Single Rafi Songs
This article is by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy
There are many films where the Music Directors or the Heroes have used Singers other than Rafi. There are also movies where Rafi has sung just one song in the movie and the other songs are sung by some other Singers. What was the reason for the MDs / Heroes choosing Rafi for the particular song. Is it because of some superstition that Rafi Saab has to sing at-least one song in their movie or is it because they thought, perhaps rightly so, that the particular song can be sung only by Rafi.
Every one knows that in KARZ music by LP, all the songs were sung by KK where as the best song of the movie “Darde Dil†was entrusted to Rafi. If you listen to this song, you can make out that no body else could have done justice to this wonderful song. Similarly, all the songs of GAMBLER, music by SDB were sung by KK except “Mera Man Tera Pyaasaâ€, which except Rafi no body else could have sung so melodiously. EK BAAR MUSKURADO of OP had KK for Deb Mukherjee, but Rafi had to come in for “Zamane Ki Aankhon Ne†as it was a high pitch song. KK sang all the songs of MAHAL for Dev Anand except the qawali, “Toone Soorat Chupayee†which only Rafi could do justice. B.R.Chopra’s WAQT had one Rafi gem in the form of title song – “Waqt Se Din Aur Raatâ€, all other songs were sung by Mahendra Kapor and one by Mannadey. Manoj Kumar’s KRAANTI had one Rafi duet “Mera Chana Hai Apni Marzi Kaâ€, perhaps due to the fact it had to be filmed on Dilip Kumar, but let us not forget that the song was very ordinary in the beginning but picks up tempo only after Rafi’s entry along with Nitin Mukesh.
Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar
SANGAM had Mukesh but Rafi had to come in for “Prem Patra†partly because the song was on Rajendra Kumar, but of course let us not forget that the other song on Rajendra was sung by Mahendra, “Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karegaâ€. The drama song of MERA NAAM JOKER was a difficult song which Rafi sang instead of Mukesh or Mannadey. Who could have sung “Ramiah Vastavayya†in SHREE 420 except Rafi. Even BARSAAT had Rafi singing “Mai Zindagi Me Hardamâ€. EK DIL SAU AFSANE had Rafi singing the Lata duet for Raj Kapoor – “Tumhi Tum Ho Mere Jeevan Meâ€, but all other songs were from Mukesh. Similarly Ravi’s NAZRANA had Rafi singing for Raj Kapoor “Baazi Kisine†though other songs were sung by Mukesh.
Mohd Rafi with Shankar, Raj Kapoor and Jaikishen
GOPI had Rafi singing “Sukhake Sab Saathi†the other songs were by Mahendra. Similarly “Na Tu Zamin Ke Liye†in DASTAAN. In NASEEB, the Singers were all new-comers but for the best and the top hit song “John Jaani Janardhanâ€, it had to be Rafi for Amitabh. Salil Chaudhury had Mukesh as his main Singer both in MADHUMATI as well as in POONAM KI RAAT. But when it came to “Toote Huye Khabon Ne†and “Dil Tadape Tadapayeâ€, he chose Rafi instead. KA had KK in HAATH KI SAFAI, but when it came to the beautiful Lata duet “Wada Karale Sajanaâ€, it was Rafi. It seems Vinod Khanna on whom this song was picturised was not happy with this song initially, but Director Prakash Mehra convinced VK that the song will become a hit, how true he was. Amjad Khan sang “Logon Ka Dil†on screen in YAARANA in Rafi’s voice where as all other songs were by KK for AB. Rajesh Khanna had KK in SACHCHA ZHOOTA but for the wonderful Lata duet “Yunhi Tum Muzhase Baatâ€, who else but Rafi. The same case in HAATHI MERA SAATHI, Rafi had to sing “Nafarat Ki Duniya Ko†as the song was high pitched as well as very meaningful, where the Singer had to sing putting emotion in all the lines. Another example is the title song of PATHAR KE SANAM. Atma Ram’s UMANG had all songs by KK but for “Babul Kaun Ghadi Ye Aayiâ€, Rafi had to take the mike and it is such a wonderful song about daughter’s Bidaai. Mahendra was the main Singer for all songs of UPKAAR but Rafi had to sing “Yeh Kaali Yeh Kaali Raat Kaaliâ€.
Mohd Rafi
To top it all, KK sang all his songs for RAAGINI except “Man Mora Bawaraâ€, the reason, it was slightly classical and OP felt that only Rafi could sing this song, the same case in SHARARAT “Ajab Hai Daastan†music by SJ. Let us salute KK that he sportingly agreed to lip sync Rafi’s songs. Perhaps, who knows, KK himself must have been immensely satisfied to have got a chance to act for Rafi’s songs on screen.
In fact, there was a time, I used to go to movies to just listen even one song of Rafi. A case in point was “Apni Aankhon Me Basakar†from THOKAR picturised on Baldev Khosla. I hardly remember any thing of the movie except this song.
i think people have forgotten that great qawwali from ” rustam sohrab” PHIR TUMHARI YAAD AAYI AI SANAM ” where gm durrani ji, manna da and rafi sahib came together and produced something out of this world.
rafi sahib is simply out of this world in this rendering.
the music is by sajjad i think.
the other great one is ” O SABA KAHNA MERE DILDAR KO ” music by salil chaudhry, which is amongst his greatest compositions. the grace with which rafi saab has captured the pathani accent is fab.
Please have the video of rafi sahib janaza passing through the street of Bandra.
Rafi sahib was Sahenshah, no one can be compared with him. He was a Kohinoor.
RAFI SAHEB’S CLEARITY, DICTION, MELODY AND THE PUNCH IS APPRECEIATED MORE WHEN WE HEAR VERY TALENTED SINGERS THESE DAYS TRYING TO SING THE SONGS SUNG BY HIM. YOU LISTEN TO THE ATTEMPT AND THEN LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL. I THOUGHT ABHAS SANG “HAI DNIYA USI KI ZAMANA USI KA” BEAUTIFULLY LAST MONTH IN VOICE OF INDIA. LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL AND POOR KID LOOSES. LISTEN TO SONU NIGHAM WHEN HE USED TO SING AS DUPLICATE RAFI BEFORE REACHING STARDOM WITH IMPROVISED MUSIC QUALITY, YET WAY BELOW RAFI SAHEB’S ORIGINAL.
RAFI SAHEB WAS A DIVINE SOUL, OTHERWISE IT IS NOT HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO SING THE WAY HE SANG.
I AM DISHEARTENED TO SEE THE LAST PICTURE OF HIS IN THIS POST WHERE HIS FACE INDICATES THAT HE WAS A CANDIDATE FOR HEART ATTACK – I WONDER IF HIS CLOSE ONES AND DOCTORS DID NOT CAUTION HIM.
Amazing what a voice , melody in RAFI SAHAB ,,,, i think sometimes ,, he was d son of GODESS SARSWATI
26,000 songs in carries of 36 years means —
26,000 songs in just 13,140 days
2 songs per day ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, with d high quality , soul touching rating & nerves catching capacity ,, it’s jus by 1 & only & forever
“” MOHAMMD RAFI “
7 AJUBE ES DUNIYA MEIN ,,, 8vein RAFI SAHAB
1st of all i jus wan 2 thaks u to prsenting such an Precious mateial full of knowledge abt RAFI SAHAB ……..
as i hav My E-mail ID on name of rafi sahab becoz m d fan of Rafi n Sahab with my every heartbeats ……
i hav collection of above 1000 songs of Rafi Sahab ( Out of ocean of 26,000 golden melodies ) ,,,, & wan to collect as maximum as possible ,,,,
it’s my wish ,, that Snap of RAFI SAHAB b in front of me & any of his songs playing on my death-bed ,,, i believe i’ll directly go to HEAVAN !!!!!!!!!!!!
RAFI SAHAB passd away in age of jus 56 yrs, becoz ” GOD loves d melody , Good Human Beings & GOD also requires any mode of PEACE TO MIND that only given by voice of Mohammd Rafi
IT’s jus matches on MOHAMMD RAFI ——-
” Dil ka suna saaz tarana dundhega ,, Tire Nigahein Naaz Nishana Dhundhega …….. MUJHKO MERE BAAD ZAMANA DHUNDHEGA “
hi rafians ,
yahan yeh sabit huta hy ke rafi sahab ke samne pesy ki kiya ahmiyat thee,
woh pesy ke peechchy nahin likin pesa unke pechchy bhagta tha.
yahi huta ek farishta.
Good observation mr Murthy, according to what you have mentioned even second rated actor such as Vinod Khanna were fussy and doubtful about Rafi sahab in the seventies, yet, Rafi sahab was the ultimate king of music. It is bitterly sad most of the new comers didn’t deserve Rafi sahab. For example Rafi might had not sang for RD Burman after he had avoided using Rafi sahab in HKSKN had it not been for Nassir Hussain. No matter what the media portrayed kishore knew that Rafi was a greater singer than him. Rafi’s song stood out in the movies no matter who the other singers were.
mohamed parvez bhai,in the movie amar akbar anthony,it was rafi sahab,lata,kk,mukesh and shabana azmi ashkpr@hotmail.com
dear guru sir,
naseeb has one more song sung by rafisaab-‘chal mere bhai’ picturised on rishi kapoor n amitabh
Dear HV Gurumurthy,
In the “Haqeeqat” song “hoke majboor mujhhe, usne bhulaayaa hogaa…” the fourth singer (apart from Rafi, Talat and Manna Dey) is Bhupendra and not Balbir. This was Bhupendra’s first song. There is only one word to describe the song and that is “Excellent”.
I remember I wrote earlier also that ‘ when all doors are closed then one door is open and that is our Rafi sahab. During the conflict period Latha was replaced by Suman and Sharda but Rafi sahab was intact. Because he is irreplaceable. He is probably the only one singer around the globe who does not have a nasal touch both at the base of scale ‘F’ and the top of scale’ E’. Rafi sahab while in the antara of ‘ Jab bhi yeh dil udaas hota hai’ from Seema & the end landing notes of ‘ o duniyakey rakhwale’ from Baiju bawra sounds so sweet & eloquent that no other can reach that state of rendering. Rafi sahab is a divine gift for us.
it was for the movie amar akbar antoney -rafisaab -kishoreda-mukeshji-lataji sang together
Dear shashankji,
Even Chetan Anand’s HAQEEQAT had a lovely song “Hoke Majaboor Muzhe” sung by Four singers – Rafi, Mannadey, Talat and Balbir. Manoj Kumar’s KRAANTI had a song “Mera Chana” sung by KK, Lata, Rafi and Nitin Mukesh.
Guru Murthy ! Great Observation !
Rafi was a complete singer, with no limitations as such. Where as other singers had some limitations in some form or the other.
Many songs needed many twists and turns and switching scales up and down in one instant. Plus operating on higher notes for a much longer period. Especially in qawalis and ghazals which always needed a mughali touch to provide the best possible results. Or there are songs which called for extra feelings & emotions.
Rafi was a master in such areas. Therefore whether Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh, Raj Kapoor who have used other singers more often could not avoid Rafi completely at several occassions.
Same holds true for music composers like Salil C & Pancham who were thorough Mukesh & KK loyalists.
Thanks Pervez Sahab for the correction.
Dear Shashank I have send this song on your mail ID.
Enjoy
In the movie dharma there is a quawali song ” raaz ke baat keh de
to , raaz ko raaz rehne do ” released in 1973, sung by rafi-asha.
the film was passable but this solitary song took the movie to a
silver jubilee run.
On the screen its sung by pran & bindu.
do anybody knows how many songs did kishorekumar & rafi sang the duets.
murthy sir,
Do anyone knows that in the film history in 1976, all 4 singers came at one time for a song “Humko tumse hoga hai” of Amar Akbar Anthony by Mukesh, Kishorekumar, Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar. it was only rare event.
Shashank_72@rediffmail.com
murthy sir,
Do anyone knows that in the film history in 1976, all 4 singers came at one time for a song “Humko tumse hoga hai” of Amar Akbar Anthony by Mukesh, Kishorekumar, Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar. it was only rare event
Dear sir,
In the article Mera Naam joker, the drama song which Rafi has sung, we have not heard it. where the song is & how do u got this song.
Shashank_72@rediffmail.com
good subject nice article and also agreed with mohamed parvez
To listen anyone else except rafi is just wasting of time rafi is the powerhouse of tallents and rest are the points (switches) of his powerhouse
thanks sir
i would like to correct you have mentiod about logon ka dil it is from manpasand it was picturised on devsaab it was the last song rafi saab sang for devsaab regarding yarana song is bishen chacha it was picturised on amjadkhan saab i would like to say thanx mr h.v.gurumurthyji for this article