Dharmender and Rafi combination in the 60s
By Souvik Chatterji
Mohd Rafi with Dharamender
Dharmender had a grand combination with musical maestro Mohammad Rafi which contributed the most in the major part of his acting career which glorified bollywood films for more than 40 years. Dharmender and Rafi’s combination was unique for a number of reasons. Firstly Dharmender was not attached to any big banner in the early part of his career like Dilip Kumar with Bimal Roy or Shammi Kapoor with Shakti Shamanta. Secondly Dharmender played prominent roles opposite senior actors in many films in the early part of his career like Balraj Sahani in Haqeekat, Rajender Kumar in Ayee Milan Ki Bela, Raj Kumar in Kajal, to name a few. For those reasons, different composers composed music in the films of Dharmender and most of them were sung by great Rafi Sahab.
In the film Shola Aur Shabnam, composer Khayyam’s soft passionate compositions for Rafi were given adequate expression by Dharmender, like “dhunti yeh ankhen mujhme”, “jeet hi lenge baazi hum tum”, “pehle to aankh milna”, “phool ko dhoonde pyaasa bhawra”. The lyrics of Kaifi Azmi touched the hearts of numerous film lovers. In the film Neela Akash, all the songs composed by Madan Mohan for Rafi were brilliant including “aakhri geet muhobbat ka sunalun”, “pyar woh shaye hai aye mere yaaron” and “aapko pyaar chupane ki buri aadat hai”.
In the film Baharen Phir Bhi Aayegi, Rafi’s ghazal “aap ki haseen rukh” composed by OP Nayyar and picturised on Dharmender was extremely romantic and made the audience spellbound in the early 60s. In the film Yakeen, the title song “yakeen karlo”, “baharon ki baraat aa gayi” and “ghar tum bhula na doge” composed by Shankar Jaikishan for Rafi had all its romantic appeal embedded other than the melodious orchestration.
In the film Mere Humdum Mere Dost, all the songs of Rafi composed by LP for Dharmender including “hui sham unka”, “na jaa kabhi aab na ja” and “chalkaye jam” were masterpieces which became super hit in the mid-60s. All the songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan in the film Pyar Hi Pyar for Rafi became super hit including “mai kahin kavi na banjayun”, “abhi salaamat abhi hai zinda”, “dekha hai teri aankhon me”, “tu meri mai teri”, etc. Roshan’s composition for Dharmender in the film Mamta titled “in baharon me akela na phiro” also became super hit.
Mohd Rafi with Dharamender
Also Madan Mohan’s compositions for Rafi in Dharmender’s film Aap Ki Parchayiya require special mention. His ghazal andaz was evident in the songs “yehi hai tamanna tere darke” where the lyrics were written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. The songs of Dharmender’s film Izzat composed by LP were brilliant by every musical standard. The best of them included “lute dilpe diya jalta nahi hum kya Karen”.
LP was involved in music composition in a number of Dharmender’s films. Among them in Aye Din Bahar Ke, all the songs were melodious including “khudaya khair”, “mera dushman tu meri dosti”, to name a few. Also all the songs in the film Aya Sawan Jhumke were smash hits including “o majhi chal”, “aya sawan jhumke”, etc. LP continued to utilize Dharmender Rafi combination in films like Jivan Mrityu, Lalkar, Maa, Aaspas, etc. Prominent songs included “jhilmil sitaron ka”, “o maa tujhe dhundhoo kahan”, etc.
The songs in the film Chandan Ka Palna were equally melodious. RD Burman used Rafi for the songs “bahe pavan mand sugandh”, “tumhe dekha hai maine gulsitan mai”, “zulfon ko aap yun na sawaara karo”. Composer Ravi gave impressive music in the film Ankhen. Rafi’s song “tere paas aake mera waqt guzar jata hai” was very impressive. Shankar Jaikishan’s compositions for Rafi in Dharmender’s film Shikar, including “shikar karne ko aye”, were also successful. SD Burman used Rafi in Dharmender’s film Ishq Par Zor Nahin. The songs “yeh dil diwana hai” and “mehbooba teri tasveer” had his latent folk touch. The other notable songs of Rafi in the 60s for Dharmender included “dil ne phir yaad kiya” sung with Mukesh, in the film Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya.
In the film Dulhan Ek Raat Ki, Madanmohan’s composition for Rafi titled “ek haseen sham ko dil mera kho gaya” still mesmerizes the audience. Rafi’s other songs in the film included “kisika kuch kho gaya” and “zindagi dulhan hai aadhi raat ki”. Ravi used Rafi in Dharmender’s film Phool Aur Patthar, in the songs “mere dil ke andar” and “tum kaun”.
In the 70s, as RD Burman and SD Burman used other singers for Dharmender, the evergreen combination of Rafi with Dharmender was seen in lesser number of films. Articles after articles can be devoted to the combination of Rafi and Dharmender, as the music produced for the combination was of diversified quality with compositions of giants like Madan Mohan, Ravi, Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarellal, Roshan, OP Nayyar , and others and lyricists like Kaifi Azmi, Hasrat Jaipuri, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, to name a few. That is the reason why the films and the songs of the hit combination should be preserved.
Mr. Souvik Chatterji, the author of this article
April 22nd, 2010 at 8:11 pm
JAANE KYA HO JAYE JAB DIL SE DIL TAKRAYE SACH HAIN PEHLE PEHLE LAGTA HAIN DAR.CHECK THIS SONG ON UTUBE.WHAT A VOICE COMBO OF LATA RAFI.I DONT THE FILM NAAM.IT DARMENDRA AND NEETU SINGH.CAN ANYBODY GIVE ME THIS FILM NAME
April 25th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Post # 51
This beautiful romantic duet of Rafi/Lata is from the movie, “Aaina”, composed by Naushad and lyrics by Jan Nisar Akhtar. This movie was released in 1973.
Long live Rafi Sahab,
Dr. Khaja Aliuddin
April 25th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
DEAR SOUVIK AS USUAL A NOBLE ATTEMPT BUT WEAK RESEARCH, MAJORITY OFF GEM SONGS LIKE – PHIR WOH BHOOLI SI – BEGAANA, MUJHE DARD- E -DIL KA PATA NA THA – AAKASHDEEP WERE QUOTED BY OTHERS,
AFTER READING ALL THE MAILS I AM COMMENTING ON MY CHILDHOOD IDOL ( THE BEST COMBINATION ) AND THE HEADING SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RESTRICTED TO 60`S , THE COMBINATION CONTINUED TILL THE DEATH AND AFTER AFTERWARDS ALSO.
I FONDLY REMEMBER THE FILM `TEESRI AANKH ` GOT RELEASED AFTER THE DEATH OF RAFI SAAB AND THERE WERE FULL PAGE ADS`IN FILM WEEKLY- SCREEN WITH A HEADING THREE IMMORTAL SONGS BY THE IMMORTAL SINGER.
FURTHER I DO NOT FIND ANY MENTION OF DUETS BY RAFI SAAB ON DHARAMJI,
SPECIALLY ONE OF THE BEST PIANO SONGS – JEET HI LENGE BAAZI HUM TUM – FROM SHOLA AUR SHABNAM,
YEH DIL TUM BIN LAGTA NAHIN – IZZAT
CHALA BHI AA- MAN KI AANKHEN
AB DO DILON KI MUSHKIL – POOJA KE PHOOL
KABHI ITHLA KE CHALTE HO – AAP KI PARCHAIYAN
MAIN SOORAJ HOON TU MERI – DIL NE PHIR YAAD KIYA
SAATHIYA NAHIN JAANA – AAYA SAWAN JHOOM KE
YEH DIL DEEWANA HAI – ISHQ PAR ZOR NAHIN
TERE NAIN MERE NAIN – RAKHWALA
PYAAR SE DIL BHAR DE – KAB KYON AUR KAHAN
AND MANY MORE
IN ONE OF THE MAILS -UTTRAJI HAD MENTIONED THE QAWALI OF AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY VIZ BIG B,
IN THE SAME WAY THE SUCCESS OF DHARAMVEER ( ANOTHER BLOCKBUSTER BY DIE HARD RAFI SAAB BHAKAT – THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER MANMOHAN DEASI SAAB ) WAS THE SONGS
1 ) O MERI MEHBOOBA
2 ) MAINE TUJHKO CHAHA YEH HAI MERI MEHERBAANI
THE COMBINATION OF RAFI SAAB AND DHARAMJI CONTINUED TILL AASPAAS AND LATER ON TEESRI AANKH,PROFESSOR PYARELAL ETC.
I DID NOT WANTED TO COMMENT ON KISHOREFAN, BUT I WANTED TO TELL HIM THAT HE SHOULD LISTEN TO SONGS OF `PHANDEBAAZ` MUSIC RDB AND THE SONGS – DUNIYA MEIN PAISE BINA KAISE HUM JEEYENGE ,
MOHABBAT MEIN AJI KYA AAP AND THE TITLE SONG ( THAT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH )
April 26th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
thanks dr khaja aliuddin shahab for the film name aaina
April 26th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Arora ji,
Pocketmaar was a flop. But there is a zabardast song in it ___ one of the best examples of Rafi-Dharam ___ Banda parvar mein kahan yeh aapki tasveer kahan. In this song especially, you would think Dharmendra sang it. Rafi saab at his best for Dharam. In Resham ki dori, there is Sone ke gehne kyun tune pehne…not my fave song.
One of the best duets where Rafi saab sounds like Dharm is Kuch kehta hai yeh sawn from Mera Gaon Mera Desh. Like Rafi saab used to capture the andaz of Shammi, similarly, he brought out the essence of Dharmendra ___his adas __ in every song. A heavenly combination.
Another fine example ___ Mehbooba teri tasveer __ from Ishq par zor nahin. In Tum haseen mein jawan, we have chehra chehra masha allah and Dil achcha hai achch hai surat and Aapko pehle bhi kahin dekha hai. We have Dil kahe ruk ja re rukja and Chala bhi aa from man ki ankhen.
I can go on and on. I better stop.
With musical regards
Utthara
April 27th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
In reply to Kishorefan,
Initially I thought there was no need to comment on the reference made in respect of Rafi’s combination with Dharmender in the 60s, because his focus was on the songs mostly composed on the 70s. He spoke about Chacha Bhatija, Sholay, Jugnu, Ram Balram, none of which had been released in the 60s.
There was deliberate reason for bringing the reference to the 60s, because if the readers had read the first two paragraphs, they would have understood, that the songs sung by Rafi for Dharmender during the 60s not only were melodious, but were composed by diversified groups of composers and lyricists.
I had referred OP Nayyar in Baharen Phir Bhi Ayegi, whose style of composition had no similarilty with ghazal ka shehzada Madanmohan whose compositions in Dharmender’s films Neela Akash, Aap Ki Parchaiyan, etc., had stormed bollywood in the mid-60s. Shankar Jaikishan, Khayyam, Ravi, all contributed in Dharmender’s films, and as usual Rafi’s songs in those films had remain everlasting gems. Laxmikant Pyarellal probably was the music composer who had composed in most number of films of Dharmender, and Rafi had almost the soul of Dharmender in those films.
The tragedy with respect to comment of Kishorefan, was that, nowhere in the entire writing there was any regard shown to any singer in the country excepting Kishore. Manna Dey had sung landmark song for Dharmender “zindagi hai khel” in the film Seeta Aur Geeta, Mukesh had sung songs for Dharmender in a number of films, Hemant Kumar had sung songs in the film Khamoshi, Bhupinder Singh had sung song for Dharmender in the film Kinara, “ek hi khwab kai baar dekha hai maine”. Although their songs were much less than Rafi in number, their songs also had appealed to the audience.
If a music lover cannot appreciate the singing of these musical giants, then the music lover should think twice before writing anything.
Besides statements were made saying that in the late 70s, male voice was looked for, not a classical voice. In reply to that, it can be very well said, the music lover who hates the qualification of a classical singer, does not understand music at all.
In India, classic based singers had glorified bollywood films by just showing their level of excellence in one or two songs in landmark films, Bhimsen Joshi in the film Basant Bahar composed by Shankar Jaikishan, or Bare Ghulam Ali Khan in Mughal-i-azam composed by Naushad. If Rafi or Manna Dey, had classical orientation it was their gifted talent and rigourous musical practice which had reoriented their voices. Landmark composers could experminent with them only due to the jugglery of the voice that could be shown by them. In fact ghazals, or qawallies or pure classical numbers cannot be sung without that orientation.
The other factor which created lack of knowledge was only the association of RD Burman with Kishore Kumar in songs of Dharmender. Any admirer of Kishore Kumar should have the honesty to appreciate the compositions of other composers other than RD Burman in hit songs of KK. SD Burman’s composition in Jugnu, or Naya Zamana had a style of his own, Kalyanji Anandji, and other composers also composed songs in Dharmender’s films sung by KK.
So, it is a message to anyone who wants to comment any article, is firstly try to hear more songs of different lyricists and compositions, develop some understanding and then make remarks.
The films having Rafi and Dharmender combination should be restored.
Souvik Chatterji.
May 16th, 2010 at 4:47 am
One favorite song of mine is from Lofar”aaj mausam bada baiman hai”this song too is a fine example of how Rafi could sing in the style of actor on the screen.By listening to songs picturised on Dilip kumar,Rajender kumar,shashi kapoor,Shammi kapoor, Johny Walkeretc you can make out on whom the song have been filmed.Such was the amazing quality of Rafi that stands him apart from other singers.Rafi’s songs for Dharmendra really brought magic to the listners and to the movie viewrs.Hats off Rafi Saab.No wonder that even so many years after his death we continue talking, listening the singer and make our best moments that takes to a listening pleasure out of this world.”Tu Aas Pass Hai Mere Dost “
August 2nd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Scientifically, there are billions of SUNS ( STARS) in the universe, thousands of moons, but RAFI IS ONLY ONE..SO DO NOT COMPARE HIM WITH SUN OR MOON
August 5th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Diwakar ji,
It is only an expression. You, I and people with astronomical understanding only know that what we call Sun is only one of the millions of stars in the galaxy and is closest to the earth. In fact we on earth are on its orbit.
Rafi saab’s followers are just in thar comparison as we all say similar things to express ourselves. If you do not believe ask a mother what she calls her son, in all probability a moon.
No offence here.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Can anyone deny that the best song in the dharam-hema fil ‘charas’ is +
‘ke aaja teri yaad aayi which rafi sang so sincerely with lata ? Surely it rates very high in even l-p songs. In my opinion it is among the top in lata-rafi duets if i make a list of 50 +. In that list Kuch kehta hai yeh sawan and Yeh dil deewana hai will also feature.
Recently Dharam ji appeared on a t.v. reality show of ‘indian idol’ which is a singer’s competetion. The best among the remaining singers sang three songs in that show –
1. Mehbooba from ‘ dharam veer’
2. Aaj mausam bad beiman hai from ‘ loafer’
3. aaya sawaan jhoom ke – ‘ ” ‘
All three rafi song, and dharamji had to say only one sentence that ‘ Rafi sahab to meri jaan hainaur hamesha rehenge ‘
Another fact relating to RDB -Dharam is many years after rafi sahab death, RDB scored music for ‘Betaab” (Sunny Deol’s debut film). It seems the songs were all composed and ready for recording, lata ji was available but kishore kumar was not free/available. As the director/producer wanted to begin shooting, the songs were recorded using Shabbir kumar & lata mangeshkar. We all know the songs were very good by the standard during that period. who is shabbir kumar? one of the many singers who made their name during the post rafi era as music directors in the industry were conciously looking to fill the gap left by rafi, and trying in vain.
The songs of lata shabbir had turned out so well that those recordings were finalised and used for the film. does that mean even RDB was to miss rafi ? some would say ‘devine justice’.
I think there was one rafi song for Dharmendra in ‘Professor pyarelal ” also.
Rafi had special voices for Dharmendra, Shammi,Shashi, Rishi, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Vinod khanna, Amitabh bachchan, Rajendra kumar, bharat bhushan, pradeep kumar, mehmood, johnny walker, guru dutt, joy mukherjee, even “vijay anand ” (he had a rafi song in film ‘ Kora kagaz” i think), rah babbar, sanjay khan, feroz khan, sunil dutt, mithun chakravorty, Vinod Mehra(gem of a duet by S. D. burman in ‘Auraag), jeetendra, Vijay Arora , Ajit, ‘ balraj & prakshit Sahani’ and many more.
in varsatality in singing capabilitiy he is in competetion only with lata mangeshkar. no one else can come near him. that is for sure.
‘Sun le tu dil ki saada, pyaar is pyaar badha…….”
meri awaaz ka tir, jayegaa dil ko bhi chir,
Na rahun mien na rahe tu, rahegi daastan….
Sun le tu dil ki ………..”
August 8th, 2010 at 12:01 am
kahaaniya sunaati hai, pawan aati jaati,
ek tha diya, ek baati…….
ek din gali gali, aisi kuch hawa chali,
jyot ko chura ke, legaya utha ke,
Dil diye ka buzh gaya, ho gayee baati juda,
phir bhi usne yeh kaha, jyot ko di yeh dua,
tuzh ko koi gam na ho, roshni yeh kam na ho,
tu kisi ke ghar jale, khush rahe phule phale,
film – rajput, on dharmendra,
there was a theme song and holi song also in the same film, sung by rafi
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:40 am
dear souvik chatterji thanx for sharing great article with us i would like to share a documentry on rafi saab produced by films division , i have uploaded in you tube,in 8 parts, also you will find rafi saabs interviews,rare songs,etc etc.also i would like to inform you about the blog dedicated to rafi saab,total over 300 pages are there,you will find rare pictures,and videos of rafi saab,to go to next page,kindly click older posts,you will find bottom of every page,kindly visit this links,take care
http://www.rafifanblog.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/mohamedparvez?feature=mhum
regards
mohamed parvez