Fans remember Rafi on his 28th death anniversary
This article is provided by IANS and published on Hamara Photos
Mumbai, July 31 (IANS) Nearly a thousand people from various parts of the country gathered here Thursday to observe the 28th death anniversary of one of the greatest Bollywood playback singers, Mohammed Rafi. People from Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Muzaffarpur and various other places assembled at the grave of the singer around Juhu Mosque here.
“Since morning there has been a huge crowd to pay tribute to Rafi Sahab, who is alive through his singing among all of us,” said Binu Nair, founder-chairman of the Rafi Foundation. “All these people gather here every year to pay tribute to the great soul as most of them are singers, musicians or other related professionals who earn their livelihood from his songs,” Nair told IANS.
Besides his fans, various prominent personalities from television and film industry, including playback singer Shabbir Kumar and Naushad’s son Raju Naushad, visited the grave. Nair said that various shows have been organised in different parts of city where singers will render Rafi’s innumerable hit numbers.
The whole event is spread over four days till Saturday, Nair added. Nair said that the organization representatives met Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan Sunday to hand over an application for considering the name of Rafi for the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Meanwhile, Sonu Nigam, who started his career by singing Rafi’s songs and is considered to be closest to the singing style of the legendary singer, said though he never got a chance to see or meet Rafi but his life and music has influenced him in the most profound way.
Sonu, who celebrated his birthday Wednesday, said: “What an irony of life that just after everyone celebrates my birthday, the next day we mourn Rafi Saheb’s death. “This year my album ‘Rafi Resurrected’, which has released in Europe and will shortly be released in India is gonna to be my tribute to this wonderful, ever smiling, versatile, humble, spiritual and simple hearted teacher of mine,” Rafi said in an SMS to IANS.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:19 am
post 46 : raju korti ji…
i was reading ur post and was wondering which write-up u are talking about. i went through many write-ups, read ur two recent responses and could not find anything where any one has written about journalists as shameless or has degraded the profession. please give more details/references as one can place your views in the correct perspective.
binu nair, mumbai.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
ref post 42
i met rajesh roshan twice. both the times he was sitting in a typical chaiwala hote in lokhandwala, andheri’s swanky suburb which is home to many film and tv stars live.
rajesh showed some glimpses of his great father, but his time had come when yesteryear greats were either not on the scene or were fading into oblivion. but he came from a musical gharana that had seen rafisaab at his pristine best. “maine zindagi mein aisa aadmi hi nahi dekha,” the younger roshan told me, the awe in his voice unmistakable. he seemed to pride on his composition from this obscure rajesh khanna film called janta hawaldar where anwar, rafisaab’s poor xerox sang “teri ankhon ki chahat mein..” he swooned when he asserted that the tune was distinctly rafian. he also felt that his udit narain song “ghar se nikalte hi..” had the strains of his late father and how rafisaab would have elevated it manifold.
as for the doosra song, rajesh roshan — to quote his own words –was stupefied by the mystic element the late stalwart brought in when he chipped in with “yeh mastiyaan, yeh bahaar..”
to digress from the subject, a r rehman felt that his composition “ae ajnabi tu bhi kahi awaaz de kahi se..” was actually thought of rafisaab in mind.
we have of course no means to think what rafisaab would have done with these songs, but they would have been as hypnotic as the ones he sang throughout his illustrious career.
i can tell you that most music directors of today lament that they don’t have a rafi to boost their fledgling, sagging careers. rajesh roshan’s refrain was an ordinary singer could also sing a good tune well, but rafisaab had this amazing ability to turn around an ordinary composition into a priceless one. he also said he would never forget the day when rafisaab blessed him, his hands on his head. “he was a God, a blemishless saint,” he said with unabashed admiration. for rafisaab, the senior roshan was one of the finest composers and by that yardstick, son rajesh his protege.
the rest of the information can be scouted from google.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
thanks for being so considerate. it is so disappointing when the criticism is so unjutified. as part of the media, i am no less a fan of rafisaab as anyone else and i dont need to wear the proof on my sleeve. afterall, this forum is also a part of the media, isn’t it? and how many in the history are lucky to have a website devoted to them? calling media shameless is akin to calling www.mohdrafi.com as shameless.
anyway, i shall write the piece in a day or two drawing time from my hectic schedule, though i feel it’s a bit too late to indulge in that write up.
August 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
ref post 40, by raju korti,
the topic got diverted. in fact i meant your post 22 which was to give an account of the incidence which occured on the day of rafi sahab’s heavenly journey.
in stead of that you wrote about the views of the people now entering in the forum. sir, who bothers for them and their silly views.
August 16th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Raju Korti Sir,
Agree with you totally and waiting for your promised article.
August 16th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Post #41.
The “Yesudas incident” as far as I know has a different color. I’ve read his interview where he’s stated that “that sight was too much for him to handle, emotionally”.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Hi Mr. Korti,
Great to see you back on this forum with your excellent write-ups.
I wanted to know if you could please tell us more about Rajesh Roshan and Rafi-saab. Have you had the chance to meet the composer and get his thoughts and views about Rafi-saab ?. Rajesh Roshan had a totally different style from his father, and other composers as well, and Rafi-saab added a different demension to his compositions, as he did for all MD’s.
Remember “Chal kahin door nikal jaaye” (Kishore, Lata, Rafi) from Doosra Aadmi, and how Rafi took that song to another level.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Ref post 22
Mr.Raju korti,
we are eagerly waiting for your article on the great rai saab.
as i told in my earlier comment,eventhough yesudas was in mumbai
on that black day, he did not attend the funeral of rafi saab.years it is
in my heart as a very painful thing.I guess yesudas was being
threatend by somebody not to attend the funeral as he was looking
for a bright future in bollywood.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
ref post 39 by subnavees
after all the media bashing and vile criticism of entire journalist fraternity, i am not sure i want to indulge in the exercise. it appears that all our rafisaab devotees are forgetting that journalists don’t own newspapers and the policies of the paper are decided by the owners and marketing people. that may be a sad commentary on the state of journalists today, but to damn the entire community is uncalled for. what is particularly disturbing is some people who write quite frequently in this forum (god bless them) have arrogated to themselves all the right to love and admire the singer. as if others do not have any right to do so. i have had the privilege to meet, interact and see the great man from close quarters, yet i never felt that i am a self-procliamed authority on him. let’s not call the media shameless and condemn all and sundry journalists. i am not protesting because i am a journalist, but against this tendency to decry and deplore more out of emotion than sound judgement. rafisaab himself was so close to many journalists that i know of and never uttered one word ever in protest or criticism even when something was written against him. and here, we have his ‘admirers’ who have the temerity to dismiss the entire media as shameless simply because not much was written about him. my retort to such needless criticism is what have we as admirers done to rafisaab’s cause. every now and then we see the same articles, same songs mentioned with responses that are predictably mundane. i think it’s time we got over ‘rafi is great’, ‘rafisaab’s the best’ and the like. the entire world knows that. frankly i have seen little precious written about rafisaab. there are so many aspects and dimensions to his persona and his career. but we dwell on the same things ad nauseum. on occasions, i have seen people getting into all kinds of ridiculous arguments that have nothing to do with the maestro. let’s not use this good forum to despise any fraternity or profession. i am sure other professions are equally if not more worse.
raju korti
August 8th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
ref post 22,
sri raju korti sir,
i am anxiously waiting for the untold story from your side.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Film crew visits Rafi’s village
Documentary on legendary singer soon
Tribune News Service
Kotla Sultan Singh (Amritsar), July 29
A team of Films Division, led by Kuldeep Sinha, chief producer, today visited the native village of legendary playback singer Mohammad Rafi to shoot a documentary film on him for the first time.
The film will be shown during the forthcoming 39th International Film Festival to be held in Goa from November 22 to December 2.
Talking to The Tribune, Sinha said he had conceived the idea of making a documentary film on Rafi in 1980 and it took about 28 years to implement it.
He said his team had interviewed Rafi’s son Shahid and a number of actors, singers and music and film directors.
The team had already met Shammi Kapoor, Pyare Lal and Amin Sayani and would be shortly interviewing Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Dev Anand and other contemporaries of Rafi.
However, the team comprising filmmaker Bipin Choubal and cameraman Shanker Patnayak were shocked to see that a modern house had been constructed in place of Rafi’s old house.
A former sarpanch of the village, Gurbax Singh Gill (97), and Kundan Singh (84), who had studied with Rafi till the fourth standard, gave fresh information about his childhood days.
The yesteryear singer’s story reads like a fairy tale: Pheeko, a poor barber’s son, lived along with his five older brothers in this nondescript village, which was Muslim dominated before Partition.
His father Hajji Ali Mohammad was a respected member of the Muslim community. At the time of festivals and marriages, he would cook rice in seven colours. Haji shifted to Lahore in 1935-36 and his family followed him a few months later.
Gurbax said there was a fakir who went around the village every day begging alms in the name of Allah.
In his melodious voice, he chanted, “Khedan de din char ni maen….” Young Pheeko began to imitate him.
This was the beginning of the career of the great singer, who won the hearts of millions with his songs.
His father apprenticed him at his uncle’s hair-cutting salon in Lahore, which was a famous film centre in pre-Partition days.
It was Pheeko’s good luck that a famous music director visited the salon and heard him humming softly.
He found his voice a divine gift and asked him to visit his studio. And, the rest is history. Kotla Sultan Singh village is about 25 km from Amritsar and falls in Majitha police district.
There is nothing on this stretch to indicate that Mohammad Rafi belonged to the village. Only on the outskirts of the village there is a signboard saying “Mohammad Rafi Marg”.
Interestingly, Rafi had written his name on the trunk of a mango tree in the village when he was a child. Before leaving for Lahore in 1935-36 with his family, he told the villagers not to cut it because it would remind them of him.
The tree, however, doesn’t exist today. His close friend, Luddan (Kundan Singh Samra), who studied with him till Class IV, says the memories of their childhood are still fresh in his mind.
——————————————–
A team of Films Division, Government of India, during the shooting of a documentary on Mohammad Rafi at his native village Kotla Sultan Singh in Amritsar on Tuesday.
This post has been edited by Marcilo: Jul 30 2008, 02:59 AM
August 6th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dearest Rafians,
Badi khushi hoti hai Rafi Sahab kay liye aap tamaam logon ka pyar aur aqeedat dekhkar. Rafi sahab ko unki barsi par har kisi ne apne apne taur par “qaraaj” (Tribute) pesh kiya. Kisi ne Concerts arrange kiye to kisi ne unkay gaane gaakar khush huwa to kisi ne ghar par doston kay saath mahfilein sajai. Yeh bahut achchi baat hai aur hona hi chahiye. Laikin mere zahen mein ek baat aai hai kay yeh sab karke hum ko satisfaction aur enjoyment to bahut miljaata hai, par is se Rafi Sahab ko kya milta hai???? Rafi sahab se to humne 26,000 anmol tohfay liye hain to hamara bhi farz banta hai kay hum bhi khalis unkay liye kuch karein. Main tamaam Rafians se adban guzarish karna chahoonga kay is mauqay par in tamaam activities kay saath saath humko unkay “Eisaal-e-Sawaab” kay liye jo bhi hosakta hai zaroor ba zaroor karna chahiye. Jaisa kay Quran ki tilawat, Rafi Sahab kay naam se ghareebon ko khana khilana ya unko paise dena, Kisi public place par unkay naam se koi water coolers lagaana etc. etc. Is qism kay saaray amal se purely Rafi sahab ko faida pahonchega. Unko yeh cheez ek bahut baday tohfay kay taur par pahonchegi. I am sure kay aap mein se kai log is tarah kuch na kuch to karte hi hongay, phir bhi main yaad dahani kay taur par kah raha hoon. Is se Jannat mein Rafi Sahab ka muqaam aur ziyada buland hota jayega. Aur yeh zaroori nahin kay yeh kaam sirf barsi kay waqt hi karna chahiye, chaho to tamaam saal mein kisi bhi waqt yeh kaam kar sakte hain.
Main yahan Jeddah, Saudi Arabia mein rahta hoon. Yahan kai log is barsi kay mauqay par Makkah jaakar Rafi Sahab kay naam se “Umra” kiye hain, unkay liye Makkah (Haram) mein duwayein karte hain.
Yeh bahut badi baat hai. Yeh woh log hain jokay Rafi Sahab ko zindagi mein kabhi dekhe tak nahin aur na hi unse koi rishtedari hai. Phir bhi unse is qadar mohabbat aur aqeedat hai. Kuch badnaseeb log aise bhi hain kay jinki apni aulaad apne marhoom maa/baap kay liye tak bhi yeh nahin karte.
May Allah rest his soul in heaven.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
@ Asif: be asured, that Sonu Niigaam will follow up on this course. This will not be the last album regarding Mohd. Rafi. Even CBSO is interested to do more of this stuff with him. Right now the plannings have started to continue the latest successful concerts to an extented tour to Europe, US and India. This will do more tribute work for the remembrance of legendary Mohd. Rafi.
August 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
It was not without reason that the current great Sonu was born on July 30th, a day prior to Rafi Sahab’s departure to heaven. Time and again, Sonu remembers Rafi Sahab by writing something or the other about the king of music or by giving concerts especially during July. According to Sonu, Rafi Sahab is unseen God. He was only six when our Sahab departed. Kudos to Sonu & thank God for having given Sonu to the music world for taking over the responsibilities of Rafi Sahab. Recently, in a reality show “Jo Jeeta Woh hi Superstar”, which was won by Rahul Vaidya and runner up Abhijeet Sawant, Abhijeet Sawant showered praises on Rafi Sahab by saying that though they also follow Kishoreda, Rafi sahab hamen Bhagwan ki tarah hein. Soon Rahul vaidya was also interviewed in which he was also mentioning that if you simply say we are fans of Rafi Sahab it will not sound good whereas actually we are Rafi Bhakths and he pelted jhalaks such as Abhi Na Jao chodkar, aaj mausam bada, tere mere sapne, kabhi khudpe, kya hua tera vaada etc. etc. When he was asked to sing a high pitch song of rafi sahab, he apologised and went for soft and romantic songs. Just see the impact.
As far as number of songs rendered by singers are concerned, it is my opinion that many a times people go by the number when it was first published and repeat the same. According to me, if lataji’s collection can go around 30000 after Rafi sahab’s departure, Rafi sahab’s collection would be easily around 26000 plus. In one of the articles, I even spotted Kumar Sanu’s collection as 10000 songs. can it be so? I hardly know 10 to 12 songs only of the Kumar Sanu. In Kerala, one ardent fan of Rafi sahab had already collected 16000 songs of Rafi Sahab and was in search of further songs. Anyway, these number games are played by many just to please others. But one thing is certain Rafi Sahab has the maximum number of songs and also maximum super hits and hits which cannot be surpassed at all just like Don bradman’s batting average of 99.96. Mr.Murty, I hope the above is clear. Pl. let me also know from your end. Thanks. “Rafi sahab zindabad”.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
How can we forget the legend as he is in our hearts. I love to discuss greatness of Rafi Sb. and his songs with my friends. The world of music can never be completed without Rafi Sb…………..
“Mohd Rafi Tu Bohat Yaad Ayaa……..”
August 5th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Binu Nair Sahib: you are doing incredible work to highlight Mohd Rafi’s greatness. I live in USA, and as such not fortunate enough to attend any of the musical programs featuring Rafi songs. Do you have a recoording that you can upload on this website? This will be much appriciated by thousands of Rafi fans who are unable to attend such events.
Your efforts to confer bharat Ratna on Mohd Rafi are commendable. Do you think it would be possible to contact Sonu Nigam, a die hard Rafi fan, to advance this cause? Again thanks a million for all your efforts.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Jsbir Zando ji, please drop me a mail at mailfaizhere82@gmail.com as i am also from kolkata and wud luv to meet other Rafians from this city.
regards
August 5th, 2008 at 1:35 am
cant we drop the irritating phrase “one of the” before “greatest playback singer”? It proves doubt in the mind of the writer about His supremacy. and thats not at all tolerable.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Rafi saab…….I really dont have words to describe you…….one and only one
legend.No one can stand in front of you…..I love the way sonu nigam speaks
about you and considers as idol of him….this shows genuine singers and music lovers always remember you—-RAFI SAAB
August 4th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
let all the magazine people,channel people who are not giving
proper aattention see the comments of “rafi bakts” who are
treating rafi saab more than that their beloved one.My family
also big fan of rafi saab.but my wife is jelous with rafi saab
since some times i am forgetting about my family because of
rafi saab.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
i dont even know the language and im israeli
August 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
hi my name is josh and im jewish but rafi’s songs even broke barriors of religions im a true devotee of rafi he is the real god of our times and if there was any religion of rafi i’d be a beliver
August 4th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Rafi sahab indeed has affected thousands of people, profoundly through his singing. I am one of those! On his 28th anniversary, I have also paid my tribute to the legendary singer by singing “Parda Hai Parda” and “Aaja Aaja Main Hun” at my blog khan-sahab.blogspot.com.
Thanks!