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 14th, 2008 at 2:06 am
ref 487
mr anmol singh,
although i have some in store for you…:)
here’s a little something for ya
you wrote: “one could make a silly argument that kishore has a higher hit percentage with naushad than rafi!”. The fact remains KK never sang for Naushad or rather KK never had the range to sing for Naushad’s tunes.”
Naushad did have Kishore sing one song in the 70s (and by virtue of being a Kishore song): Pya Pya Pya Mora Jiya. So Naushad’s hit percentage with Kishore is 100%. See what I mean? (btw on a side note, lol, if you hear the song, you can also guess how Naushad evaluated Kishore as a singer lol. I had to mention it because it is too obious to the listener).
April 13th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
ref to p 496::
people may also laugh at naushad,manna dey,op nayyar,salil, as they think they know more than these legendary artists who placed rdb right there at top most slot of mds , keep laughing, its good for health….
by the way there is huge flaw in your logic bcoz bappi and l-p did the maximum music in 80s with 250 & 200 movies respectively, not rdb, so first get clear with statistics than laugh…
April 13th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Correction to my previous post (492):
The first song I mentioned in that post is from “insaan jaag utha”, not ipzn.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Post 490. “Tere Bina Zindagi” from AANDHI is one of the best picturised duet in Indian Film Industry. Of course, personally I consider “Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua” from SHREE 420 as the best and perhaps ” Rim Zhim Ke Tarane” from KALA PAANI also one of the best. The AANDHI song had wonderful lyrics, good music, excellent rendering by KK and especially Lataji and of course top class acting by Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen. It is still a treat to listen and watch the song.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
This RDB fans really makes all of us laugh.What ever the 80s music were thrash except few films.Since RDB Composed more songs obviously more thrash also came under hi name.Simple logic.Now even his thrash songs are celebrated as ‘gems’ by the so called fans.But after another 50 years he will be remembered for the actual ‘gems’ he composed in 60/70s.
A greatgem of 80 ‘Dheere dheere subah hui’(Haisiyat) by Yesudas.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:50 am
Post : 489…. your long long long note in this thread bored me no
end and hence the reaction. I hope u will also be in peace now.
thank you…
binu nair , rafi foundation….
April 12th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
ref to my previous entry::
correction—-”there was no rafi ji for all of them”
thanks!!….
April 12th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
its not at all fair to repeatedly highlight the bad stuff by rdb, he definitely came up wd excellent songs in 80s too, judge the caliber of md by amount of his good work,and if you go by the bad stuff among 2nd gen composers than lp disappointed us most(i shall give examples)..
here is rdb from 80s for you::
club songs::
1.pucho na yaar kya hua
2.chhodo sanam
two of the best club songs from 80s, and in the first one with rafi ji rhythm after first antra is used first time in hfm, can anyone name me any better club songs than these(from 80s)..
classical songs ::
1.o mrignayani chandramukhi…
nice song in raag desh and deepchandi taal(taal which is normally used in “thumri”), this taal is also first time used in hfm for this song…
2.mere angna aaye re ghanshyam…
nice song in raag bheempalasi, and we can name many more from this genre too
romantic songs::
1.maine poocha chaand se — great number ofcourse…
2.tune o rangile kaisa jaadu kiya
gazals::
1.jab hum ek saath hain fir
2.huzoor is kadar bhi na itrake
and of course there are many well known songs from jeeva,ijazat, sagar, libaas,chatran,musafir,basera,sitara etc etc.
name any one composer who gave so much variety in 80s with quality?.. i rate r.d. burman right at top in 80s too as far as quality is concerned.
please note that here iam not undermining anybody, l-p,k-a & rdb all were great in their own rights.. among them pyarelal was outstanding talent who could compose, conduct, arrange, write the notatinos in both indian and western style…. he is a complete composer… why all these composers deteriorated is because of mediocre film making and mediocre shayari in 80s and of course there was on rafi for all of them,, that is where they all are lagging far behind from truly great mds of 50s & 60s who never compromised with quality..
April 12th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
ref post 485:
mr. abey john, you are right that I like mrs. hope a lot. She does give a lot of nasha, but with the propaganda war that she is now waging, she does not give us a lot of asha. She is technically perfect, but I wouldn’t call her singing mechanical. She does impart a lot of vibrance to her songs. ten years before aradhana, the same director-md pair (shakti samanta - s. d. burman) used the same singer pair (rafi - asha) on another actor-actress pair. Here’s the song from ishq par zor nahin; doesn’t it sound beautiful?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dRIyQVhDIQc
There are many more examples of mrs. hope’s playful antics on the same actress. I mentioned “chain se humko kabhi” in my previous post for another reason. Because she is all about hope, she doesn’t want to give us a dard-bhari experience. Here’s geeta dutt in sahib bibi ghulam combining dard and nasha in equal measure:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y7sADAXyI-M
And here’s the ultimate sharabi voice that madan bhai used to listen to in his dying days:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YnLXLaQvJDg
There’s a sad version of this song, but that may be a little too depressing for the pancham fans.
Before pancham came in to mrs. hope’s life, there was another md who established and shaped her career. He gave her an identity of her own. Here’s pancham trying to do a poor imitation of that md in chala murari hero ban ne:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3EseWkkkEqc&feature=related
If you want me to pick 10 of the most beautiful songs that this md composed for mrs. hope, let me know. I’ll be happy to oblige.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Please do not run down any person. It is the prerogative of any person to have his opinion about any body, be it singer or music director or actor or even any person in any other field. But opinions also should be expressed in a much more diplomatic way and harsh / unparliamentary words should be avoided at all cost. Let us not forget that both RDB and KK were highly talented as well as Lata and Asha are. We should be grateful to all these people for giving us so much pleasure. I fervently appeal to all our fellow Rafi lovers and music lovers to desist from criticising others in a derogatory manner. Of course, expressing opinion in a healthy manner is always welcome.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Re. Post 467: Please note there are better songs than Tere Bina Zindagi Se…
It’s a rotten example from you! RDB was talented, but not like SJ, LP, Naushad, SDB, MM, Ravi, Roshan, etc…
April 11th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
binu nair: how convenient for you?
April 11th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Abhey john: ur post is more a lecture on sociology and group
behaviour. i dislike lectures and request u to go by statistics and
quality of songs and your thesis on group behaviour will surely
fall between - two stools.
here, we are discussing quality music with facts - which can’t be
wished away, how much you may try. we reserve our rights to
give our opinion on good, average and bad music and we do not
have to seek your approval or marks for the same.
please , be informed that i have met kishore da and we rafi lovers
love him.
its not necessary to give long , long, write-ups and with it unsolicited
lecture on what we should think and write about … it does’nt appeal.
binu nair, rafi foundation….
April 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Abey John - Ref 453
I went through your post. Possibly you need to study the RD KK combo in detail. We have made this statement because we have detailed evidence to prove. Requesting you to go through the article “trendsetter” by Raju Bharatan http://www.panchamonline.com/. Try reading between the lines.
Lets go back to early 70s when RD hardly used Rafi and totally gave most of the songs to KK. During this era RD has done maximum experimentation with KK’s voice. Most songs picturized on Rajesh K. The experimentation was to such an extend that RD starting using KK on many Rafi centric actors like Sanjeev K, Dharmendra, Jitendra, Dev Anand, etc. During this period Rafi sang many hits for unknown / new actors. In orders words RD ensured the KK is used for all the successfull actors of early 70s and Rafi for New comers. Example - “Yaadon Ki Baaraat”. He saw to it that KK gets the upper hand every where. Apart from the RD-KK combo there was another combo LP-KK also working parallelly as a weapon against RD. This is best explained in the article “Kishore v/s Kishore”.
http://www.yoodleeyoo.com/web/kishore-vs-kishore.html
As the trend tilts towards Rafi after mid 70s LP composed tunes which only Rafi could render, RD had no choice but to use Rafi more than KK. This is where one sees the best of RD-Rafi combo after the late 60s. Once Rafi leaves us 1980, it was left for the RD-KK combo to bring back the old charm of the 70s. Unfortunately that was not the case. It was during the early 80s RD gave 23 flops in a row with KK singing most of the songs. Why it happen so? RD used KK so much in the 70s that there was hardly any thing new to explore in the 80s with the same voice. RD never experimented with next generation singers in 70s except for using Shaliendar for Rishi on few occasions. But when RD uses Shaliendra for other actors in 80s, he turned out to be a flop. Example - “Manzil-Manzil”. He was neither successfull with the new singers of 80s. As a result we see the rise of Bhappi Lahiri. During the era of 1981-87 KK sang more songs for Bhappi than any other composer with majority flops except for “Namak Halal”, “Sharabhi”, “Mohaabat”, “Saaheb”.
Coming to LP, how they managed without Rafi. That was indeed a challenge for them. They were successfull with majority next generation singers. They used all new singers on majority new actors. They used KK in 80s for very few occasions mainly for Rajesh K. Rajesh K had a few hits in early 80s, “Avtaar”, “Souten”, “Amrit”, etc., surprising none had RD music. LP made the most effective use of the Lata-Suresh W combo in many films. KK’s death put an end to RD and Bhappi’s career. But LP continued with there success in late 80s as well with Rafi Clones, Amit K, Alka Y, Kavita K, Nitin M, etc. LP infact mentioned in their interview once, that they alter their orcestra once in 5 yrs.
Now coming to your comment on Naushad’s failure “one could make a silly argument that kishore has a higher hit percentage with naushad than rafi!”. The fact remains KK never sang for Naushad or rather KK never had the range to sing for Naushad’s tunes.
So coming back to the conclusion KK rendering max flops to RD remains true, mainly due to the period of 1981-87. That disturbs the entire equation of the RD-KK combo. If Rafi could have lived in the 80s, we could have seen the best of RD-Rafi combo. In fact RD mentioned in one of the interviews after Rafi’s death “Har singer ka ek range hotaa hai, Rafi Sahab range to kamaal ka hai”. Unfortunately RD realized this very late.
There is no intention to prove that RD was bad composer. We are trying to highlight where RD went wrong.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
ref post 480:
harvinder ji, if you read my post carefully, you’ll find that at the point when I mentioned “all the above deaths, except one, could be attributed to alcohol addiction” Rafi saab and Kishore da were still alive (circa 1976). Geeta Dutt died of cirrhosis of liver. As for the others, I am not suggesting that they were alcoholics. I should have been more careful in wording my sentence. I should have said that “alcohol may have been a possible cause for their deaths”. Mukesh had a drinking problem early on in his career and I’m sure you are aware of Naushad’s famous remark about his trying to outdo Saigal. I know he stopped drinking before recordings but what he did after I am not sure. In my post, the once exception that I was referring to is s. d. burman. He had only one vice: chewing paan. He was an ace tennis player; he also used to play hockey and was a good angler.
Drinking in moderation is not a vice. But, if not controlled properly, it could lead to tragic consequences. Some members on this forum have commented on pancham’s drinking problem later in life. Stress could be a major factor too. And some of those deaths could be attributed to unhealthy diets and lack of exercise. But whatever the cause may be, whenever one of the luminaries in the music world passed away at a relatively young age — whether it was pancham or laxmikant — it made me sad.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
ref 476
p haldar,
i know you’re a big ms. hope fan to the extent you would have been perfectly happy if rafi - lata never patched up. i will extend your statement further (much to your disapproval) - geeta dutt and asha bhonsle were exact opposites in one aspect. asha bhonsle often (especially before pancham) always appeared very artificial and practiced in her expression of emotions. geeta dutt was the exact opposite. to see my point - just watch this live recording of “aaye hain door se”. look at the expression on asha’s face - never changes. where’s the emotions of the heart? not to compare but to give an example of what i call natural emotion - just watch the expression of rafi sahab’s face. i’m sure you’ve seen the video but here’s the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCyU2cNXjCs
listen again to your posted song “choti si mulaqat pyar ban gayey” and again - asha repeats the playful antics in that song very mechanically and artificially. that’s my objective opinion. whereas rafi continues to change his emotions naturally, asha repeats them exactly like practiced notes when it should be more natural & spontaneous. she did improve this aspect under pancham’s baton. in any case, in this aspect - among the female singers - geeta dutt had no equal. this is what made her special and why i deeply missed here even with lata & asha around. this is why i agree with your analysis of that song. too bad op nayyar lacked the strength, got manipulated, and failed to retain geeta who drove some of his compositions to immortal heights.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
binu nair,
do you know 99% of the reasons for the disputes of the world? whether it is dispute between religion communities, countries, ethnicities, or fans of music artists - there is one single model for them all. by the inevitable law of probability, any large group of many members - will have a fraction of people who fail to think in a balanced, rational manner. group A wrongs group B. instead of seeing it as one *person* attacking another *person* - a member from the irrational fraction sees it as A vs B. very soon, emotions fly, rationality goes out the window and you’ve got a fire. to make a difference - you give rational statements to rational people. giving irrational statements to irrational people will accomplish nothing. the latter is what you’re doing. you have put yourself in a position to represent the fans of mohammed rafi. represent them well. do not misguide them as you are doing right now.
the fans of mohammed rafi should always look up. never look down. he was the mount everest of singing. he never disappointed us - always produced gem after gem in his phenomenon of a career. as a result of this, fans of mohammed rafi have little reason to be bitter but to always think positive. the only exception is when someone of journalistic status (or someone who is authoritatively to be believed) writes incorrect facts (not opinions) about rafi sahab - then we must strike back with truth.
your late mudslinging of kishore kumar is entirely futile & inappropriate. how does that elevate rafi sahab? it doesn’t. don’t make controversial statements when you’re not sure of what you’re talking about. your statement about kishore kumar & kumar sanu is absolutely false. it is true that kishore kumar had heart attacks (one of which resulted from his sadness of rafi sahab’s passing) in the 80s that slowed him down. besides that, he was undisputedly the #1 male singer. surely you know why the rafi clones had any presence in the 80s. rafi sahab was dearly missed. plain and simple. a reporter bravely asked manmohan desai why the prominent director employed shabbir kumar when music directors were complaining that the said singer was off key and frustrating to record with as a result (i’m not here to bash shabbir kumar but i’m objectively explainging what the MDs complained and how the reporter framed the question - this not an opinion but a factual description of the incident). manmohan desai replied, “what am i to do? rafi was my god. he is missed and i needed singers who could remind us of him”. i would guess that other music directors and producers would give similar reasons. as for kishore himself - he was known to hand some of his songs to upcoming singers like mohd. aziz. kishore was a not a politician and had no problem with rising singers. kumar sanu rose to prominence only after the MDs lost kishoreda. this obvious statement should not have had to be said but your immature statement gave me no choice.
binu nair - do not lecture other people on what they are fit or not fit to speak of when you yourself set such a poor example. i have seen your repeated posts and you give the impression of a bitter fan who must put the other members of music community down to appreciate our rafi sahab. what rubbish! rafi fans don’t need to do that - they just need to look up. if you’re sitting on the peak of everest - what do you care if the sea is 200 feet higher or lower? it makes no difference to you. sure, lata mangeshkar or salil choudhury etc may have done things that are short of great. and it is indeed important to address the truth. for the sake of being politically correct and keeps things cleanly sweeped under the rug - we cannhot hide the truth. but you should respectfully, calmly, and backed with accessible facts - make your statements & “accusations”. that is an art that you eventually learn (if you care to) when you’re speaking in a forum of sensitive members.
remember again - when people like you on the kishore camp (as i said any large group will obey to the law of probability) made unfounded statements on rafi sahab - kishore strongly opposed them. early 70s there’s the fan that kishore slapped for foolishly saying rafi sahab was dismissed. then there’s raju bharatan who started garbage in filmfare in the early 70s and kishore wrote to them to say he was a big fan of rafi sahab and end this nonsense against the farishta. then there’s jagjit singh in 1980s making jealous remarks and again an aging kishore da made sure to refute him. whereas many forgot about the contributions of rafi sahab - kishore made numerous tributes to rafi sahab. so what do you have against kishore kumar? just respect the mountain next to everest for how tall and beautiful it is. you’ll enjoy yourself even more. one could argue that the mountain next to everest is a tougher climb - has different features, etc. each man to his own. please follow this principle and don’t embarass us rafi fans. don’t misrepresent us as mudslingers. there will always be such fans in every group - but given the position you’ve put yourself in - please be considerate. do not take offense at my request but see it rationally. thank you.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
ref to p 477::
rdb should be called rafi composer too,after all he had some best of rafi ji from the various genres::
jazz,pop..rock n roll::
1.o hasina zulfo wali….rafi & asha..tm(1966)
2.aaja aaja main hun pyar tera…..rafi & asha…tm(1966)
3.gulabi aakhen jo teri dekhi … rafi…the train(1970)
4.chand mera dil…..rafi… hkkn(1977)
5.pucho na yaar kya hua…rafi…zkdh(1981)
quawwalis::
1. koi aane ko hai…. rafi & shamshad…chhote nawab(1961)
2.teri ada kuch aur hai.. rafi & asha…naukar(1971)
3.jeena to hai usi ka…rafi…adhikaar(1971)
4.kisi gul ki ye kismat…rafi…sanjog(1971)
5.ek shokh hasina…rafi & manna…chandi sona(1977)
7.hai agar dushman…rafi & asha…hkkn(1977)
8.hum ko bulao…rafi,manna & asha….chor ho to aisa(1979)
9.pal do pal ka sath…rafi & asha…tbt(1980)
10.kya takalluf hai walla…rafi,bhupi & asha…jail yatra(1981)
romantic songs::
1.chura liya hai…rafi & asha…ykb(1973)
2.saaso mein kabhi….rafi & asha…parchhaiyaan(1972)
3.nagma hamara… rafi & lata…
4.koi aur dunia mein tumsa haseen hai….rafi….pyar ki kahani(1971)
5.vaadiya mera daaman… abhilasha(1968)
6.tum bin jaoon kaha.. pyar ka mausam(1969)
7.kitna pyara vaada…carvan
8.rut hai milan ki….mela..
well list of great songs by this combo is too long, rdb should be called rafi composer, his breakthrough album was also wd rafi ji…..
April 10th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
People like Nitin have nothing to write in KK site, they come on this site to make trouble only.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
nitin Ji: pls do not talk of rafi & kishore as u r not fit to comment
on these great men. Its so because u do not have basic
courtesy to be shown to legendary artists.
for your consumption I wish to give u the following statistics:
In the months of june and july, in binaca geet mala, out of 16 songs
played, rafi led all the way and by far with 10 songs, kishore had
just 2 songs and the other four was of other singers.
u can now work on your “perverted mind” and dish out more
nonsences. i will wait.
binu nair.
rafi foundation… mumbai
April 10th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Post 476 of Mr Haldar has me baffled. QUOTE
“All the deaths I have mentioned above, except one, could be attributed to alcohol addiction. Shailendra had surrendered to the same vice in the late 60s. Pancham suffered a similar fate when he was around 55, about the same age as that of Madan bhai, Rafi saab, Mukesh bhai and Kishore da when they passed away. That is what we should feel sad about.” UNQUOTE
Shalendra and Madan Mohan I know died prematurily due to Alcoholism. Rafi Saheb is not the only one devoid of drinking (I disagree with you that it to be a vice anyway). I do not think Kishore da indulged in drinking. I dio not know about RDB.
As for Rafi Saheb, he was a candidate for premature death due to heredity and history of premature deaths in his family. I believe one or two of his sons died around the same age, another died in a car accident in UK. His appearance a year or so prior to the fateful day did not give a good feeling about his health- I wonder if his doctors did anything to avoid the massive heart attack that he suffered.
Post 479 of Sanjay Arora,
All Actors promote their sons, so do most MD’s. How do you expect Singers to stay behind. It may be impossible for Amit Kimar to get in his dad’s big shoes. It is harder for a father to make a son singer than actor/MD. Rafi Saheb was an exception as he gave his children good education and very distant from publicity. I know of a friend of mine who was classmate to one of Rafi saheb’s sons in Belgaum that kept a very low profile and never disclosed his identity.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
REF 458,DEAR NITIN IF KK IS ATTRIBUTE FOR RAFI SAAB `s DEATH ,THAN YOU MAY ATTRIBUTE KK`s DEATH TO SHABBIR KUMAR ( ACLONE OF RAFI SAAB).REMEMEBER KK REFUSED TO RECORD SONG WITH SHABBIR KUMAR `AANA JANA LAG ` SUNG INITIALLY & FINALLY BY BAPPI LAHIRI.IN THE FILM `GERAFTAR`KK ALSO ENSURED THAT AMIT KUMAR SUNG FOR KUMAR GAURAV IN HIS DEBUT FILM
`LOVE STORY`,ALTHOUGH TRADE MAGAZINES HAD CARRIED OUT THAT SHABBIR KUMAR WOULD BE SINGING FOR KUMAR GAURAV.
PLEASE PUT A DEBATE FOR THE SAME `IS SHABBIR KUMAR THE REASON FOR KK`S DEATH`
April 10th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Re. Post 475: You are right Mr. Binu Nair. Kumar Sanu had replaced KK in his lifetime and was popular than KK in that period.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Re. Post 474: You are an RDB fan, who used KK more than Rafi Saheb, and gave maximum flops.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Since it seems that the number of comments on this thread would cross 500 anyway, I’d like to say a few things.
First, it is not right to make fun of anyone’s death, whether you like that person or not. The music world has lost some of its brightest stars when they were young. I remember I was in Chandiagarh when I heard of Jaikishan’s death; it took me a while to recover from that loss. He was just 39 when he died and in the 22 years he composed music along with Shankar, we can safely say that he was on top or near the top for at least 18 years. Imagine what would have happened if had been alive for another 10 years.
The year after Jai passed away, one of my favourite singers, Geeta Dutt, passed away. It’s true that she wasn’t at hear peak then, but if you listen to the songs from Avishkar and Anubhav, you’ll find that she still had the spark left in her. “Chain se humko kabhi” was probably recorded after she passed away, but if op had turned to her for that super song, my hunch is that she would have gone one notch higher than mrs. hope. I know many of you will not agree with my view, but having heard several vintage OP-Geeta combos, I feel that song was straight down Geeta’s alley.
1975 experienced twin tragedies in the form of S. D. Burman’s and Madan Mohan’s deaths. What was tragic about those deaths is that both of them were still at their creative peak. But because we knew that dada burman had been suffering from serious health problems for a long time, the news did not come as a shock. Madan bhai’s death did. After Jai, this was definitely rafi saab’s biggest loss. And then came the news of Mukesh bhai’s death. A sad Rafi saab was present during the cremation, and standing just behind him with a hand on his back was Kishore da.
All the deaths I have mentioned above, except one, could be attributed to alcohol addiction. Shailendra had surrendered to the same vice in the late 60s. Pancham suffered a similar fate when he was around 55, about the same age as that of Madan bhai, Rafi saab, Mukesh bhai and Kishore da when they passed away. That is what we should feel sad about.