Did Sonu Nigam reach the level of excellence of Rafi?
This article is written by Mr. Souvik Chatterji
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam is considered the most powerful playback singer in bollywood films at the moment. The greatest debate that haunts most of the music lovers of the country is that whether Sonu Nigam had reached the level of excellence that Rafi had reached in the 50s and 60s.
The greatest achievement of a singer lies in his acceptability before diverse range of composers and lyricists. As Rafi was classically trained and could adapt any type of song ranging from qawallies to ghazals to soft romantic numbers to westernized rock and roll compositions his demand before the musical community was immense.
He is probably the only singer in the 50s and 60s who had sung with compositions of all the leading composers including Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Madan Mohan, OP Nayyar, Salil Choudhury, Ghulam Mohammad, Vasant Desai, C. Ramchandran, S D Burman, LP, KA, RD Burman, and others and lyricists including Shailendra, Shakeel Badayani, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Raja Mehendi Ali Khan, Rajender Krishnan, etc. Excepting Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, no other singer were in close diameter of Rafi in the 50s and 60s, as due to lack of classical orientation some of the singers of specifically composer’s singers.
Talat Aziz, Sonu Nigam at Caravan-E-Ghazal Concert
Sonu Nigam had sung songs composed by AR Rehman, Anu Malik, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Vishal Shekar, Pritam, Shantonu Maitra and many other composers of the present age. In singing difficult and dynamic songs his name had appeared before Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, or others, including “sathiya sathiya” composed by AR Rehman, “sandese ate hai” composed by Anu Malik, “piyu bole” composed by Shantonu Moitra, “tumko bhula na payega” composed by Sajid Wajid, “ek din kahin” composed by Nusat Fateh Ali Khan, to name a few. But there is strong competition in bollywood music at the moment and Sonu Nigam is not the uncrowned king considering the challenge posed forward by Javed Ali, Atif Aslam and many new singers.
If compared with Rafi, probably the factor where Rafi remains unparallel, were the remote compositions that he had sung with. If Naushad’s “woh duniya ke rakhwale” was pure classically oriented, then SJ’s “aasman se aya farishta” had French background embedded in them, if Roshan’s “jo wada kiya ho” had royal andaz, Madan Mohan’s “tumhari zulfon ki” had ghazal andaz. Besides Rafi had given expression to Salil Choudhury’ s tunes based on east-west blend of music, Jaidev’s urbanized folk songs, SD Burman’s rural folk songs. There is no similarity of “madhuban me radhika nache re” with “aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche” or “dil jo na keh saka”. The list can go on. The other factor where Rafi had an edge includes the standard of Indian film music reached its zenith in the 50s and 60s which is difficult to attain.
Sonu Nigam is big asset for bollywood music at the moment and has a long way to go. But those who understand music will invariably agree Rafi’s empty space had remained absolutely unfilled. Rafi-lovers only try to fulfill their thirst by hearing the singing style of Sonu Nigam which is to a big extent modeled in Rafi’s style. Sonu Nigam himself also agrees that Rafi was unparallel and will always remained the uncrowned king of bollywood music.
Viewers expect the singers of the present age to listen to Rafi’s song and improve their own level of singing to whatever extent they can.
Souvik Chatterji, the author of this article
Dear Vikash Sharmaji
Thank you so much for these youtube video clips. I watched some of them and others on youtube – and have tears in my eyes after hearing Rafi Saab’s gentle voice and seeing that beatific smile. He could not have been human, he was divine.
It is supposed to be the 27th of Ramzaan today, and I plan to pray tonight for my relatives who have passed away and for Rafi Sahab, who feels like a relative – like a beloved uncle or something. he seems to belong to everyone who loves him. And so many of us around the world do. I don’t think even he knew the colossal-ness of the admiration, love and respect he inspired. The world can never ever forget this creation of Almighty God.
this site has brought me much closer to Rafi Sahab, just reading what everyone writes, reading about his songs and seeing his pictures – so thank you to those people who started this living and loving site. God bless you all. We miss you Rafi Sahab and wish you were here – and that we could hear you sing live today.
There is a correction in my post 95. Instead of accomodative, read as adoptability. A qualty, playback singer should possess. according to a music director only Rafi and Asha had this. A.R.Rahman records singer just with one rythem instrument, he outlines the tune and goes for three different take and leaves the singer. Then he picksup the best, sometimes one line from each take or one word, and then adds instrumental pieces and special sound effects from pre recorded Bank. Even the singer hears the songs only when audio is released. In Gajini, Sonu’s song “Theri adhoori…” lot of special sound effects are used and I doubt even Sonu can’t reproduce it on stage. So why compare Sonu with Rafi?.Hundreds of new singers are thronging to Rahman’s Subbarayar Nagar house daily and AR selects only unconventional voice, he is not interested in singers sounding like Rafi or Kishore
1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38V3b3jhiGc
2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbzPc0gCYk
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agqxrKR60qs
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGV7ernpBM
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg6OxUwCYbw
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIrKhsIndjE
WATCH THIS OUT OF WORLD VIDEOS OF RAFI SAHIB IN BRADFORD HALL ENGLAND AND MIND U THESE ARE THE VIDEOS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF RAFI SAHIB LIVE IN OCTOBER 1979. THESE VIDEOS AND THE VOICE QUALITY OF RAFI SAHIB IS JUST SO AWESOME AND UNPARALLELED AND MINDBLOWING OH MAN NO COMPARISON AT ALL .THIS IS VOICE OF GOD
ai qaatib-e-taqdeer mujhe itna bata de
ke in aaj ke gayokon se jod kar hamare
aur sabhi chanewalon se rafi ka naam
unki yaad ko krazy kyoon kiya re
i would req all rafi fans not to go into
unnecessary arguments and continue
enjoying his songs which is a divine
gifts to all of us
sundeep pahwa new delhi
Souvik Chatterji is a huge fan of Rafi. He has written numerous articles on Rafi being the all time great. We are glad to have Sonu Nigam today who worships Rafi. At no point did Mr. Chatterji mention that Sonu was better than Rafi. So why are we arguing about a non issue. Sonu is a diciple of Mohd Rafi and successful in carrying the Rafi torch, and that me makes even more proud to be a Mohd Rafi fan. Sonu’s presence helps to remind many young people how great Rafi was. So thank you Mr. Chattrerji for a well written article.
It is futile to compair not only Sonu Nigam, but also any other singer of present era with Mohamad Rafi. In golden era of Hindi film music (50,and 60) certain qualities were expected from a playback singer, and all those singers headed by Rafi had distinqueshed individuality and so they survived. Late music maestro Naushad sab says that a Playback singer should possess seven qualities. Voice-modulation, expression, diction,classical training, clarity,Pleasent voice, and accomedative. In the same breath he says that Rafi had another eighth quality, ie he was a good human being which makes Rafi from different from others and even after 29 years of his death that place is vaccent. In those days recordings are done live and Music directors were task masters and they never rested until they get what they want, whether it’s Lata or Rafi. you hae to perform. Today, anybody can become a singer, whether you have one quality or none, all your short commings will be taken care by software. Female singer is in New Jerssy,male singer is In London. Music director is in Dubai and the lyricisist is in Goregaon(Mumbai) and they record the song. How many songs, we remember or hum from today’s films? In 60.s Rafi sang 5 to 6 songs in a film, and today 5 to 6 singers are there in a film. Every Friday new singers are borne. Yes earnings have gone up. If they don.t have recordings, doesn’t mind, they have reality shows, and stage shows in pleanty. Even those young singers in channells get stage managed, what we see are not real in those reality. In stage shows they move lips, and singing comes from software.So, what we get including Sonu is not real and can’t compare with the old gold. One of Rafi’s song has the lyrics”Kya kahiye aise logom se, jinki soorat chupi rahe, naqli chehra samne aaye, asli soorat chupi rahe.”
post 91
even if i agree with you that sonu can sing all kinds of songs, that doesn’t make him the best. ar rehman has already (probably) dropped sonu from his ‘list’. the problem with sonu is that he sounds ‘forced’, not natural. when a music director like rehman plays a tune on the piano and then asks the singer to sing that song, forced singing cant produce the best outcome. just see how rehman replaced sonu with more natural rafi-clones. yes, sonu is a rafi-clone. if there were no rafi, there would have been no sonu (you can include mahendra, akhlaq, bashir, anwar, sabbir, aziz, udit, sukhwinder, aslam and many other). but rafi existed before all of them were born.
rafi is the first singer who was very different from siagal. rafi developed a new singing style that is completely different from the traditional school. and still today, if some one doesn’t follow the traditional school (traditional school includes saigal, kishore, mukesh, kumar sanu etc), he follows rafi’s style of singing. many of them combine the two very often.
if you dont like rafi or like sonu very much, thats a different matter. but u cant make sonu the greatest. sonu himself has to be the greatest — which he is not and he is falling. he is doing too many concerts and foreign tours now a days and the reasons are — more money and less number of recordings.
u talked about sonu not having classical training – he definitely has now. he took classical training for a long time. he had a ustad whose name i cant remember. but if u have seen sonu on zee tv (zeena isi ka naam hain), i think u know. to me, rafi lacked sound classical training. he came to bombay when he was 20. i dont know if he took classical training after 1944. but look at what he did, he sang so many semi classical with such brilliance!
sorry some typo error in my last post. The post of Mr. Karan Nigam was wrongly referred as post no. 9. It should have been post no. 91.
Ref. Post 9
Request Mr. Karan Nigam (is he related to Sonu Nigam??) to refrain from making such wild and unacceptable remarks. There are plenty of other forums where he can air his conceited views. This forum is not meant for gossip and controvercy mongers. I also appeal to all Rafi fans to ignore Karan’s post and do not react to it. By reacting we will be playing into his hands.
SONU NIGAM SAHAB AAJ KA BEST SINGER HAI. IF YOU COMPARE SONU AND RAFI NO DOUBT EVERYBODY WILL SAY RAFI. BUT IN MY OPINION SONU IS IMMORTAL.
SONU NIGAM CAN SING ANY TYPE OF SONG WITHOUT HAVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC. EVEN KISHORE DA CAN SING ANY SONG WITHOUT HAVING THE KNOELEDGE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC. . SONU NIGAM IS THE BEST BEST SINGER EVER WORLD HAS PRODUCED. HE WILL BE THE BEST SINGER FOR 100000 YEARS.
BEST YARDSTICK TO JUDGE A SINGER IS HIS OR HER UNIVERSAL ACCEPTABILITY ACROSS GEOGRAPHICAL BORDERS.
even after 30 years of rafi passing away – rafi songs are there for every occassion which people remember like any other festival. and, they are as fresh as the morning dew drops.
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my neighbour a young lady ( only 22 years in age ) visited sikkim last week and had this to say.
“whereever we went in the tourist bus – mohd rafi songs played”. i asked her : did u like them and enjoyed?
she said , we all enjoyed the songs along with the greenery and rising mountains.
this is what is called : the immortal songs, in the voice of the immortal singer.
binu nair…. mumbai
If anyone has the temerity to first compare Rafisaab with a present day singer in this forum then he should be prepared for the kind of responses he has received so far. Rafisaab was peerless and matchless and to compare him with Sonu Nigam is sheer blasphemy. The reactions of Rafi fans are perfectly justified and there is no place in this site for responders no.58, 68 etc. The moderator should not publish letters which lowers the image of our maestro. For me Rafisaab was, is and will always be number 1,2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7—–100. Let others occupy 101 position onwards.
M V Krishnan
Dear AS Murty Saab – Ref post 69. We want to move on, but you can see people just don’t seem to be able to. Pity.
You mentioned ‘yeh zulf agar khulke bikhar jaaye to’ and it made me think of a few more ‘zulf’ songs:
“teri zulfon se judaai nahin maangi thi’
“zulfon ko hata do chehre se, thora sa ujaala hone do’
“na jhatko zulf se paani, ke moti phoot jaayenge”
“tu mere saamne hai, teri zulfein hai khuli”
“yeh reshmi zulfein”
Yes, we can all hum these songs, some of us get up on stage and try to get them technically as perfect as possible, but oh the effort that has to be put in! To do a copy.
But Rafi Saab….was something else. He sang them with such ease, it was as if the words were written only to be sung by this voice, the melodies were given only for this voice; because this was the only voice which had that edge.
This was the only voice which had that quality that comes from an awareness of what is known as…..romance. Listen to just one of the songs mentioned above, and think of the expression he put in. This expression came from within him, how can someone or anyone copy that? Even if they do, it will not be natural, it will be copied. You can’t copy romance, it’s god given and you either have it or don’t. In my opinion, no other singer had it – they had other things like artistic ability, talent, range and melody etc. But, along with all these things, that extra romantic edge was the possession of only that one single creation of god which was the voice of Mohd Rafi Sahab, and its magic will live in our hearts and souls till the last day.
Priya Sanyal’s outstanding.
Such positive observations, such defence of Rafi Sahaab can only come out of the wounded heart of a true Rafi Sahaab’s fan. Hats off to you and Mr Murthy too.
In my opinion, the problem with the article begins with the title itself which is rhetoric in nature, suggesting that Sonu Nigam has reached the excellence of Rafi Sahaab.
To be a true Rafi Sahaab fan means inner conviction and not just profession.
@ post 84:
note that:
1)kk’s 4 awards were after rafis death
2)mohd rafi’s 5 out of his 6 awards was at a time where it was given to only 1 singer and not separately to male and female singers.
3)the huge amt of hits that rafi saahab sang from 1953 to 1958 were not given filmfare as there was no “best singer award”
4)rafi saahab had singers like kishore da,mukesh ji,etc to compete with, while kishore kumar had shabbir kumar and the rafi “clones”(or should i say “clowns”) to compete with in the 80’s – in other words, he was the only good singer there!
5)there must have been existence of politics. many ppl purchased filmfare awards, similar to the purchasing done on e bay or amazon :D.
6)how can tum jo mil gaye ho and barbaad e mohabbat not be given filmfare – it was no that rafi didnt deserve the awards, but the awards did not deserve rafi.
regards,
sid sen
Post:74.
Dear Souvik,
Going by your post, it appears that you are in a damage control mode. But, this does not take away the fact that 2 wrongs will not make one right!! Your education abroad must have also taught you this. ‘In my opinion’ is a phrase that is widely accepted today. Nothing wrong in expressing one’s opinion. So, let us talk in colloquial and not use legal terms that a lay man like me cannot understand. Maybe, I belong to the ignorant category, according to you, but atleast, I do not indulge in berating others unnecessarily.
God bless you.
ref post 21
i agree it is a meaningless discussion to compare rafi saheb
with any singer in todays time but souvikji kk geting 8 filmfare
awards may be due to politcs or other………… will the people
accept filmfare award given to beiman in early 70s instead of
pakeezah do you need another question now to answer your
query even pran saheb refused to accept his best supporting
artist award on this issue sundeep pahwa newdelhi
Mohammed Rafi is the greatest playback singer Bollywood has ever produced. He totally dominated the years of 50s and 60s which is known as the golden era of music.In Bengal too during this period great artists like Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Manobendra Mukherjee, Sandhya Mukherjee, Pratima Banerjee etc contributed significantly to enrich the standard of music. Manna Dey himself had a very good relationship with Mohd. Rafi. Being a versatile singer himself Manna Dey admitted more than once that Rafi was the greatest. In an interview with a bengali magazine “Shananda” Manna Dey told about Rafi that such a big artist had not been born during the last 100 years nor will be born in the coming 100 years. The songs of the film “Laloo Bhuloo” the bengali counterpart of the film “Dosti” was sung by Manobendra Mukherjee another versatile singer and the uncrowned king in “Nazrul Sangeet”. Manobendra also admitted that the songs of Rafi of the film “Dosti” was super excellent. I learnt this, if I am not mistaken, from an article posted by Mr. Souvik Chatterji himself. I think Mr. Chatterji did not mean to place Sonu Nigam over Mohd. Rafi. But I also do not think that there is any scope of debate too over the established fact that since Mohd. Rafi outdid greater artists like Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey , the question of Comparing Sonu Nigam with Rafi does not arise at all.
If anyone wanna see power of stupid controversy(that happened with aradhana,by RD burman),,,than real talent,,,we can see this article,,by the same author(savik Chaterjee) there had been some very good article,,,but this one so soon got more than 80 comments,,,,,,,so what ever happened in 70s,,,was not music but sensationism,,,,that Rd burman and others cashed,,,,with teesri manjil,people praised rafi sahab so much that rd burman got eclipsed ,,,It was not Rd burman but was Rafi sahab`s song,,called,,aaja aaja main hoon pyar,,,,badan pe sitare,deewana mujhsa nahi,,,tumne mujhe dekha hokad meherbaan,,,,,,but mere sapno ki rani and roop tera when became hit,,,,kishore became more famous like never before but everyone said its RD Burman magic,,also aandhi and amar prem,,kishore `s best song,,like Chingari koi bharke etc,,,RD burman took great share of bread,,,,,,but again,,,after few years,,when Rafi sahab once again sang for Rd burman,,kya hua tera wada,,chand mera dil etc,,,,,not even a single person even today says kya tera wada is RD burman song,,,every one says,,its Rafi(sahab)……and let me confess louder than ever,,I was wide awake in 70s to witness Rafi sahab perelessness every time that is beyond these sensationalism,,,,,,Rafi sahab is eternal,,,,,lets enjoy him,,whats need of comparison even healthy one,,with mukesh,,,mannde,,kishore kumar,,sonu nigham etc,,,,,why can`t we know our role!
Comparing rafi sahab with Sonu Nigham will only enhance hatred for Sonu nigham that sonu ji don`t deserve,,Sonu Nigham almost worship rafi sahab,,,Listening Sonu Nigham i feel like a moon is signing in the light of sun,,,,,,the sun that in itself is sun ,moon,and every kind of light that is Rafi sahab,,,,,,,Read an article on sonu Nigham any where,sonu Nigham can never remain without praising Rafi sahab,,,,,In my young age,,I had heard people discusing similarly Rafi sahab with Mahindra kapoor,,,that is simply absurd,,,,,but everyone has freedom of expression,,so Souvik ji also has,,,and so is we readers,,, i read in a rafian cooment here,,who quoted this site,,,I`m re-tagging that,,,,on Mahindra kapoor death,,,,Raju Bhartan,,tributed kapoor,,by this article,,,that only bring defame for kapoor,,as kapoorji from childhood,,,used to visit Rafi sahab`s home for lessons,,and always adored him,, http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/oct/01kapoor.htm — similarly,,,sonu Nigham also,,see rafi sahab with same adoration as we all do,,,and if sonu Nigham becomes todays numero uno singer,,,,it will enhance rafi sahab`s name only,,,today,,AR Rehman himself admits that he himself made tunes of songkeeping Mohmmed rafi as singer in his mind,thats why we can see Rehman`s song has low to high variation,,,,he said,,,sonu or sukhwinder r good but one looks for extraodinary,,,and when asked what do u mean by extraordinary,,,Rehman answers,,,extraordinary means md rafi(sahab),,,,,,Ar rehman,,,only Indian music director thats most western even won oscar,,only chooses singer of rafi school as his singer,,,when kumar sanu was 4 times filmfare winner,rehaman never given him chance,,,so is,,,kishore da clones,,,,kumar sanu,Shan,KK,babul suprio,abhijit(abhijit perhaps 1 time got chance) also is never seen in Rehman`s composition,,,,,on other side,,,,Udit narayan,,,,who himslef adore Rafi sahab,Javed Ali who recorded Rafi sahab song like Sonu nigham,,,,,sukhvindra sing,and sonu Nigham is Rehman`s fav,,,,,so,,,Souvik ji u can never say what other say about which singer,,it doesn`t matter,,,,,,,,,something thats matter is this that we r family,,and souvik ji is very good at heart,,,he never meant anything against rafi sahab,,,,rather he understand rafi sahab morethan many of us,,,,,and he has literal freedom,,the only thing by reading which I felt hurt and divided that he should have behaved paitently,,and would have tried to convinced with his noble heart rather than outbursting calling other rafi sahab`s lover sleeping and that rafi lovers critisize other singers!
with hope to see positive response from writer of this article,more contribution by Sauvik ji on this site with wonderful tribute as it was befor this article.
Thanking you.
Post 68: One of the rubbish post. As said before also, even crores of sonu cannot make one Rafi Saheb.
I asked one of my none Indian friends Do you have better singer than mohd Rafi in your country?the answer was there is no.
I can’t understant how some say that mohd Rafi # 1 ,Sonu # 2 and KK #3!!!!!!!!!!!?
MOST OF SINGERS IN MOHD RAFI TIME THEY SAID THAT MOHD RAFI IS THE BEST BUT ABOUT SONU NO ONE SAID THAT.
1,MOHD RAFI MADE SHAMMI KAPOOR AND SHAMMI KAPOOR WAS OF ONE TOP ACTORS AND STILL TODAY HIS FILMS SONGS ARE HIT.
2,O P NAYAR ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR OF ALL TIME ALL SAID THAT I AM BOZ OF MOHD RAFI…………
3, MANY MORE
WHO SAID THE SAME FOR kk OR SONU OR ANY OTHER SINGER.AS I THINK THESE WORDS ONLY SAID FOR MOHD RAFI AND LATA JI
True, sonu is a learned singer and perhaps the best among all at present, but comparing with RAFI SAHAB is like comparing Lord Krishna with Arjun….
Sauvik chatterji,,,the way u reacted is simply “Disgusting”,,,,,,Ya I know u r also a Rafi sahab`s admirer,,may be ur love for him is more than me,,I agree,,,,Now have a look what happened,,,u wrote something to tribute Rafi sahab as u always do here,thank you we r indebted by ur contributions,,,,but,,ur article got few criticisizm,,and u became wild out of ur selfish ego,,and u forgot that u r here for rafi sahab,,and made it personal,,,and started addressing,,ur own brother n sisters angrily and giving all those stupid stories of 70s,,,,,what happened in 70s was outcome of a controversy,,not u nor me has any doubt about Rafi sahab`s excillence yet,,u behaved so prematured by advocating other singer,,,,and saying rafi lovers were alseep!!!!!!!!!!an`t u one among us,,, how can u cal us others,,,,,
Rafi sahab also got many criticizm in his life,many time for no reason atal,but he never reacted,one instance,Music Directer Usha Khanna,criticizdRafi sahab publicly in ur so called 70s for block buster song “teri Galiyon me na rahenge kadam”,,saying she made wrong decission by giving md rafi this song and said that rafi sahab didn`t sing well,,,,,,,Rafi sahab herad this from others,without any anger but with all modesty went back to usha khanna saying ,,”u r mus director,like a Guru,if u felt I didn`t sing well,,u should have tell me,,i would re -record,,”what a modesty sir,,,once,,when Kishore kumar in a concert started shouting to organiser of the show that why they called rafi sahab to same show in which kishore kumar himself had to sing,,,rafi sahab heard it and when te break came rafi sahab drank left tea of kishoe kumar saying,,”aap ka jhoota pi liya ab mera bhi sur lag jayega,”kishore kumar started crying,,,,what a person rafi sahab was,,what a singer that even kishore kumar hmself slaped his own fan for critisizing rafi sahab,saying,,”If i can sing a song in one way,rafi sahab can sing same song in many ways” ,,,,anyway,,back to 70s with teri galiyon me that when the song released,,,,usha khanna herself became wrong and song became history,,,,,,,,,,,,,,there r millions of story in which rafi sahab answered critisizm with modesty,,,,but u,,,being one of the greatestRafi sahab admirer,,,dedvided ur own family member by adressing them as sleeping rafi fans,,,and saying that these rafi fans criticize other singer.
,,,Mr sauvik,,we have always liked ur article,,,,,so felt its our right to access freedom to point out what we like or what we didn`t like in ur article,,,,,but if u don`t allow critisizm,,,then sorry on behalf of all,,,but if u think u reacted with ur own frinz who love Rafi sahab as much as u urself love,,,,plz display same modesty that king of our heart Rafi sahab has…….
.
what is this? the website claims, INDEED THE BEST SINGER, n also publish this kinda articles? is thr any such word as co-best?
rafi SAHAB can sing in johnny walkar ‘s voice. these are the few examples “main hoon mr johnny” and “tel malish”. but sonu nigam has never rendereed these songs. why? BECAUSE sonu ji SCARES THAT HE CAN “T SING IN THAT VOICE.
if sonu is a great singer he should sing the song “YEH DUNIYA PATANG” which rafi sahab is singing in exactly OM PRAKASH ji ka voice.
rafi sahab is a natural singer but sonu is an artificial singer . RAFI SAHAB SINGS HIS SONGS FROM THE HEART BUT SONU NIGAM SINGS FOR PUBLICITY.
read post 68 what he has written. sonu is better. ONE CANNOT COMPARE A SINGER LIKE RAFI SAHAB TO a singer like sonu ji. rafi sahab is immortal. he still rules the world. sonu just now went to london and rendered songs very badly.
for example there is a song “gulabhi aankein”. in that second mukada there is a line “aata hai gussa mujhe pyar se”
sonu is singing that line as if he is annoyed. but listen to rafi sahab that was pyar ka gussa. sonu nigam has good voice no doubt but rafi sahab has sung nearly 25000 songs and we feel as if 25000 singers are singing.
if we listen to 10 sonu songs we get bored. he sings in the same voice. rafi sahab can imitate johnny walkar, om prakash ,agha, ajit,dharmendra,jeetendra,rajesh khanna,shaami ,rajendra kumar,raj kumar ,tragedy king,dev sahab and sing in exactly their voice. but sonu tries to imitate rafi sahab and he fails.
bhagwan ne rafi sahab kho hamare liye banaya tha aur aaj be hamare dilo me raaj kar rahe hain.
so just ignore this article and don ‘t compare rafi and sonu nigam. it will take nearly 1000000 years for sonu nigam to sing even 15% of rafi sahab.
Dear Gurmurthyji, Rafimurthyji, Nagesh sidhanti, and others.
The reaction relating to harsh words used about some Rafi fans were harsh, just because they have not understood the Godliness of the giant singer, who was always considered to be a greater human being than a great singer. The greatness of a gifted person lies in the humility. When Manna Dey in his TV interview in DD Bangla in 1983 spoke to Lyricist Pulak Banerjee, he said whenever tough tunes were composed by giant composers like Roshan “laga chunari me daag”, Madan Mohan “kaun aya mere manke dware”, Shankar Jaikishan “sur na saje”, Manna Dey’s name came, but he did not get the scope of singing as many number of romantic songs or ghazals as Rafi had got. Rafi was fit to sing any type of song. When Manna Dey made such a comment, a highly talented classically oriented singer spoke about another classic best singer Mohammad Rafi whom he used to consider the best singer of the nation. When Manna Dey made such a statement it showed the level of humility of the giant singer.
What had frustrated me was the standard of language and level of vengeance that was exhibited by a big section of Rafi admirers. Why should the attitude be like that? It was categorically mentioned in the article that Rafi’s empty space in the industry had remained empty. Besides if Sonu Nigam in Reality Shows, Music Competitions, Stage shows had categorically mentioned Rafi was unparallel and in many occassions crossed the level of expectations of the composers and lyricists, he had reached the curiosity relating to giant of giants Rafi to the new generation who may have heard him, but never heard his Guruji Rafi who was a genius of genius. Rafi may have got 500 billion admirers across the world, what was the harm to reach it to another 500 billion admirers.
If Rafi would have survived till now, he would have got shocked to hear the standard of comments of his fans. If a person is praised, it does not mean, the parallel performers are supposed to be ridiculed to make people understand that the person praised was unparallel. Rafi had fantastic relation with Manna Dey, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood and other co-singers, and treated them with Godly conduct.
Why should the attitude the Rafi fans be so hooliganistic, that if the name of lets say Mukesh comes next to him, they should start abusing Mukesh, to show how great was Rafi.
Besides the language “I think, in my opinion” shows the level of ignorance of certain section of Rafi fans. I had done two LLMs, one in UK, one in US. There an inference relating to any research is worded by the language ” it can be said, it may be construed”, which shows the truth relating to the research being.
Opinions like “I think, in my opinion” can be given by musical pandits like Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, who were considered the nation’s pride even in international jurisdictions. Even composers like AR Rehman was ridiculed by Rafi fans unnecessarily. For praising Naushad, it is not required to hurl 50 abusive comments towards Salil Choudhury.
Yes the question was thrown relating to Rafi’s supremacy over a singer of present age who is considered fit to sing different types of songs, like Sonu Nigam. And it is also agreeable that Sonu Nigam had not achieved even half of the level of excellence that Rafi showed in his illustrious career.Yes it is agreeable, that amongst Rafi’s 26000 songs there were atleast 20000, which could not be replicated and are preserved as masterpieces. And Rafi will always remain unparallel in any age. But why should the reactions be violent?
Fans of Big B may have been brought up during the age of action films in 1970s. It may have appeared to Dilip Kumar fans of the 1950s, that Dilip Kumar was a superior actor than Big B. But does that mean Dilip Kumar’s fans should go on hurling substandard abuses at Big B just to show he was superior. Dilip Kumar by his own performance in the film Shakti showed his own class and superseded Amitabh Bacchan in the same film.
Had the rafi fans not reacted with sub-standard vision, the reply would not have been aggressive.
Rafi is still considered a gift of God, and in all ages, he will remain God’s greatest gift for India for ever.
Regards to all Rafiffans.
Souvik Chatterji.
Hello everyone, I have read, re-read and read Souvik’s mail on Sonu and Rafi. What I understand by his mail is that nowhere has he compared Sonu with Rafi. Actually he has praised Rafi in every sentence. He says that Rafi is unparallel. When he asks whether Sonu has reached the excellence of Rafi, I think he is saying that Rafi has no peers and that Sonu is no match. In fact he says that Sonu has a long way to go.
Souvik says that people relate to Sonu’s voice because Sonu has modelled himself on his guru Rafi. I agree. Even I like Sonu for the same reason apart from his talent like good voice and great singing. This is my personal opinion.
For me Rafi is God. There have been many clones. And they are just that clones. It is not possible to create God. Hence, Rafi is God. There are no two opinions about it.
I don’t know who Souvik is. His question: Did Sonu Nigam reach the level of excellence of Rafi? My answer: A big No.
With musical regards
Utthara
rubbish post 68
a request to the moderator of mohdrafi.com – the entire effort put into having started this beautiful website as a space for rafi fans and rafi bhakts is being tarnished with impunity.
it is sad that as a moderator, you have not excercised your rights to allow or disallow any written material – if it could marr the very existance of the website.
now – the people have got into a free for all and it has become a mess with absolute degredation to say anything you want.
let it be known to all that any insult or degredation of rafi sahab in his own website is an insult to mankind – there are other avenues – available for you to do so
you are free to write in the daily newspapers where you can have wider readership and acclaim. hence anybody who wishes to write against rafi sahab may kindly do so in leading newspapers and satisfy yourself and get critical acclaim too.
MODERATOR SAHAB – PLEASE CAREFULLY SCRUTINISE ALL MAILS TO AVOID BAD TASTE AND ACCRIMONY IN THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF RAFI BAHKTS/FANS.
NEEDLESS TO SAY THAT – WE AS RAFI BHAKTS / FANS NEED NOT ALLOW UNSCRUPULOUS MATERIAL AND PEOPLE – UNDERMINE OUR OWN WEBSITE WITH SUCH GARBAGE –
PAANI SAR SEY OONCHAA HO CHUKAA HAI –
MODERATOR SAHAB – TO A GREAT EXTENT THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.
HENCE FOR RAFI SAHAB’S SAKE ( THE SIMPLE NOBLER SOUL ) PLEASE STOP ALL THIS TIRADE AGAINST HIM ” FORTHWITH ”
ramesh narain kurpad
Rubbish article and rubbish post # 58.
nasreen jee – post no.67 – thanx for acknowledging and sorry for belated reactions from my side as the very subject matter did not deserve ” look in “,
but accidentally, it occurred to me who is going through this trauma of a foolish question – and then – my good ness me – by that all hell had broken loose – my entry was quite late. hence the delay i having read post no.8. sorry once again.
nasreenjee – a few names i must confess expressed their views, counter views, dissected the entire subject matter, corrected every wrong, reconstructed the actual noble thoughts which should have been written and much more to place in front of one and all – the damage done.
i would single out – a.s.murthy sahab, n.r. padmanabhan sahab, “gurujee” ( he is prolific and can cut minute thin layers of cheese ) with his wide knowledge and sound thinking is widely respected, devraj sahab, nageshbhai, ravibhai, anoopbhai – even the deaf, dumb and mute would sit up and take note.
here i must admit a mention has to be made of mr.souvik – he made all of us say what we have said – accept for the choice of the subject – with his writing skills he should not have had problems in choosing a good subject – when there are innumerable ones wating to be addressed to.
nasreenjee – i wonder and shudder to what would this world be without ” rafi sahab ” oh sochkar hee rooh kaamp utth tha hai.
rafi sahab was god himself in an awataar of a magical singer, he did not have to show his viraat roop ( as is done by awataars ) – his melodius voice was enough to send us into a trance – all cant be magicians – all cant be god – all cant be rafi sahab.
aapko koti koti pranaam rafi sahab – jai ho jai ho jai ho – rafi sahab.
rafi sahab is immortal – he is god.
ramesh narain kurpad.
nasreenji ref your post 67 and i could not concur more with you. let us move on. i was also thinking of so many songs of rafi sahab and knew that no other singer could have put that much depth and emotions, feel etc. in playback singing and like the song you mentioned, i had another ‘zulf’ song – yeh zulf agar khulke bikhar jaye to achha. hundreds of similar songs of rafi sahab were made just for him to give the playback and no other singer could ever put the exact sentiments of the lyrics and picturization better than rafi sahab. in most of similar songs, almost all the playback singers that we have known would have come a cropper and at best reach 40% of rafi sahab’s singing style. the gap between the next better singer as mentioned by someone earlier – lata mangeshkar – and rafi sahab is much wider than the mere .5% or 1.%, although lata mangeshkar is one of the legends herself and is a name to reckon with herself.i believe rafi sahab is the real ‘gayiki ka shahenshah’.
TO POST 67,
WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT RAFI IS WRONG.
THAT SONG TUMHARI ZULF KE SAAYE RAFI HAS SUNG WELL NO DOUBT.
SONU NIGAM HAS ALSO SUNG THAT SONG VERY WELL. EVEN FAR FAR BETTER THAN RAFI SAHAB. DO YOU KNOW SONU NIGAM HAS SUNG 187 SONGS FOR AKSHAY KUMAR. 143 SONGS FOR KING KHAN , AND 123 SONGS FOR SALMAN. WE FEEL AS IF THEY ARE SINGING. SONU IS PRESENTLY THE BEST SINGER. IF HE WAS THERE IN 1950 ‘S AND 60 ‘S HE COULD HAVE SUNG BETTER THAN RAFI SAHAB. HE TOO IS A FAN OF RAFI SAHAB NO DOUBT. BUT SEE HOW HE IS SINGING.
NOW IN THE MODERN ERA MUSIC IS SPOILT. WHAT CAN SONU DO. BUT SEE HIS SOFTNESS IN THE VOICE. WITHOUT HAVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC SONU IS SO BIG. WHAT IF HE LEARNS CLASSICAL MUSIC . HE WILL BE IN THE MOUNTAIN.
I FEEL SONU CAN SING 90% OF RAFI SAHAB TODAY. RAFI SAHAB IS THE BEST SINGER BUT SONU IS THE 2ND BEST SINGER. KISHORE DA IS THE 3RD BEST SINGER. SONU CAN SING IN HIGH RANGE VERY VERY WELL BUT HIS LOW RANGE CANNOT MATCH RAFI SAHAB. HE CAN SING O DUNIYA KE RAKWALE EXTREMELY WELL BUT HE CANNOT SING AAJA RE AA ZARA NOT SO WELL. BUT I BELIEVE ONE DAY HE WILL BE THE NO 1 SINGER. SO SONU JUST PRATICE AND TRY TO MATCH LOW NODES OF RAFI SAHAB
GOD BLESS
Post 28 Ramesh Narain ji – thanks (belatedly) for your comment about my post 8.
Post 60 Siva: you are right, we need to move on and not give this article any more time than it deserves.
Sometimes, people make a mistake and then when there’s a reaction, they keep persisting in sticking to their guns and consequently getting into more hot water; which is what the writer of this article seems to have done. One could almost feel sorry for him if it weren’t for the fact that he again offends in his post 37. But after repeatedly strong reactions from lovers of rafi (which he himself is supposed to be) he tries to make amends in his post 49. Please, graciously accept this and let’s move on.
I was listening to an old tape today and one of the songs was “tumhaari zulf ke saaye mein shaam kar loonga”. Friends, can any of you imagine this song in any other singer’s voice? I tried and just could not. The only singer who might have got somewhat closer than the others would have been Mahendra Kapoor. Just a thought that I wanted to share…..
(Please continue from here in this vein and not anymore about the article or Sonu Nigam etc.)
Jai Ho Rafi Saab , Shahenshahon ke shahenshah of Music and a very great human bieng. Baar baar jai ho Rafi Saab, Hazaar baar jai ho Rafi saahab!
Dear Rafi lovers,
I request all of you to cool down please. Mr. Souvik Chatterjee ji is a admirer of rafi and as can be seen from his article above, he clearly mentions at many places that rafi is the uncrowned king of bollywood or the ruler of hindi singing. I think that since in the current age since sonu nigam ji is trying to sing in a manner somewhat nearer to rafi or trying to sing in the style nearer to rafi ji, perhaps it was a effort on part of sri chatterjee ji to project his views on sonu nigams efforts to be trying to sing at least nearer to rafi. But all the time sri chatterjee maintains rafi as the benchmark and I personally think there is nothing to ridicule him in this particular article as there is nothing here which in anyway speaks against rafi, the uncrowned king of bollywood playback singing.
There is absolutely no comparison between sonu nigam ji and rafi ji, as the industries in which both are placed are quite different and there is a gap of decades between them and hence there cannot be any comparison also.
put all singers in the world togather and other side only Mohd rafi still Mohd Rafi is the best and not be compare
the only singer in world can be compare with Mohd rafi she is Lata ji but even Lata ji be 50% …….
Dear Ram
who compare between BMW with Maruti that mean he is crazy.
Pyarelal of laxmikant pyarelal speaks on Mohammed Rafi Saahab on BBC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qppk8xkdto&feature=related
Dear Mr. Souvik,
I did read your write-up last sunday but gave it a miss, as I did not
wanted to leave a comment on a ‘nothing write-up’. Make no mistake,
you are within your rights to express your opinion. Whatever it may
be.
Having now read your reactions, I must say here that they are written
in bad taste. To write phrases like ‘ were you sleeping?’ is so unlike
a rafi fan. Okay, if you were reacting to a specific mail, you need to then
mention the post No. but not generalise and write.
There are many here who weren’t born then, to be sleeping. So, it would
be nice to see a sporting regret from your side, so that this unwanted
thread can be closed.
I personally admire Sonu Nigam for what he is. I have heard hundreds
of T series songs sung by him in his early days. Believe me, he has done
a decent job of reproducing some great rafi songs such as tum joh,
tumhaari zulfke, door rahkar, gulabi aankhen etc.
Music during golden era was ( which is why it is called a golden era)
head and shoulders above the contemporary music in terms of intensity,
melody & lyrical values, composition, rendition, emotional context etc.
so to even compare sonu nigam to rafi sab is being unfair to sonu nigam himself.
If you still liked to have imagined sonu and rafi during the same era and
wanted to do some rating, here is what I feel. Sonu would have been
80% of Rafi sab during his initial days and about 75% currently( seems
he has lost a bit of hunger).
Please do refrain from provocative mails.
Regards,
Nagesh Sidhanti
rubbish article by souvik.pl stop publishing such article.
I fail to understand what souvik wants to state from this article.Are we comparing sonu to rafi saab or are we talking about rafisaabs comeback or what.This article is substandard and has no substance .I am really shocked to see such articles published with all respect to souvik since has written many articles .Is there any dearth of topics or writers in this forum.Mr.Naryanan always urges me to write something about our rafisaab , I am not able to do so.But now I feel I should write something about our rafi saab since it seems that we are short of good articles and are wasting our time analysing this rubbish article/
Hi,
mr.souvik chatterjee, if sonu is really good why cant he be sonu nigam , and not try to be rafi-2. if one compares these two singers to vanilla flavor used in ice creams, rafi was the like the one from natural vanilla grown on plants, and sonu is like artificial flavoring agent .most of us rafi fans feel there is no vacancy to be filled, even if we listen to one rafi song a day, we would need about 15 years to listen to all his song, and then no one listens to rafi song once, most of us play these songs on “repeat ” mode.
Sorry ,tell your sonu you failed to sell here, as the buyers were looking for quality.
suman
I am sorry to state that the author of this article has managed to do what he actually wanted -just to create an unwanted controversy. I suggest true Rafi lovers should ignore such articles . If we do that such frivolous articles shall naturally die down.
This site, I repeat , should be more focussed in writing beautiful articles, reviews on Rafi sahab’s songs, his life etc, which most of the fans are doing.
Good article, but it is futile comparing Sonu Nigham with Rafi Saheb. It is something like comparing Bradman/Sobers/Richards to Rohit Sharma. Closest to Rafi saheb in comparison can be another great Kishore da. However, Kishoreda’s 8 filmfare awards against Rafi Saheb’s 6 is an unfair comparison.
Rafi Sahab peaked in late 40’s (Baiju Bawara was released in 1952). Filmfare commenced singer award in 1959, that too single (Male or female). Individual playback singer for male and female category only started in 1965 or 1966. It is still commendable Rafi Sahab bagged 6 of them in shorter duration. If such an award was in say 1950, Rafi sahab would have got 11 or 12 times. This fact is important to note before comparing Rafi sahab with anybody. My salute to Rafi Saheb, Saigal,Lata ji, Kishoreda, Talat, Asha, M.Kapoor, Mukesh, Suman – in this order.
SONU NIGAM IS AN EXCELLENT SINGER.
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN ALL SINGERS IF HE LEARNED CLASSICAL MUSIC. TODAY HE SINGS 89.19% OF RAFI SAHAB. BUT IF TODAY SHAMMI KAPOOR JI WAS THE HERO SONU CAN SING IN HIS VOICE. SONU NIGAM ZINDABAD. YOU ARE THE BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD . YOU SING KYA HUA TERA WAADA SO SO NICELY BETTER THAN RAFI SAHAB. SONU IS NEW AGED RAFI
SONU NIGAM IS A GOOD SINGER. HE IMITATES RAFI SAHAB. BUT TODAY WE CANNOT PRODUCE ANOTHER RAFI SAHAB.SO DON T BE JEALOUS OF HIM. JUST ENJOY HIS SONGS. YOU CANNOT COMPARE RAFI SAHAB WITH ANY SINGERS OF THIS UNIVERSE. RAFI SAHAB WAS HERO ‘S VOICE. SONU IS TODAY ‘S NO 1 SINGER.THIS IS THE FACT AND ACCEPT IT. GOD BLESS.
Sauvik saheb,
may I request you to see the title of your article ” Did sonu nigam reach the level of excellence of Rafi ? ” can you see your own question mark ? Does it convey any message ?
The fact is that you yourself were unsure whether sonu nigam has attained those heights. Thus the question mark. But by the end of the article you became a sonu bhakt and unilaterally came to your conclusion. it happens. especially if one is enamoured with his own preconcieved notions. That the majority, with reasons and facts has a different opinion does not matter to him.
Yes, many of us were there – and not sleeping – when so many things happened which you have quoted. Rafi sahab had sung so many melodious numbers by then that one could be content by listening to those masterpieces only.
We were there when except for sdb and rdb, others were still engaging him. And we were also there, when he beathed his last on that fateful day of july 1980.
The stark fact is that Rafi sahab is not the greatest because of some individuals, but despite them ! He could put life into apparently lifeless lyrics and could make ordinary md’s look great composers. Todays singers enjoy so much of technical support, multiple tracks, pitch controllers, synthesisers and recording and re-recording facilities. Without their knowing their voices can be technically modulated. Ask any of these singers to attempt songs having minimum accompanying support like, Yeh mehlon ye takhton, main yeh sochkar, na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon etc. One, they will not attempt and even if they attempt the difference will be too apparent.
Suresh Wadkar ? Suresh wadkar, who ? Since when has he become the ultimate judge to anoint somebody to that highest pedestal ? And you have referred to ARRehman also. If sonu is that great, why he chose sukhvinder to sing the oscar winner song ? where were you ? sleeping ?
Please try to think objectively, without emotions. Once you analyse your own points, you will realize that you have landed yourself in a spot because of your own obsessive guilt to prove a self-created myth, The premise itself is wrong. That is why, there is not a single soul in this forum who is in agreement to your big question mark. Except in negative.
You have been a prolific contributor in this forum which we all respect. Maybe some retrospection is needed. Sooner, the better.
HVGurumurthy in his comments has summed it all up beautifully – sonu is very good but Rafi sahab is god. That is how the spirit of rafi sahab pervades this forum.
Regards,
Padmanabhan NR
Rafi foundation, Hyderabad chapter.
Hello all:
Frankly,when I received,my e-mail notification that an article on Sonu Nigam had appeared in the forum I gave it a miss.Please,I do not mean any offence to either Sonu Nigam or to his numerous followers.He is a good singer in his own way,period.But when I saw so many comments,it made me read the article.To say the least,I am disappointed.I am disappointed that a writer like Mr.Chatterji,who had written some good pieces earlier,had chosen to compare a mortal like Sonu Nigam with the God.I am disappointed that the forum which is meant to be a meeting ground for all Rafi devotees,had allowed the publication of an article which makes such incomprehensible and unthinkable comparison with our God.I am disappointed that so many of our dear members have written about the merits and demerits of such musically illogical comparisons.Let us all please give this subject a big burial,in true Rafi spirit.
Best wishes to all!
M V Devraj
Ref to Post – 48
Rafi had won 2 national awards, KK never won a national award.
Mahendra K, Mukesh and Manna Dey have 1 to their credit.
Hello Rafi fans,
I wonder why so much ado about a writeup, where the writer is
simply proposing a friendly debate. You have the prerogative to accept
or reject Or even refrain from replying. But surely not in this manner.
Rafi sab would be embarassed by the tone and texture of some of the
mails.
If Sri. Chatterjee wishes to compare the two, you must first respect
his rights to do that. Well, if someone compares BMW with Maruti Alto
let him do that. We know the difference right? As if a mere comparison
would really dwarf Rafi sab.
For heaven’s sake end this fanaticism please. There are other interesting
posts awaiting your comments.
Ram
Souvik,
I read your article and all I felt was that there could have been a temporary lapse in your sensibilities when you wrote the article. Sonu is a “good” singer, alright. But to compare him with Rafi Sahab is blasphemous. Sonu used to sing Rafi Sahab’s songs as cover versions, and fairly well ; The commonality ends here. I did not have much to comment on the article, but when I read your other followup memos, I was confused, and I still am.
What is the point you are trying to put across?
– RDB and SDB ditched Rafi and we were sleeping then?
– KK got 8 filmfare awards and we were sleeping then?
– Music directors did not use Rafi during 72 – 76 and we were sleeping then?
All I could make out was you are trying to make a point about a few people (supposedly Rafi Sahab’s fans) sleeping.
Each sentence of yours deviates so much from it’s previous sentence that it leaves the reader confused as to which sentence should he respond to? For me, I dont want to waste anytime in dissecting your confounding memos which borders on cynicism.
Whenever I see that you have regrouped your thoughts and arrived at the final point you are trying to make, I shall give my opinion.
Till then, bye.
Cheers
Anoop
Sauvikji,
I know you are a great fan of Rafi Saab and have also read number of your articles in the web site. The present article also discusses the issue but I think no where you have definitely concluded that Sonu can sing like Rafi. Fine, but your post no. 37 did not measure up to your earlier status of a big fan of Rafi. In fact, I would like to clarify certain points on this post.
1. No doubt, SDB & RDB used KK more than Rafi in the early seventies, but dont you feel that the quality of SDB during this period was not up to the high standard he set in 50s and 60s (including sung by KK and others). Regarding RDB, well, he went to extremes in giving KK some of the songs which did not suit him and RDB could not show case his undoubted talent because of poor selection of Singers. Fact is, RDB came back to Rafi after 1976 and gave hits after hits.
2. Yes, KK sang for Dilip under SDB, but can you comapre the songs of Sagina with earlier Dilip films.
3. In fact, all MDs who had deserted Rafi came back to him.
4. Youngsters born even after Rafi’s departure have become fans of Rafi and take pride in singing Rafi songs.
5. No doubt, Sonu is a good singer and perhaps the best and most popular singer at present, but he can be compared to earlier singers like Anwar, Shabbir Kumar, etc. but not to Rafi in spite of the fact that he is a great fan of Rafi and takes pride in singing Rafi songs. He cannot be comapred even with other Singers of Rafi era.
6. My personal view is that talent-wise, only Mannadey can be comapred to Rafi, but there is vast difference in the voice quality and Mannadey himself has conceded that Rafi was the best. Even though other Singers of his era like Mukesh, MK, HK, Talat, Manna, KK, etc. had their own strengths, still no body had the versatality of Rafi.
Singers of the calibre of Rafi and Lata are born once in a, shall I say millenium. They are God’s gift to man-kind. In fact, by unneccessarily comparing Sonu with Rafi and inviting all these comments, Sonu, a good singer is getting degraded. And, in spite of all adverse comments by few people, Rafi remains untouched and unmatched.