Tribute to Mohammed Rafi on his 20th death anniversary by Nikhil Kumar
sajjadmq
Nikhil Kumar
Mohammad Rafi was a singer par excellence. One of a kind.
When he died, all of a Sudden and well before his time, such were his
charisma and qualities as a human Being that he left behind millions
saddened and wishing he had not gone. His contemporaries: Talat
Mahmood, Mukesh, Kishore, Hemant and Manna Dey were all super singers,
each with his own mass following. But they all acknowledged Rafi as a
versatile singer. Rafi had a voice that for its tonal quality and
range had no peer.
The high and low cadences in O Duniya ke Rakhwaley (Baiju
Bawra) and Meri Kahani Bhoolney Waley (Deedar) were proof, if one was
needed, of his trained voice and, one ventures to add, an inspiration
for some fine emoting by Bharat Bhushan and Dilip Kumar. He had talent
that was so rare that when he sang for Dev Anand or Johny Walker, Raj
Kapoor, or Mehmood, Shammi Kapoor or Guru Dutt he made it Look as if
they were singing themselves.
I recall the days of "Binaca Geetmala" when its annual
programmes with the year's 32 most popular songs would invariably have
a Rafi song at the top — Yeh Hai Bombay meri jaan, Sar jo tera
chakraye, Zara samne to aao chaliye, Yeh mera prempatra and so on. His
songs had an amazing variety and showed him to be the phenomenon that
he was; they were sad and heavy (Hui Shaam unka khayal aa
gaya; Din dhal jaaye), light and romantic (Teri pyari pyari soorat
Tumsa nahin dekha, Tasveer banata hoon teri khoon-e-jigar se), ghazals
(Kahtay hai ke Ghalib ka, Ghazab kiya tere waadet pe aitbaar kiya, Hum
bekhudi mein tumko pukarey chaley gaye), comedy (Hum kale hain to kya
hua; Main Bombai ka babu) classical (Madhuban mein
Radhika nachey re) and devotional (Man tarpat hari darshan ko and
Badi der bhayee Nandlala).
He sang some stirring songs of patriotism too. It was
soon after independence that Rafi sang Watan ki raah mein watan for
Dilip Kumar, the patriot, in ‘Shaheed' and which almost at once gained
the stature of some kind of a national song. No national occasion was,
and is, considered complete without this Rafi evergreen. This Was
followed by another immortal song, Suno suno aiye duniyawalon Bapu ki
yeh amar kahani that was played over and over again in every city and
town, every village and dale. Rafi's singing made it a moving tribute
to Bapu.
A versatile voice, such as his, fitted every one and he
could sing for every occasion. Where Hemant Kumar was identified as
Pradeep Kumar's voice, Mukesh was Raj Kapoor's, Kishore Kumar was dev
Anand's and Rajesh Khanna's, and Talat, to begin with, was Dilip
Kumar's, it cannot be said that Rafi was identified as any one actor's
voice though he did regulary sing for Dilip Kumar nor could it be said
of him, as used to be said for some of the other singers that any
particular music director favoured him. Whether it was Naushad or C.
Ramchandra, SD Burman or Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan or OP Nayyar —
all chose him to sing their songs. And he, in turn, did full justice
to them. The one male singer after Saigal, who caught every one's ear,
Rafi's popularity remained undimmed in the face of acute challenge
from Mukesh and others. It was only Kishore Kumar in the
post-Aaradhana phase who could hold a candle to Rafi. But, and this
may sound incredible and even blashemous to Kishore Kumar fans, and I
am one, OP Nayyar chose Rafi to sing Man mora bawara in ‘Raagini' for,
yes, Kishore Kumar! That was an undeniable stamp of class on Rafi, and
Kishore showed his own class by graciously agreeing to this
arrangement.
Many budding singers have taken inspiration from Rafi and
done their best to copy him, be his clone. It is a measure of Rafi's
greatness that none has come close to even cloning him. Not many of
today's singers would be able to do justice to the songs of ‘Junglee',
‘Janwar', ‘Sangam' et al. But, had Rafi been around today, surely he
would have, in his inimitable style, rendered Kuch Na Kaho, Ek ladki
ko dekha, Kuch kuch hota hai, and Kaho na pyaar hai. Such was the
man's genius that 20 years after he has been gone, one still longs to
hear him, misses him. May he rest in peace.
SKalra902
>
> Nikhil Kumar
>
Who is this Nikhil Kumar - who does not even know (or can not count) that it is
Rafi's 21st death anniversary, not 20th!
This reminds me of a popular radio show host whom I called when, while doing a
Mukesh's death anniversary special a few years go, he announced Mukesh's death
year being 1978! Even after being told that Mukesh's death occured in 1976,
not 1978, he did not announce the correction on the program. Ego problems, I
guess.
Or the lack of willingness to do a reasonably thorough research!
Happy listenings.
Satish Kalra
Gaurav Sareen
"SKalra902" <skal...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010711221138...@ng-fq1.aol.com...
Vijay Kumar
"sajjadmq" <smq...@fedex.com> wrote in message
news:a5a1b7ee.01071...@posting.google.com...
> Tribute to Mohammed Rafi on his 20th death anniversary
>
> Nikhil Kumar
>ghazals
> (Kahtay hai ke Ghalib ka, Ghazab kiya tere waadet pe aitbaar kiya, Hum
> bekhudi mein tumko pukarey chaley gaye),
The last one is not a ghazal!
Vijay Kumar
surjit singh
> How do you know that this article is not a year old?
Actually, it is. It was published in the Hindustan Times, please see
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/300700/fea.htm
I found this by typing "nikhil rafi tribute" in a search engine.
I guess that's recycling for you!
No harm in alluding to old material, but instead of wasting bandwidth,
would it not be better to point to a link? Also, one may quote
relevant parts of old material if one wants to add something original
or even mildly interesting.
Kids, we need a massive rewrite of our FAQ.
On a related note, shouldn't some rafi fan/s (like sami bhai, or other
raffians) be collecting and archiving stuff like this in one place for
all to read and enjoy?
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
Veena Nayak
surjit...@yahoo.com says...
>
>
>Kids, we need a massive rewrite of our FAQ.
>
Uncle Singh, I am working on it. As with most
things, it is taking longer than I thought it
would.
Veena