Mohd Rafi

Khayyam is a fine music director who created his own niche in HFM. But, he had to be among those highly talented, but not-so-fortunate, music directors. The main reason is, of course, lack of big banner films in his fold!

Khayyam actually started music direction in late forties under the name of “Sharma Ji”. Probably, only after mid-fifties did he revert back to his own original name.

Once in 1961, after Shola Aur Shabnam, Khayyam was seriously contemplating a total change in his style of music hoping that it would lead to greater success. But, in Khayyam’s own words on Vividhbharati, he was once passing by S.D.Burman who then advised him not to change his own natural style at any cost! Read the rest of this entry »

Mohd Rafi

Mubarak Begum was a singer known only for her peculiar, nasal voice. Her vocal range and singing prowess had many limitations, of course. In my humble view, as a singer, she could attain only limited success that was just proportionate to her abilities!! However, in one interview of hers, she seemed to blame Suraiya for blocking her progress! Well, that is a different story for a different time!!

With Rafi Saab, she had the opportunity of singing about 10 duets, of which the only one that became very popular is from Film: Hamraahi (1963), composed by Shankar Jaikishan. The song is: “Mujhko Apne Gale Lagaa Lo, Ae Mere Hamraahi”. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many MDs who used Rafi Saab for Raj Kapoor in some Films.

But, Shankar Jaikishan have one unique specialty to their credit. They are the first MDs to have ever used Rafi Saab for Raj Kapoor, in Film:Barsat (1949), in a solo, “Main Zindagi Mein Hardam Rota Hi Raha Hoon“. And Film:Barsaat (1949) happens to be SJ’s very first Film too. Read the rest of this entry »

Mohd Rafi

Between 1948 and 1958, Mohammed Rafi Saab had sung over 25 memorable duets with Suraiya. Probably, the first ever Rafi-Suraiya duet was “Taron Bhari Raat Hai Par Tu Kahan” in Film:Kajal-1948, composed by Ghulam Mohammed. Incidentally, Suraiya is known to have sung only for herself and only in Films wherein she was the heroine. Read the rest of this entry »

(Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur – A Compatible Pair) Rafi Saab’s duets with Suman Kalyanpur have one unique characteristic. Both the singers seem to be completely at ease with each other, for Suman Kalyanpur always knew and accepted that she was singing with a distinctly superior male singer. This was so unlike the Rafi-Lata recordings, wherein the high ego of Lata often used to make the recording room intensely tense! Read the rest of this entry »

Rafi Sings For Kishore. We will continue the topic of Rafi Saab’s duets with other male singers in the subsequent parts. But, today, let us take up another theme! The one thing that puts die-hard Kishore Kumar fans instantly on the defensive is the fact that MDs had made Rafi Saab sing at least 6 songs for Kishore Kumar’s acting! This is quite a remarkable occurrence considering that Kishore too was an accomplished singer! Read the rest of this entry »

We all know the famous song, “Saranga Teri Yaad Mein” from film:Saranga (1960) sung by Mukesh and composed by Sardar Malik, father of the present day’s leading MD:Anu Malik. But, not many of us are aware that there is also a shorter version (1:04) of this song, “Saranga Teri Yaad Mein” in the same Film:Saranga(1960), sung by Rafi Saab in a somewhat modified tune. Read the rest of this entry »

We all know many pairs of songs that are somewhat similar in tunes either in the Mukhda or in the Antara, in many cases because both the songs in the pair were based on the same classical Raaga. But, we do not come across very often pairs of songs that are almost identical in tune both in the Mukhda and also the Antara. Today, let us deal with two such pairs, keeping others for a later date. Read the rest of this entry »