brother Deen, to try his luck in films. “The ’40s tested Rafi’s tenacity and desire to become a successful singer,” writes Dev.
Shining Bright Among Stars
Male playback was a crowded place those days with Mukesh, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Talat Mehmmod, Hemant Kumar — all masters in the making — jostling for space on the podium. Rafi rose to the top in the 1950s and stayed there for most of the 1960s, as Binaca Geetmala records show, before the Kishore Kumar reign began.
Rafi’s success spawned a generation of singers influenced by his voice and style to a greater or lesser degree. Anwar, Shabbir Kumar, Mohd Aziz, Jaspal Singh, Sonu Nigam being some of the notable ones. “Whatever I am, my name, my livelihood, it’s because of him. Woh mere rom rom mein baste hain (he’s in the breath of my being),” says the Baroda-born Shabbir.
“His voice made us aware of every twist in life, of every season that comes and goes. Every song he sang was complete from the adayegi to expression. He wasn’t just singing songs; if you listen carefully, he was also acting and choreographing them. Some actors are remembered only for what Rafi saab sang for them,” says Shabbir.
Jaspal says Rafi could sing in any octave and it made no difference to his voice. “His throw of words remained matchless,” says the singer, who still regrets that the only song he recorded with Rafi was for an incomplete film, ‘Sarhad’. Adds Timothy, “For him, singing wasn’t a profession, but a form of prayer.” Rafi stormed back to prominence with ‘Laila Majnu’ (1976) and kept the momentum up with ‘Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin’ (1977) and ‘Sargam’ (1979). The untimely end came following a heart attack in 1980. He was 55. Mukesh and Kishore Kumar, too, died in their 50s.
Over the decades, Rafi fans have carried out campaigns and online petitions seeking the Bharat Ratna for him. In his lifetime, he had only received the Padma Shri. But it’s undeniable that across the globe Mohd Rafi remains Bharat’s Ratna.
Their Favourite Rafi
Sudha Malhotra: ‘Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj’. Film: Baiju Bawra, 1952 Shailendra Singh: ‘Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain’. Film: Guide, 1966 Jaspal Singh: ‘O duniya ke rakhwale’. Film: Baiju Bawra, 1952
Preeti Sagar: ‘Yeh duniya usi ki, zamana usi ka’. Film: Kashmir Ki Kali, 1964
My First Meeting
Shabbir Kumar
In 1972, a musician I knew got me inside Famous Studio, where (Rafi) saab was recording the song, ‘Koi phool na khilta’ (film: Paise Ki Gudiya, 1972)’, for Laxmikant-Pyarelal. I used to sketch in those days. While waiting for him, I prepared Rafi saab’s sketch. When he stepped out, I managed to present it to him and kissed his hand.”
Shailendra Singh
My first meeting with him was for the title track of ‘Chacha Bhatija’, released in 1977. It was to be recorded at Famous Studio. I could not sleep all night. How would I sing with the person whom I treated like God? I remember he was wearing a white shirt and trousers. When I touched his feet, he smiled and said, “Abhi bhi pair chhoone ka riwaz hai, beta? Main to samajhta tha ki haath milate hain aajkal.” I said, “Nahi, nahi Rafi saab, humein to badon ne yehi sikhaya hai.” Then he said, “You are Punjabi?” I said, yes. So he said, “Now we will talk in Punjabi.” But when I told him I didn’t speak Punjabi well he got very upset. I told him that was because my mother was from UP. He said, “Tu Punjabi seekh (you learn Punjabi).” I told him, “Aap mujhe Punjabi sikha do.” Then we got down to recording the song.
