This article is written by Mr. Anmol Singh

It is believed that an individual’s importance is understood better when one leaves us for ever. The same can be said for Rafi Saab. This was during the era of 80s when music passed through one of the most difficult phases.

Singing the most of songs in 1980 and providing maximum number of hits, Rafi Saab leaves us suddenly forever on 31st July. The result of Rafi Saab’s need in the 80s was deeply felt by music composers, which brings his clones like Anwar, Shabbir Kumar and Munna Aziz into limelight. Most music composer made the most effective use them. LP used them through of their compositions. To name a few – “Sari Duniya Ka Bojh Hum Utha Te Hai”, “Jeet Janyenge Hum”, “Dil Diya Hai Jaan Bhi Denge”, “Tum Se Mil Ke Naa Jaane Kyon“, “Pyar Kiya Nahi Jaata Hai”, “Mohabat Ab Tejara Bann Gaye Hai”, “Zindagi Imtihaan Leti Hai”, “Teri Mehbaniyan”, “Dil Beqrar Tha Dil Beqrar Hai“, “Aaj Kal Yaad Kuch”, etc. Even Pancham contributed using the above singers through songs of ‘Betaab’ and one unforgettable score sung by Anwar, “Koi Pardesi Ayaa Pardes Main”. Early 80s also saw the gradual rise of Anu Malik, some of his works involving the above singers consist of – “Kahan Jate Ho Ruk Jaao“, “Sohni Meri Sohni”, “Yaad Teri Ayegi”, etc.

Mohd Rafi with O.P.Nayyar and Guru Dutt

Another singer who emerged after Rafi Saab death was Suresh Wadkar. Being classically trained he sang many quality songs mainly under LP, Pancham and KA. There where few contributions from other composers as well. To name a few – “Saajh Dhale Gagan Tale”, “Chal Chameli Baag Mein”, songs of Prem Rog where he sang for Rishi Kapoor, “Likhanewaale ne likh daale milne ke” a duet with Lata from the film ‘Arpan’ is truly mind blowing. A ghazal with Bhupindar from ‘Masoom’, “Huzoor Is Kadar Bhi Na Etra Ke Chalie”, another super performance by Suresh under Pancham. A duet with Anwar from Vidhaata, “Haathon Ki Chad Lakiroon Ka” is truly magnificent. A great composition from KA. Another marvelous contribution from the duo for Suresh was “Aur Is Dil Mein Kya Ratha Hai”. There are many such great contributions by Suresh.

Despite many good scores composed by established music composers and singers many good films didn’t perform as per expectation. The result of which many quality film makers experienced a gradual downfall from 1983 onwards. Many well known film makers like BR films, Gulzar, Ramanand Sagar, Ramesh Sippy, etc made a switch over to television producing serials. Rafi loyalists like Nasir Hussain, J Om Prakash, Manmohan Desai and Shakti Samath also ran out of steam in the 80s with a number of flops in a sequence. Perhaps a lot of blame was put in video piracy for the failure. But the fact remains, without Rafi it was difficult to compose quality songs.

The downfall of quality filmmakers restricted the work for quality music composers, singer, lyrics, scriptwriters, etc. At this point sub standard filmmakers step in, which also brought in sub standard music composers, lyrics writers, etc. Most of these filmmakers who had no sense in filmmaking, imposing their own ideas on majority composers. As a result it became extremely difficult for quality music composers like LP, Pancham, KA, Khayyam, etc to get work quality work. Many old music composers contributed in very few quality films rather being more cautious in their approach to get recognition for their work. In fact the LP and Subhash Ghai combo were the most successful pair to contribute quality scores through out the 80s. Rajesh Roshan was primarily associated with his brother Rakesh Roshan. KA could manage at least one hit in a year to maintain their position. In orders words all the composers lost their freedom in the 80s, which they enjoyed in the earlier decades when Rafi Saab was there. Music lovers wondered whether the old composers had forgotten to compose good tunes in their later years. It is believed the LP where left with many unused tunes which only Rafi Saab could render. This implies that they were not able to operate with their full potential, which is applicable to other music composers as well.

Apart from composers even singers where also affected. With Mukesh and Rafi gone perhaps Kishore was the only quality singer left. Ideally it was an open ground for the Pancham and Kishore combo to bring back the old glory of early 70s in the 80s. Kishore end up singing majority songs much below his caliber in the 80s. The best of Kishore was lost once Rafi was no more. Same is the case with Mahendra Kapoor who kept himself associated with the B R banner whether films or television, not much contribution for Manoj Kumar after ‘Kranti’. The down fall of music in films sees the rise of many ghazal singers like Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh, Talat Aziz, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota, etc in the 80s, since music lovers had no choice but listen to melody in private concerts or through private albums. Few of them contributed in films under LP, KA & Khayyam.

Kishore & Pancham contributed their best in the entire 70s when Rafi was there. When Rafi Saab leaves us there was not much contribution from the duo other than few exceptions in the early 80s, which possibly were recorded prior to Rafi’s death. Since Rafi was a very high quality singer it kept all his contemporaries along with music composers on their toes to deliver their best. This in turn benefited many film makers to produce quality films and write quality scripts. Since music has been the primary criteria for success in filmmaking, many below average or small budget films had many hit songs prior to 80s sung by Rafi Saab and other singers. Where as in the 80s many big budget films could contribute very few hit songs.

As the dominance of sub standard films reaches its peak from mid 80s (somewhere 1986-87) the only way to bring back crowds to the theaters was to re-release the old films of 50s, 60s and 70s through film festivals. We see the songs of films like “Dosti”, “Caravan”, “Karz”, “Amar Akbar Anthony”, etc being played on the screen. As the golden era comes back on screen, once again we see the showering of coins by the music lovers. Yes, Rafi Saab lived after his death for his fans and will live forever.

Mohd Rafi with poet lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and composer Khayyam

To conclude Rafi Saab took away many things along with him once he left us, which triggered many sequence of events resulting in the downfall of music. Quality was affected to a great extend in every possible aspect of filmmaking. A good script or lyrics need a great voice with great power of expression and emotions to make a song win the hearts of the music lovers. Rafi’s voice had every thing that was needed giving us incredible numbers from late 40s to the late 70s. His ability to enhance an ordinary tune to an extra ordinary score was not seen after his death. When the tunes in 80s were good enough the singers who sang them exceptionally well, could not add some thing new or different to enhance the over all quality. Indeed there where many things only Rafi Saab could do. His honesty and humbleness added to his work. No wonder a great composer like Naushad said "I lost 50% of myself after Rafi’s death". Similarly O P Nayyar also stated "There would have been no O P Nayyar if there was no Rafi". The same holds true for Madan Mohan as well who was never associated with any big banner, but composed incredible scores with Rafi Saab. Similarly Rajesh Roshan in his tribute to Rafi Saab said, that “People complain about today’s songs, but then tell us where are the singers like Rafi to deliver them”.

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