Mohammed Rafi and Bharat Bhushan
This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy.
Apart from regular Rafi heroes like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Pradeep Kumar, etc. Bharat Bhushan was one actor who was fortunate to have Rafi as his main playback singer in most of the hit movies of fifties and early sixties.
Perhaps the Rafi – BB pair started with Baiju Bawra in 1953. Baiju Bawra with Naushad (‘O Duniya Ke Rakhawale’, ‘Insaan Bano’, ‘Hari Om’ and duets with Lata & Shamshad Begum like ‘Door Koi Gaye’, ‘Jhoole Me Pawan Ki’, and of course the evergreen solo and duet ‘Tu Ganga Ki Mauj Main’), Shabab (‘Solo – ‘Yehi Armaan Lekar Aaj Apne Ghar Se Hum Nikle’ and the duet with Lata – ‘Man Ki Been’), Basant Bahar with SJ (two gems – the climax song – ‘Duniya Na Bhaye Mose’, the other solo ‘Badi Daer Bhai’ was of course on Manmohan Krishna), Dooj Ka Chaand with Roshan (Solos – ‘Sun Ae Mahajabin’, ‘Mehfil Se Mit Jaane Walo’ and the duet with Lata – ‘Chaand Takata Hai Idhar’), Phagun with OP (Four duets with Asha – ‘Ek Pardesi Mera’ and the super melodious ‘Mai Soya Ankhiyan Meeche’ apart from ‘Ja Meri Chodade Kalai’) , Barsaat Ki Raat with Roshan (Who can forget the solo and duet title song), Ghunghat (That wonderful duet with Lata – ‘Do Ghadi Woh Jo Paas Aa Baite’), Taqdeer with LP (The Do Pehlu ‘Jab Jab Bahar Aayi’), Gyaara Hazaar Ladkiyan (Duet with Lata – ‘Dil Ki Tamanna Thi Masti Me’), Sawan ( duet with Shamshad Begum - ‘Bheega Bheega Pyaar Ka Sama’), Jahannara with Madan Mohan (Solo ‘Kisiki Yaad Me’ and duet with Suman ‘Baad Muddat Se’), each song was a gem. In fact, Bharat Bhushan had the reputation as one of the few heroes with a sense of music and was known for correct lip synchronization during song picturisation. That was the reason he acted in most of the musicals of that period like Baiju Bawra, Shabab, Rani Roopamati, Phagun, Barsaat Ki Raat, Basant Bahar, Jahannara, etc. Even though at various times, Mukesh (Rani Roopamati), Hemant (Shabab), Talat (Jahannara), Mannadey (Basant Bahar) and even Kishore (Pyaar Ka Mausam) lent their voice to BB, it was Rafi and Rafi alone whose voice suited BB the most.
In fact, there was a period in early seventies when we were in College in Bangalore. In those days the theatres used to screen old Hindi movies during morning shows (10 am to 1 pm). We, few of us were regular for those movies some times even cutting classes just to listen to good old songs. The lyrics used to be meaningful, music melodious and ear-pleasing and singing at its best picturised superbly by some famous Directors like Raj Kapoor, Vijayanand, Guru Dutt, Nazir Hussain, Manmohan Desai, etc. The emphasis was mainly on facial and eyes expressions instead of locales of today when one stanza is picturised in Switzerland and another in Mauritius.
Alas, the music standard of today is a far cry from those days.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
the duet ‘chand takta hai idhar’ referred in the main article has been sung by rafi with suman and not lata.
besides the two title songs, one as solo and the other with lata, their were two other outstanding solos by rafi. one ‘mayus to hoon wade pe tere’ picturised in the ironsmith’s shop has been already referred by mohammad parvez in post 3. there was another solo ‘maine shayad tumhen pehle bhi kahin dekha hai’ which was stupendously rendered. and who can forget the two qawaalis ‘na to karvan ki’ and ‘ye ishq ishq’ which are till today considered as the best and are the soul of the film.
in film ‘taqdeer’ also the much better song ‘mujhe bhool jana agar ho sake’ has escaped the notice of guru murthy ji.
besides ‘barsaat ki raat’ a super duet with lata ‘chahe paas ho chahe door ho’ is also from a bharat bhushan film ’samrat chandragupta’. there are two solos ‘aaj galiyon men aaya hai deewana tera’ and ‘mera bichhda yaar milade’ and a duet ‘aanewale ko aana hoga’ from the bharat bhushan - nimmi starrer film ’sohni mahiwal’. there is also a song of film ‘mirza ghalib’ though not picturised on bharat bhushan ‘hai bas ki har ek unke ishare men nishan aur’ which contains the famous lines of ghalib
‘hain aur bhi duniya men sukhanvar bahut achhe
kahte hain ki ghalib ka hai andaj-e-bayan aur’
and these lines aptly describe the singing of rafi, because his andaj was also unique.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
ref post 25
aniel kumar jee,
I too like you enjoy the songs of Rafi sahab while in tarnsit.
I used to play the cassettes of rafi sahab in my car while I used ro drive in Sultanate of Oman with my friends. All of them used to enjoy the songs & used to exclaim, ‘ wah kya gaana hai , aur kitinee behetareen awaaz hai ‘ some are from India, some from Pakistan & some from Sri lanka.
What I mean to say I used to enjoy and simultaneously I was getting free from tension & fatigue of driving even if I was driving a distnace of 300 KMs from Muscat to Ibri & that too at a speed of 140 KMPH.
Its all the inspiration & our love for the great Rafi sahab.