Did R.D.Burman really preferred KK over Rafi?
This article is written by Mr.H.V.Guru Murthy.
A regular browser to web site mohdrafi.com, having gone through the letters of Rafi lovers would assume that R D Burman did not utilize Rafi properly, instead he preferred Kishore Kumar. Because of this reason, Rafi Fans are still upset with RDB even though he passed away a decade back.
Yes, it is true that RDB preferred KK over Rafi during early seventies. For that matter, which Music Director or Actor or Producer or Director will not have his preference. It was well known that Raj Kapoor always preferred Mukesh, Manoj Kumar preferred Mukesh or Mahendra Kapoor, B.R.Chopra films had Mahendra, MD Ravi also had plenty of songs with Mahendra so also O.P after he broke with Rafi. Similarly OP always had either Asha or Geetha Dutt and never Lata. Salil also used all other Singers. Director Subba Rao insisted on Mukesh for SAATHI even though the hero was Rajendra Kumar and MD Naushad, two Rafi Fans. Even Kalyanji Anandji had many films with Mahendra Kapoor, Mukesh and KK even though Rafi was instrumental in their raise through JAB JAB PHOOL KHILE, AAMNE SAAMNE, etc. LP, by all means Rafi Bhakts, used KK regularly in the early seventies even for Rafi heroes like Jeetendra, Dharmendra, etc. SJ also switched over to KK in movies like MAIN SUNDAR HOON, DIL DAULAT DUNIYA, KAL AAJ AUR KAL, etc. Of course, the music standard came down a notch or two in that period. But, well, it is their prerogative to have whomsoever they wanted though I am sure in heart of heart, why even openly, they would have admitted the superiority of Rafi over all other Singers. Similarly, RDB also used KK for almost all his movies in the early seventies as perhaps he had some special chemistry with him.
However, let us not forget that RDB used Rafi extensively during late sixties as his main playback singer right from the first movie. He gave hit music with Rafi in TEESRI MANZIL, NAQLI NAWAAB, CARAVAN, PYAAR KA MAUSAM, THE TRAIN, ABHILASHA, ADHIKAR, RATON KA RAAJA, etc. Later during late seventies he returned to Rafi and gave hits like SHAAN, HUM KISISE KUM NAHIN, ABDULLAH, ZAMANE KO DIKHANA HAI, etc. In between, he had Rafi in CHANDI SONA qawali with Mannadey (Ek Shok Hasina Se), YADON KI BAARAT (Title song and who can forget the duet with Asha Chura Liya Hai Tumne), DIL KA BAADSHAH (this Raj Kumar starrer had all songs by Rafi), THE GREAT GAMBLER (Raftasa Mera Naam), SHEHZADA (Solo Tere Attaroo and duet with Lata Kaahe Ko Bulaya), etc.
If a person cannot appreciate the greatness of Rafi, then it can be safely concluded that the person does not have a sense of music. Of course, RDB was a good MD though not a great MD like Naushad, Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar, SDB, etc. RD would have definitely known the great qualities of Rafi, the Singer. Just because he did not use Rafi extensively as one would expect, let us not degrade this MD who gave us some good songs in CHANDAN KA PALNA, PADOSAN, HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA, MERE JEEVAN SAATHI, AJNABEE, AMAR PREM, SANAM TERI KASAM, BHOOT BANGLA, BAHARON KE SAPNE (Rafi solo Zamane Ne Maare), PARICHAY, KINAARA, APNA DESH, ZAHREELA INSAAN, RAMPUR KA LAKSHAMAN (Pyaar Ka Samay with Lata, KK and Rafi), 1942 – A LOVE STORY, KATI PATANG to certain extent, etc. though he gave some very mediocre music in films like DEEWAR, SHOLAY, KITAAB, ZAKHMEE, RAFOO CHAKKAR, NAMKEEN, DHARAM KARAM and BIWI O BIWI (so un-RK film like), etc. so many forgettable movies as for as music was concerned.
The irony of RDB was either he gave good music or petered out to a very mediocre music in so many films. I read some where that Shashi Kapoor called RD as National Anthem Music Director. In those days, theatres used to play National Anthem at the end of the movie and the Hall doors used to be shut till the completion of the Anthem. As soon as the Anthem used to commence, our in-disciplined people used to rush to the Hall Door and wait for the door opening. Similarly, whenever RDB songs commenced in most of the movies, people used to rush to toilet.
Still, it is not fair that we use harsh and sometimes, un-parliamentary language against any body if they differ with our views. We cannot forget the contribution of all these MDs, Heroes, Singers, Directors, etc. in making the Indian Film Music so rich.
April 5th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Refer Post No. 448. I fully agree with Mr. Hussein Sheikhji. Salil was potentially a good MD, but he can never be bracketed with other greats like Naushad, SDB, SJ, MM and OPN who had more popular and path breaking songs. It appears he was also highly prejudiced while selecting Singers. All his songs were good, but never great, because his Singers had limitations and did not have the “RANGE” to sing all types of songs. Though his songs in films like Madhumati, Anand, Poonam Ki Raat, Maya, Mere Apne, etc. were good mainly with Mukesh as the Singer, still he could reach a different altar with better and higher “RANGE” for his Singers in songs like “Koi Sone Ke Dilwala”, Tasveer Teri Dilme”, “Zindahi Hai Kya, Sun Meri Jaan” (all from MAYA), “Toote Huye Khabo Ne” (MADHUMATI) and “Dil Tadape Tadapaye” (POONAM KI RAAT) beacause the Singer was Rafi. Alas, because of his prejudice, he lost the oppertunity of giving much more memorable songs.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
ref to p 448::
salil never reached the position as attained by naushad,sdb,sj,mm,roshan…
but don’t put l-p over salil, salil was consistent with his melodies throughout his career but l-p wasn’t, although l-p were also great in their own rights…
April 4th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Re. post 446: Salil Chowdhary made some good music, but never reached on top, he was just ok, if he had worked with Rafi Saheb, his position would have been as like SJ, LP, etc…
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Ref - 446
Salil Chaudhari has composed max songs with Lata Mangeshkar compared to any male counterpart.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
ref to p 445::
best music director ever happened without mohd rafi is salil chaudhary beyond any doubt… salil crafted the maximum number of beauties without mohd rafi ji, as far as sj & lp concerned, both were great but their most number of hit songs or movies had the involvement of rafi ji in them…
April 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
As said that KA didn’t used Mohd Rafi much that true but Ka came famous because Mohd rafi if am not wrong if we compare his music without Mohd rafi I think he had few hit films I think most hit flim was Don without Mohd Rafi and that was because of mr Big B.
I don’t remmber any hit flim as music by RD without Mohd rafi i think the LP had more hit flims without Mohd rafi than RD.
I think the best music directors without mohd Rafi are SJ and LP as i think..
April 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
As said that KA didn’t used Mohd Rafi much that true but Ka came famous because Mohd rafi if am not wrong if we compare his music without Mohd rafi I think he had few hit films I think most hit flim was Don without Mohd Rafi and that was because of mr Big B.
I don’t remmber any hit flim as music by RD without Mohd rafi i think the LP had more hit flims without Mohd rafi than RD.
I think the best music directors without mohd Rafi are SJ and LP as i think..
March 31st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Ref to Post - 442
KA were never loyalist to any singer as such, they always sailed with the time. They were equally success with all singers. They have used Mukesh, Manna Dey, Rafi, Kishore, Manhar, Mahendra K, etc. all equally well. They were totally different from all music composers.
Coming to RDB, his success rate with Mukesh and Rafi was much more compared to KK. KK has sung more than 500 songs for RDB. If we evaluate the % number of hits which KK has given, it will be much less than Rafi and Mukesh. Mukesh has sung the least number of songs for RDB, but all are hits. So is the case with Rafi and Manna Dey as well. In the 80s and Mukesh and Rafi were not there he had much less hits with KK. That became one of main factors for his downfall.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:39 am
People always criticise RDB for giving preference to KK rather than MR. But a fact which people perhaps have not noticed is that even KA gave more prference to MK and Mukesh. In fact KA in their much longer association with Rafi have only very few films where Rafi is the “MAIN” Singer like Jab Jab Phool Khile, Aamne Saamne, Raja Babu, Hasina Maan Jayegi, Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati, Rakhwala, Kab Kyoon Aur Kahan, Ishara, Jee Chahta Hai. In all other movies including Rafi heroes like Jeetendra, he had Mukesh or MK (Parivaar, Vishwas, Ek Hasina Do Deewane, etc.) as their “MAIN” Singer. Of course, KA would always give one good song to Rafi mostly with Lata in most of their movies like Haath Ki Safai, Zanjeer, Gopi, Upkaar, etc. RDB in his much lesser association with Rafi had him as his main playback Singer in so many movies like Caravan, Chandan Ka Palna, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, Abdullah, Shaan, The Train, Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, Mela, Teesri Manzil, etc.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
ref to p :: 439,
mr.myk,
jab ek kaza se guzaro is another great rendition by rafi ji, and excellent shayari by gulzar, i like his slangy kind of poetry, and as usually pancham is doing experiments with rhythm, guitar & tabla together… and i also like that interlude immediately after mukhda, chorus also adding to the charm of the song…
this is among the few good solos that were made in late 70s, and notice that even at the age of 50+ rafi’s voice is as heavenly as it is used to be in 60s, he is reaching the high notes with same ease, no any strain, hard to tell any flaw even at the age of 50+.. this is the trait of greatest singer..
here is a link to the quawwali by lp from movie “deedare-yaar”, just check out what great height of singing he is reaching even at the age of 56.. ultimate range without being unstable, and his voice is still youthful .. great singer!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1kr5tffq3Eo
March 27th, 2008 at 11:13 am
MR SUraj
Don’t be so silly.It is a wll known fact that RDB was biased towards Kishore and I myself stated that he has the power to do that.Then why are you crying?.If you go through the pages here you can see more silly things.So Better Go Kishore Site which is almost orphan without any activities.This site is for Rafians to discuss the about Rafi saab and his songs.
March 27th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Thanks for your choices Mr. Haldar, Mr. XXX and MR. H.V. Guru Murthy, they’re all very interesting.
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Mr. H.V. Guru Murthy,
I made it ten so that it would be a challenging exercise, since there are so many great RD-Rafi songs.
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Mr. Haldar,
I agree, we should also be discussing the Rafi loyalists a lot, but even with RD, he gave many excellent songs to Rafi which is great for discussion material. As Mr. XXX pointed out, RD is known as a Kishore composer, but that shouldn’t be the case, he should be known for his Rafi songs as well, since they form an important and unique space in his career.
Many of RD’s best songs came through Rafi. RD is also one of Rafi’s Top 10 composers in terms of overall numbers, and the combo has a lot of quality as well. As much as I love all the other legendary composers, (the majority of whom were Rafi loyalists), RD is also one of my most favourite composers. He may not be a favourite of many Rafians, but for me he’s right up there with the best. He was a trend-setter, very innovative, and he combined the best of the east and the west. He also was great in classical-based music and his combination with Rafi-saab was brilliant. He changed the sound of music, and he did that with Rafi.
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Mr. XXX,
“Kya takalluf hai wallah” is an excellent qawwali, it has a cool arabic touch to it as well, a nice melody and Rafi does a fantastic job as usual. I think its the best song of the film, and Rafi saab shows his class yet again in this song. I fully agree, I also feel Pancham was the best modern-day qawwali composer, and the next best qawwali composer after Roshan. You are right L-P also composed fantastic qawwalis, but I would rate RD’s qawwalis ahead.
Mr. XXX, I agree “Maine poocha chand se” and “Hum jab ek saath hai” are two of the best songs from the 80’s. I would like to add “Pal do pal ka saath hamara”, so these three songs would make it to the Top 10 songs of the 80’s.
There is a Rafi song “Jab ek kaza se guzro to” from the film Devta, written by Gulzar and composed by Pancham. It’s a nice song, what are your views on this composition ?.
I also agree that RD revolutionized film music with Rafi in TM and HKKN. Also add to that all the other innovative experiments he did with Rafi.
Compare the two combo’s, RD-Kishore to RD-Rafi. In my view, about half of RD-Kishore is nothing great, the other half consists of classics, great songs etc., but the ratio of quality to quantity overall is not very high.
Now take the RD-Rafi combo, the ratio of quality to quantity is very high, and the songs have more repeat value and are more everlasting than songs from the KK-RD combo. Also, one thing that Rafi brought to RD songs that KK could not replicate is “melody”.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
sorry big glaring typo: “of course i’m not promoting the crap by ____” it should have read RAJU BHARATAN!
rd burman was a kind soul! here’s one example of the kind of person he was (and the story indirectly involved rafi sahab too)…
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/07/20/stories/09200708.htm
a dejected son of madan mohan is about to leave until pancham happily notices him and gets him to rafi sahab.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
rafian1: a music director is allowed to have his preferences and decide who he is most comfortable working with. just like sj giving rafi 340+ songs, similarly with lp, chitragupta, ravi - are they not good people either? of course not. your statements are silly and intolerant.
rd burman was a very kind soul. the rdb - rafi pair was great, they clicked 90% of the time, but there were instances where it seems rafi & rd burman did not understand each other. like the way rafi always understood shankar jaikishan or op nayyar. likewise rd burman and kishore kumar shared that chemistry. of course i’m not promoting the crap by rd burman (way over exaggerated and made up). it is just that we must recognize singer - md pairings in hf.
by the time rafi sahab had recorded poocho na yaar kya hua - his voice was past his best to sing songs where you had to go to low scale imho (i could be wrong). either that or he was not in best health which indirectly made his voice not as perfect as in mid 60s. i also believe that of all singers, rafi was the most sensitive to the poor quality of sound recording in his times. i was listening to tum se door rehke on super cd quality and his voice sounded clean and milky. listen to it on youtube (crap quality sound source) and the sound of his voice is compromised (and you wrongly blame the singer rather than the recording). rafi sahab had that velvety voice known for its milky perfection so too much noise in recording or distortions would especially interefere. still, end result was always very good i’m just nitpicking as i hold rafi sahab in very high standards.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
excellent post haldar ji - we should definitely talk more about ravi. he was an outstanding composer who made indelible marks on all singers - and our rafi sahab was no exception.
kishore: dilli ka thug; yeh raate yeh mausam is one of my all time favorites. C A T Cat is an evergreen fun song that suited the movie perfectly. i believe ravi penned the lyrics too!
manna dey: one of THE most famous songs of all time: aye mere zohdrajabeen. loved it!
mahendra kapoor: ravi was his best composer imo.
and then of course our own rafi sahab! we definitely need to discuss the ravi - rafi combo.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
ref to p:: 432
haldar ji,
you do have a point and this is possibly my last entry to this thread but i think the bulk of the post in this thread only shows that rdb was most controversial, believe me he is not even in my top 5 mds list. now a days in papers you will get more column on himmesh reshamiya rather than jagjeet singh, it doesn’t mean that himmesh is greater, rather he is more controversial, and indians love controversies…..
only thing i want to add finally is kalyan ji-anand ji also ignored rafi ji but why there has not been any thread like “did ka really preferred kk over rafi in 70s”.. why only pancham targeted?? why don’t ka,khyyam and others? and i don’t think that pancham’s preference to kishore harm rafi ji at all…
plz don’t forget that truly golden eras were 50s and 60s, ruled by great singer rafi ji. so my advice is just take the music of 70s as an introduction of variety into music, where singer who was true rafi ji fan got his dues. by the way we have lots of songs of rafi ji too from 70s to enjoy us for our whole life..
March 26th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Enough is written about RD Burman, who copied may western tunes. He was KK’s composer and never cared for Rafi Saheb. When he knew KK had no guts to sing the said song, he would make Rafi Saheb to sing it. Here in this site, we should talk about music directors who preferred Rafi Saheb. I agree with Mr. P. Haldar (post # 432).
March 26th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Haldar ji…..
you said it.. thanks for the very appropriate comments.
asli ghee aur shuddh doodh ki halwa-ein kisko nahi pasand hai…
let’s talk of real heroes and composers from the “golden age of
hindi cinema”.
binu nair….. mumbai…the rafi foundation,,,,, 9833 250 701
March 26th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
myk and xxx, I think we should stop giving undue prominence to rd on this forum. There are many other md’s who gave much better songs to rafi saab and we should acknowledge those loyalists. Why not talk about someone who helped us appreciate the beauty of a woman through the splendour of a full moon, who made the ustadon ke ustad promise us that he will be born a hundred times, that he will never leave us? He is still around but we don’t talk about him, despite the fact that he has composed so many outstanding songs for the farishta.
What started this thread was a comment — some may say an indavertent one — on my part. But I stick to what I had said earlier. Here’s the central thesis of my comment: Gulzar made Jumping Jack wear glasses and sport a moustache to make him look serious, RD thought he had found his dad’s sahir in Gulzar, and they all thought they could create history with Kishore. The only problem is that when the Jeetu-Kishore combo tries to be serious, it becomes a comedy of epic proportion. Sorry if I have offended anyone, but that’s my view and nothing you say will ever change that.
Let’s give more coverage to the loyalists: naushad, op, mm, ravi, sj, chitragupta, lp, usha khanna and sonik omi.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
here is the link to the quawwali by rafi ji, bhupinder & asha from the movie jail yatra::
http://www.esnips.com/doc/594b83dc-3823-4a93-8c86-1e57c861f66f/Kya-Takalluf-Hai-Walla-RafiBhupinder-SinghAsha
March 26th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
R.D.B May be a great M.D.But Not a great humen being.Why I think so?.He was biased.
Definitly he has the power to choose anybody to sing his songs.But he showed no mercy to the greatest singer of alltime,more over the kindest personality hfm has ever witnessed.Look at the % of songs to Kishore & Rafi 561:120(83:17).This figure shows he was just too biased.Instead he could have been little more fair to Rafi saab may be 440:240(65:35).Any way it was his choice and Rafi saab could n’t have done much about it.Still when R.D.B called Rafi saab to sing in late 70s he open heartedly accepted.That shows humbleness of our Rafi saab.No eago,No complex.What a gem of a person.A person like him will not be born again.Sure.
My fav rdb songs for Rafi saab are
Wadiyam mera daman
&
Tumhe dekha hain mein ne
March 26th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
mr. myk, mr.haldar, mr. gurumurthy,
plz express your views on the quawwali “kya takalluf hai walla” from the movie jail yatra(1981) by rafi ji, bhupi & asha,.. i think pancham was next best quawwali composer happened after roshan ji, although laxmi-pyare also composed some great quawwalis wd rafi ji but pancham’s experiments with quawwalis made them somehow special than others..
March 26th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
manish ji,
yes, agreed, variety should be there as given by those so called non rafi composers, infact i take it in other way, inspite of so many biases and groups among great artists in the film industry like raj kapoor-mukesh, manoj kumar,br chopra - mk,mukesh… salil- talat,manna,hemant rd- kishore….. rafi ji always came out as a winner…
March 26th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
mr. myk,
its a tough job to rank top 10 rd-rafi sons , well im citing here 10 fav rd-rafi songs of mine from the respective years…
year movie song
1961 - chhote nawab - illahi tu sun le..
1966 - teesri manzil - deewana mujhsa nahi..
1967 - chandan ka palna - tumhe dekha hai maine..
1968 - abhilasha - vaadiya mera daaman
1969 - pyar ka mausam - ni sultana re
1970 - The train - gulabi aakhen
1973 - yaado ki baarat - chura liya hai..
1977 - hum kisise kum nahi - kya hua tera vaada
1980 - abdullah - Maine poocha chand se
1980 - bulandi - hum jab ek saath hain fir ….
mr.myk, i consider my last two mentioned songs as best songs from 80s, wat do you think??
i think the few songs which come close to these two are,
1.chupke chupke raat din from nikaah
2. tere mere beech mein from edkl
3. dil cheez kya hai aap meri from umraao jaan
4. tujhse naaraz nahi from masoom
5. mera kuch saamaan from ijaazat…..
but rafi ji’s silken touch raising the compositions of maine poocha & hum jab ek sath to the great heights, that nikaah gazal is no doubt great but still i feel, that bulandi asha ji - rafi ji gazal is slightly at upper hand, although it is nowhere in the list of rafi ji’s great gazals but as you also mentioned earlier that this song is really melodious one…
March 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am
And here’s Manohari Singh playing “gulabi aankhen” on sax:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=J_X6ohCV4Ak&feature=related