The so called lean phase of Rafi Saab
This article is written by Mr. Nitish Sinha from Rourkela, Orissa.
Seventies was the decade of experiments, the decade of change of guard and also the decade of Rafi Saab, again. The number of songs may be less but the singing quality of his songs was same as ever, even during the so called low phase i. e. 1971-1976. However the quaity is always more important thing and quantity always play the second fiddle.
This period was surely the decade of many changes. The demise of Roshan, Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Real Burman, less activeness of Naushad saab and Nayyar saab, advent of new generation of music directors like Laxmi-Pyare, Kalyanji-Anandji, Pancham, Rajesh Roshan changes the scenario for certain. In this scenario, the number of songs sung by Rafi Saab decreases, thanks due to stage shows of Rafi Saab, some religious reasons and also due to some politics in his absence. But he still continues to give his best, I think this decade could be remembered for the reason, Rafi saab converted the ordinary tunes into hummable songs.
During this so called low phase (as is called by media!) we made to hear the song TUM JO MIL GAYE GO.. from hanste zakhm, Rafi-Madan Mohan combi at it best, as ever!
The inmitable bhajan SHYAM ABHIMANI from ‘geet gaata chal’, the zid of majnu YE DEEWANE KI ZID HAI, the charishma of expression with dual magic of YAARO GAALO MUSKURAALO, the beautiful expression of love, YE JO CHILMAN HAI for Rajesh Khanna and tragedy as ever in the songs like MOHABBAT KE SUHANE DIN, DIL NE PYAR KIYA HAI IK BEWAFA SE was from the same period.
Mohd Rafi
During this period, the trend of dance shifted from Shammi Kapoor to Jeetendra but Rafi saab still continue to rules the world with the songs like KITNA PYARA WADA HAI. Dev Anand was still there and so the Rafi saab with the song like MERA MAN TERA PYASA.
One of the best song of this decade KAHIN EK MASOOM NAZUK SI LADKI was from the film Shankar Hussain released in 1976.
There was some new brigade of stars like Vinod Mehra, Kabir Bedi, Anil Dhawan, Shatrughan Sinha and so Rafi Saab was there with the fresh songs like WO KYA HAI, JAB BHI YE DIL UDAAS HOTA HAI, BADI DOOR SE AAYE HAIN and YEH ZULF KAISI HAI.
One of the best duet of HFM Teri Bindiya Re was from the film ‘Abhimaan’ and picturised on Amitabh.
Some of the other songs during this period –
Mujhe teri mohabbat ka sahara mil gaya hota
Unke khyaal aaye to aate chale gaye
Bade bewafa hai husn waale
Ik na ik din ye kahani banegi
Patta patta buta buta haal hamara jaane hai
jaane kis roop ki jaadoo bhari
O aaja teri yaad aayee
chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko
and so the magic continues as ever…….
March 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Why people don’t talk about the lean period of Kishore Kumar. He satrted Singing around in 1955 and was not accepted as good singer till Aradhana released in 1969? Every person has good and bad period in life that does not mean he had not the talent. It happenes with everyone.
Rafi Saheb is the greatest male playback singer of Hindi film industry was accepted by Manna Dey Saheb and SD Burman Saheb. Even Naushad Saheb, Madan Mohan Saheb, OP Nayyar Saheb, Shankar Jaikishen Saheb and other great music director’s prefer Rafi in their whole career. Some of them even refused to record song with other that Rafi Saheb.
Rafi Saheb was the greatest and will remain greatest.
February 24th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
if all singers are came in together they cannot able to make a Rafi.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
shashank - mohd rafi had more songs than kishore kumar from 1977-1980. that’s a fact.
January 4th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
The fact is Mohdrafi sang most of his songs from 40’s to 70’s & then also 10 yrs he sang less songs due to Kishorekumar. But after all rafisahab is No.1 in the film industry. The lean phase comes to everybody in their life.
shashank_72@rediffmail.com
December 15th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
DEAR ALL RAFIANS
I AM POSTING ON THIS SITE FOR THE FIRST TIME AND I FEEL REALLY GREAT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH A WONDERFUL THING THAT HAS LATE RAFI SAHAB AS A SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION. I HAVE BEEN THROUGH MOST OF THE ARTICLES WITH REGARDS TO THE SO CALLED LEAN PERIOD OF RAFI SAHAB WHICH I FEEL IS NOT A SUBJECT WORTH DISCUSSION. FIRST OF ALL LINKING RAFI SAHAB WITH SOMETHING CALLED LEAN IS NOTHING BUT THE IGNOBLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MUSIC OF SUCH PEOPLE WHO HAVE CREATED SUCH A HYPE.SINGING LESS SONGS DURING A PARTICULAR PERIOD IN NO WAY QUESTIONS THE SUPERIORITY OF RAFI SAHAB OVER OTHERS.EVEN THOSE LESS NUMBER OF SONGS SUNG WERE INSTANT HITS THAT MESMERISED PEOPLE AND THEM TO SWAY.HERE I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT EVEN LISTENING TO SONGS SUNG BY THE IMMORTAL RAFI SAHAB THAT WERE NOT ON POPULARITY CHARTS ONE COULD FEEL THEM THROUGH THEIR SOULS.RAFI SAHAB WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE INCOMPARRABLE!
December 11th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Rafi never leaned, only media says this. It is like a fashion that turns the trend and the same happened in music. So fashion diverted towards Kishore da and turned back to Rafi in 76-77.
December 10th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
my point is simple.its not the lean period bt rather expectations were so much that we say its a lean period. actually rafi sahib was touring the world that tym. so he cud not b available during this period. still wenever he was in mumbai he recorded sons . go n check out number of regional sons sung by him that tym too. especially in punjabi films.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I have a many collection of Mohd Rafi’s songs and photographs, In past years I was working as a administrative assistance in a school and once I got a chance to visit a school in Mahim, after finishing my work I was on the way to my home, on that way I notice a photo studio their it was a marvelous display of Mohd Rafi’s original photo, at once I bought it, because it was an additional or special collection for me, at present I am in Abu Dhabi as a administrator and that original photo is in India at my home, when ever I visit India I will email that photo to your website.
Now I am sending a poem of Naushad about Mohd Rafi.
Tujhe nagmo ki jaan ahle nazar yuhi nahi kahte,
Tere gitoon ko dil ka hamsafar yuhi nahi kahte,
Dukhi they lakh phir bhi mutmaeen they dard ke marey,
Teri awaaz ki shabnam se dhul jate they gham sarey,
Teri tanoo mein husne zindagi leta tha angdaee,
Tujhe allah ne baksha tha andazey masihaee,
Tu hi tha pyar ka ek saaz is nafrat ki duniya mein,
Ganimat thi teri awaz is nafarat ki duniya mein,
(Rafi sahab ki awaz ta qayamat hamarey dillo mein mehfuz rahegi)
Mehfilo key daman mein sahiloon key aas paas,
Yeh sadaa gunjegi sadiyon tak Dillon key aas paas
November 26th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
ref: Post 38
Vind is spot on.
November 25th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
to all the rafiaans athough this portal belongs to rafi sahib whom i worship but i m desperate for a song sung by lata mangeshkar can anyone please tell me from which movie the song is
“AHLE DIL YU BE NIBHA LETE HAI DARD SENE MAIN CHUPA LETE HAI”.
THANX PLZ REPLY
November 16th, 2007 at 4:19 am
Yeah Rafi had a number of hits in the the early seventies, but it was definitely “Lean phase” for Rafi. For many other singers, the number of hits and quality of song maybe considered great. However, for Rafi, relative to his earlier success. It was a lean phase. It just goes to show how good he was and what people expected from him.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:24 am
here is an excerpts from the vividh bharati programme ‘ujale unki yadon ke’ in which pyarelal jee interviewed………….
KS: Pyare-ji, pehli film ke liye kitne paise mile the aapko?
PL: mere Khayaal mein shaayad 4000 mila hoga lekin jo ‘amount’ hamne
liya, ‘for the first time’, Dosti mein, 10000 hamne liya.
KS: 10,000 us samay bahut baDi rakam hoti thi.
PL: aur 10,000 hamne liya tha aur Filmfare ward ke liye 65,000 rupaya
hamne ‘loan’ liya tha, Filmfare mein woh bharne ke liye. Filmfare
ke ‘form’ bharne ke liye 65,000 rupay hamne lagaaye.
KS: us samay kya paise dene paDte the ‘award’ ke liye?
PL: naheen kya tha ki Filmfare ki ek ‘copy’ khareedni paDti thi,
usmein ek ‘form’ hota tha, usmein aapko ‘Best Music’ ke andar apna
naam likhna paDtaa tha, us zamaane mein yeh hota tha, woh aaj bhi
chal raha hai…
KS: to aap se pehle bhi logon ne yahi kiya tha?
PL: bilkul, kyunki dekhiye, ismein koi buri baat naheen hai,
yeh ‘business’ hai, jab tak aap kuchh karenge naheen to ‘business’
chalega naheen. aap bahut sat chalenge to naheen chal paayenge. to
hamne Filmfare ki ‘copy’ lekar ‘hero, heroine, director’, sab khareed
liye, ‘amount’ to mujhe yaad naheen lekin laakh do laakh rupay hogaa.
to hamne, maan leejiye 25000 Filmfare ki ‘copies’ kahreedi, usmein
har ‘copy’ mein ek ‘form’ hai, to sab mein Best Music Director mein
apna naam likhke bhej diya, waise hi ‘hero’ ke liye, ‘director’ ke
liye. to hamne bhi kiya tha aise. to Dosti ke andar 65,000.
KS: lekin us zamaane ke hisaab se to bahut baDi rakam hai yeh.
PL: ab hamko shauk tha, maine kahaa tha Laxmi-ji ko ki ‘ismein faayda
kuchh naheen hai’.
that is the damn reality of these so called great awards……………
my email= lohrester@gmail.com.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
This is a quick post that I had come up with a week or so ago and posted it on hamaraforums. Copying it here as the topic is related
Taking one more shot at HF Industry of seventies, there are few trends to be noted
1) Kishore gets a huge representation of songs on Binaca annual especially for the years 71 through 74 perhaps amongst the most impressive in any five year period of Binaca.
2)For Rafi ,the year 71 on Binaca annual is the weakest despite lot of otherwise hit songs.From 72 to 76 he has a share of around 4 to 6 songs in top 32 of the respective years.Some of his otherwise great hits don’t make it up to the charts though
3)Again on Binaca annual , Mukesh is the strongest in the years 75 and 76.Despite his lesser assigments he dominates the top ten of Binaca Annual in those years especially in 76.
4)In other popularity barometer that is filmfare awards Mukesh leads in that period and Kishore is
ignored.His run on Binaca does not align well with Filmfare’s verdict those years. Rafi gets nominations
except for a couple of years but doesn’t register a win.
5) Finally looking at the top five hits per year each from 1970 to 1976 and looking at the
contribution of the big three, the ground looks fairly even although KK leads(Actually Maheder Kapoor would also prominently feature in this list but wanted to keep it simple.So excluded him and Manna).
1976 Dus Numbri Nagin Laila Majnu Hera Pheri Charas
(Mukesh) Rafi/KK Rafi KK Rafi/KK
1975 Sholay Jai Santoshi Maa Sanyasi Deewaar Pratiggya
KK - Mukesh KK Rafi
1974 Roti Kapada Aur Makaan Chor Machaye Shor Dost Prem Nagar Bidaai
Mukesh Rafi/KK Rafi/KK KK KK
1973 Bobby Jugnu Daag Zanjeer Dharma
- KK KK Rafi Rafi
1972 Seeta Aur Geeta Pakeezah Raja Jani Beimaan Gora Aur Kala
KK Rafi KK Mukesh Rafi/Mukesh
1971 Haathi Mera Saathi Mera Gaon Mera Desh Dushman Caravan Maryada
KK/Rafi Rafi KK KK/Rafi KK/Rafi/Mukesh
1970 Johny Mera Naam Sachaa Jhutha Purab Aur Paschim Kati Patang Jeevan Mrityu
KK KK/Rafi - KK Rafi
Looking at above doesn’t indicate that Rafi wasn’t there and wasn’t producing hits from 71 to 75.So comeback in that sense is a misnomer.I think the only things that changed from 75 onwards is the following
1) KK’s run at Binaca gets arrested which corresponds with with the end of Rajesh Khanna reign.
2) First Mukesh’s and then Rafi hits feature on the charts more prominently . At times Binaca defies
the logic .My Name is Anthony wasn’t featured in top 32 while Parda He was No 2 of the year. Agreed
Parda Ha was a huge hit but so has been My Name is Anonthy. My point is that the same thing earlier happened with respect to Rafi songs in 1971 when Binaca wouldn’t give them their due.
3)Rafi wins FF and National award for a song in 77 and media pays attention and labels it as comeback
4) Rafi gets more assignments as a solo male playback singer on big projects like laila majnu
sargam etc.
Thanks
naveen
November 14th, 2007 at 3:25 am
All credit to Rafians to come out with factual and correct data of the 70’s. Many Rafians have provided in various forums specially HF factual and correct information about the 70’s and how Rafisahab not only maintained his firm position (in the 70’s) that he held since 1950. No singer or any famous personality from any field has ever held the undisputed position for over 30 years, a feat that only Rafisahab has achieved and that too with great distinction.
The startling fact that he was still called to replace KK in a 72 film even after KK had completed the recording is enough to burst this stupid and desperate myth of a so called lean phase. Could KK or any singer be called to sing a song already sung by Rafisahab or even considered more suitable in the 20 years before 70’s, it would be considered impossible.
No singer apart from Lata has enjoyed this unique and unmatched position in HF as Rafisahab has and continues to do so.
Just because KK got some popularity in 70’s and as Brij points out some of it was forced by MD’s like Pancham, to suggest that Rafisaab was displaced is a notion that is not only erroneous but ludicrous.
Suhana bhai at HF, who has great knowledge about Rafisahab and HF has provided some exceptional data and information in that forum and I welcome him to make a few points here.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Dear All Rafians,
1.- I am one of the millions of fans of Rafi Saab.
2.-The articles on LEAN PERIOD are accurate readings.
3.-RAFI SAAB was never on back foot even during mid seventies, because the Quality of the songs was just unparallel.
4.-The class of Rafi Saab was evident that, during LATA -RAFI rift,Music directors opted for Rafi WITH SUMAN KALYANPUR like the songs from DIL EK MANDIR, RAJKUMAR, SURAJ etc. to name a few.
5.-RAFI WAS THE GREATEST SINGERS OF ALL TIME IN HINDI FILM MUSIC.
6.- NAA BHUTO NAA BHAVISHYATI…as the saying goes, it pefrfectly fits to RAFI SAAB…
7.- AS such there was no lean period for Rafi Saab.
Regards;
SHRIRANG NAWATHE
FROM MUSCAT
00968 92 899089
November 13th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
The lean phase theory was developed by a section of the media that had a soft corner for KK who after 25 years of rejection at last had songs to sing cortesey of the Burmans who forced his songs on the public with a view to provide acceptance for his voice.
Rafi was then ruling all these years and even in 70’s raised the standards of singing in a way that the KK honey moon period ended in mid 70’s. KK could not sustain even for 5 years whereas Rafi rules for over 30 years.
If any one had a lean phase or should I say no phase, it was KK.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Rafi Sahab was always in demand.We need to redefine the elasticity of demand to know about Rafi Sahab.Nice article.Please keep it up.
P.S:I guess the pic of Rafi Sahab is modified one.Is it?
November 12th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Let me add something more about the ‘great phase’ of 1971-1976 wher rafi saab continue as winner despite all odds.what I am going to say is about the relation between ‘royalty saga’ and this ‘great phase’.
I think everyone is well aware of Roayalty saga. Lata Jee was demanding half the share in the royalty .Rafi saab was not interested in receiving that and saying that we should not demand….
On this issue it was she who declares that from now on I will not sing with Rafi….
The year was 1960-62.
Just for a moment , consider that Lata jee was right in demanding that percentage from the royalty. But anyone think that she was right in her approach not to sing with Rafi saab?
This was the worst thing that happen . Just to show her ego she made such a decision.
Rafi Lata duets were among the best duets in HFM.
It clearly depicts that Getting Royalty was her first preference. Singing was the second preference.
They start singing again after 5 years in a stage show. just a profeesional tie up.
and what happens between these 5 years.?
We made to hear duets like ‘DIL E BETAAB Ko’.. and others.. Nobody complain the missing Lata.
And she make a return…. for what ? For the sake of singing? just take a look the following Data(I am showing lata songs as she was declinine herself to sing With rafi saab):
1959=lata sings 193 songs
1960= lata sings 153 songs
1961=153 songs
1962=128 songs
1963=103 songs
1964=133 songs
1965=90 songs
And she start singing again..next year . just for the sake of music?or to help herself getting more songs? she claims on the stage on the returning evening that I should make this comeback earlier. for what? for the sake of music?
and there comes 1970, when just for 3-4 hits, media (even our own raju bharatan also ! )announces that kishore da dethrones rafi saab. And such hype did not continue for long.
it is clear that both events are interrelated.when you cant be able to put rafi saab on your line about royalty saga then try a media hype…………..
November 11th, 2007 at 12:21 am
the seventies rafi sahbs voice got better and better you just have to listen to EID KA DIN HAI picturised on RISHI KAPOOR.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
hi rafian if u want rafi sahab’s audio collection plz logon to this site
http://www.apnageet.com/Muhammad-rafi.php
javed from pakistan
November 9th, 2007 at 5:08 am
Post # 26, Mr. Nitish Sinha’s last two sentences are 100% true.
November 9th, 2007 at 12:18 am
One thing has always amazed me when I hear or read about this so called lean period in Rafisaab’s carrer when KK reigned is that there are countless movies where most songs were sung by KK but there was that one or two (Karz, Aradhana, Lal Patthar ane many more) that had to be sund my Mr. Rafi. Simply because no one else had the range. On the other hand you will not find the situation other way around unless of course it was due to different character. Lean period? I think not!
November 8th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
thanks to all rafians for showing the confidence in my writings. .. the so called advent of kishore da in 1970s is a perfect example of media hype. I think that media has done so under the influece of some influenced singers. however even media did not able to continue such framed story for more than 5-6 years and in 1976 or so they had to accept that so called lean phase is over…..
but reality is that there was no such lean phase and rafi saab was and is best ever singer. he is uncomparable..