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His Majesty’s Voice

By Mr. A.S.MURTY (asmurty2@rediffmail.com, rafimurty@gmail.com)

Shammi KapoorAmong the many boisterous fast songs sung by Mohd. Rafi Sahab, one song stands out as kingly as any can be. That song is the title song from the film RAAJKUMAR – Jaane Wale Zara Hoshiyar Yahan Ke Hum Hain Raajkumar. The song is picturised on the return of the prince to his kingdom from studies abroad and is so wonderfully picturised that one feels totally immersed in the sequence of events. Shammi Kapoor, the prince is atop a fully bedecked royal elephant, what with an entire band of trumpeteering band and scores of royal guards and aides in attendance. The setting is perfect for a royal entourage – the costumes, the glittering ornaments, the perfect lyrics and the fast paced music.

The icing on the cake is once again the magical and shahanshahi rendering by Rafi Sahab. “Hoshiyaar, Hoshiyaar” echoes through the vast surroundings and through the entire route that the princely journey takes the viewers along. There is this ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude and a subtle message for the world that when a prince is taking a walk, the lesser beings beware. And lest anyone undermine the ‘king in the making’, he yells “Yahan Ke Hum Hain Raajkumar”. The subjects are reminded that the royalty affords him the centre-stage and that he has armies in front and at the back.

[wp_youtube]pvyJMf6G6mw[/wp_youtube]
Courtesy: zaryabe@youtube

The first stanza proclaims that their ‘prince’ has toured the world and knows the “American” and “European” misdemeanors well enough. And dares anyone to come forward to test and be conquered. “Saari Duniya mein apni jaykaar” the prince emphatically declares. The second ‘antara’ gives the message that youthfulness and romanticism is with HIM alone and that HIS life story is fully colourful. The flow of masti and enjoyment is found in all the syllables and notations. The mood is of exuberance and celebration. One would notice that the frequent shouts of “OYE OYE” is there in all the three stanzas, but reaches a crescendo in the final stanza, where instead of these, the prince shouts it differently and in a reverberating fashion. The throwing of words in such ‘THHAT” and “DHOOM” cannot be found in any other song in such majestic manner. The prince has arrived and a future ‘KING’ is identified. LONG LIVE THE KING. LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTIC VOICE. That is Mohammed Rafi Sahab who cannot be replaced with anyone else when it comes to proclaiming one’s kingdom. The territory is well defined and he is the master of his subjects. And a king who is revered by his subjects, loved by the royalty and his royal army.

Shammi Kapoor with Mohd Rafi

The song is therefore among the number one spot by all standards when it comes to boisterous and royal attitude. Take the other hits from the films of Shammi Kapoor – for instance the Junglee “Yahoo” (full throated yelling at the very best) and An Evening in Paris number – Aasman Se Aya Farishta (again the opening lines roaring from the sky above). They and many other songs are so highly placed songs that no singer would even dare to come near them, leave alone rendering them in such high voltage. But, this royale song from Rajkumar has the combination of all the high pitch and fast paced notes and the princely air around it that it cuts the winner’s tape easily, relegating many from such clan to be only ‘good competitors’.

I have often felt deeply distressed after Rafi Sahab’s departure in 1980 and could never relish the songs that came afterwards sans his voice. We have everything in life – a family, a source of income, children, friends – yet somewhere something was always missing. And that missing link is the unfathomable and the golden voice of Rafi Sahab. Often my thoughts brought me to a popular Urdu couplet : “TERE BAGAIR KISI CHEEZ KI KAMI TOH NAHIN, TERE BAGAIR TABIYAT UDAAS RAHTI HAI”. But then just as soon as these thoughts come and I listen to a few songs from Rafi Sahab’s collection that I have, the cheer returns back. I am sure most RAFIANS go through such phases each day in their lives. And between these thoughts, the princely feeling of being from such a royal descendancy creeps in yelling – YAHAN KE HUM HAI RAJKUMAR. Surely, we the RAFIANS have inherited the heritage of a kingdom, which is not the privilege of many more, and we are proud of the same.

Also posted on www.eternalrafi.com & www.rafi.co.in
Also available now on my blogs :
http://rafimurty.blogspot.com/
http://rafimurty.rediffiland.com/
http://blogs.ibibo.com/rafimurty/
http://forums.bollywood.com/

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14 Blog Comments to “His Majesty’s Voice”

  1. A S MURTY says:

    hello g.rajuji. where are you from ? you sound as though you are from Andhra. if you are from hyderabad, do get in touch with us. we have formed the rafi foundation, hyderabad chapter and would be only too happy to have you join our group. my email id is rafimurty@gmail.com

  2. g.raju says:

    hi friends,

    i crave for rafi saheb. though i am a south indian , i can easily understand hindi, and love to hear rafi ji throughout my life. i hve loaded lot of his songs and listen to them daily before going to bed. what a voice? particularly in film daastan “na too zamil ke liye”
    i love to hear him thruoghout my life. what a great man- raju.g

  3. AHAMED KUTTY says:

    Years back when I was in saudi arabia, i was watching film “laat saab”
    with an egyptian.there is a song of rafi saab “jaane mera dil kise doond
    rahahe in haree bari wadiyom me”.after finishing the song, the egyptian
    was wondering about the sound of the singer.I told him the singer is
    mohammed rafi saab who have millions of fans across the world. people worshipping him like the late egyptian singer “ummul kulthum”

  4. kn.kumar says:

    dear murthyji, thanks a lot for a wonderful article.when we were in college, shammi kapoor was at his peak and ofcourse,as he himself has acknowledged, who put him there – none other than our Rafi Saab. What a combination they made- Shammi, Rafi,Shankar Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri,Sailender.That time was a golden age and it will never come again and we have to contend ourselves with the memories.Shammi and Rafi wer body and soul.Like you,we all feel the absence of Rafi Saab even though we have everything in life for a good life.During his life,he had become a part of us and with his departure,a part of all of us died.what a wonderful human being he was.I agree with the other fans on all the songs mentioned.One of my favourite is – Saverevali gaadi se chale jaaenge —- aur Rafi Saab hum subko chodkar chale gaye.

  5. Narayan says:

    One more news…..
    The current wizard of music A.R.Rahman is a big fan of Shammi n Rafi sahab… It seems he has credited Shammi-Rafi sahab and the great MDs like SJ and OPN who were resposible the dynamic change of music in the 60s making it a Swinging style….

  6. neeraj says:

    A poll to select your favourite mohd rafi website

    http://www.twiigs.com/poll/Entertainment/Music/12264

  7. Superb article Murtyji. really great article of shammi kapoor. There is a song of rafi-shammi kapoor combo, the song is “Dil ke Zaroke mein tujko” from the film brahmachari, the real thing in this film is the piano played by none other than Shankar from Shankar-Jaikishan. Rafisahab sang so well for shammi kapoor that no other singer can sing.

    shashankchickermane72@gmail.com

  8. Anwar-ul-Haque says:

    Dear A. S. Murty ji,
    Nice article! When I first listened this song “Jaane waale zera hoshiyar”, I did not know that it is picturised on Shammi Kapoor. Still I admired that song, but when I watched the movie and looked Shammi is acting on this song, I just love it.
    All the songs of film “Raajkumar” are very nice including “Is rang bedelti dunya mein”, “Dilruba dil pe tu”, “Tum ne pukara aur hum chale aaye” and the great song “Tum ne kisi ki jaan ko”.
    Well I did not have the song “Tum ne pukara aur hum chale aaye” from this film. I like this song very much. “Ek baar suna hai, dobara sunne ki temenna hai”. Can anyone mail it to me? I will be very grateful. My e-mail address is:
    anwar4849@yahoo.com

  9. Dr. Khaja Aliuddin says:

    Janab AS Murthy Sahab, Adab Araz Hai,
    ” I have often felt deeply—— and we are proud of the same.”
    Very powerful and heart touching statement Murthy Sahab. In 1979, when I migrated to USA, at that time, I had only two audio cassettes of rafi Sahab. And now—–
    Sahir Sahab ke yeh chand sher, Awaz ke Badshah Rafi Sahab ko nazar karta hun.
    “Mujhko iska ranj nahi hai log mujhe fankar na mane
    fikr wo sukhan ke tajer mere sheron ko ashaar na mane
    mera fan meri umeeden aaj se tum ko arpan hain
    Aaj se mere geeth tumhare dukh aur sukh ka darpan hain”
    Murthy Sahab, Keep up the good work.
    With regards to all Rafi lovers,
    Dr. Khaja Aliuddin,
    Chicago.

  10. Hussein Sheikh says:

    Nice write-up murtyji. Most of the songs sung by Rafi Saheb for Shammi Kapoor ji weere/are super duper hits. Even to this day, these songs are remembered to one and all. In fact, Rafi Saheb was/is the real hero.

  11. Ghulam Mujtaba says:

    Dearest Murty Ji,

    Wah! You have drawn a perfect sketch of our hearts. His evergreen voice and outstanding music of Shanker Jaikishan in film “Rajkumar became a superb. 2nd Film Prince song Muqabla hum say na karo the appearance between female’s voice “Rafi Ji ney kamal Kia” he sung on high pitch and no one can draw the melodious voice like Rafi Sahib and 2nd song is Nazar mein bejli ada mein sholey and 2nd Antra is “Zera palatkey Idhr to Dekho” 3rd song is “Badan pay Sitarey lapaty huaee ooh Janey Tamana kidhar Jareh hu” and a beautifull song with great music in the same picture is “Dhandi Dhandi Huwa Mein Dil Lehrain Hai Jawani Dewani”. There are so many gems which are endless. Murty Ji you are a perfect “ASHIQ” of Rafi Sahib even all participants who are sharing their valued comments. Murty Ji please keep it up this wounderful job. “Terey nain nashay dey pialay Inhay piangey naseebo waley”. Thanking you Ghulam Mujtaba / Lahore Chapter

  12. SANJAY ARORA says:

    sh.murthy sahab just listen to the song `tera naam ka deewana tere ghar ko dhoondta hai`,from `suraj aur chanda (1973),md lp.
    only a badshah can sing such songs.(superb orchestra by pyarelal ji)

  13. xxx says:

    a s murty ji,

    excellent article by you, rajkumar was great album by s-j, each and every song was gem and famous too.. keep it up..

    rafi ji and sj were made for each other, they immensely contributed towards each other career, s-j took out new style from rafi so rafi lifted up sj’s music to the great heights..

    together they ruled the era of 60s, and no doubt s-j were best composers from 60s in every aspect.

    but in my view previous decade(50s) was ruled by naushad,sdb and c ramchandra(in quality), as in 50s rafi ji was not among the regulars in the s-j camp…

    it was the dev’s movie “love marriage(1959)” from where rafi ji became regular in s-j camp and together they ruled 60s…

  14. Anmol Singh says:

    Hello A S Murthy Nice Write Up !!!!

    Ofcourse there is no singer other than Rafi who can match Shammi’s body language the best. There many songs picturized on Shammi in care free mood. Care free mode means singing at very high scale with “Musty and Mischeif”. No other singer could do that.

    Examples

    Madhosh Hawa Matwali Phizaa – Prince (Not sure)
    Yeh Dekh Ke Dil jhuma – Kashmir Ki Kali
    Kissi Na Kissi Ko Kabhi Kabhi – Kashmir Ki Kali
    Dhekhye Saahebo Woh To – Teesri Mazil
    Ya Ho…Chahe Koi Mujhe Jungle – Jungle
    Meri Mohaabat Jawan Rahe Gi – Jaanwar
    Dil Tera Diwana Hai Sanam –
    Akele Akele Kahan Jaa Rahe Ho – Evening in Paris

    The list is endless

    In fact the Rafi-Shammi-SJ combo brought a new style of singing all together which later was inherited by Joy Mukherjee & Biswajeet.

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