SD Burman and Mohammad Rafi
By: Souvik Chatterji. Master of Law from Case Western REserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Master of Law from Warwick University,UK.
Sachin Dev Burman was born in Tripura, where the fields, soil, trees and nature as a whole had shaped the music. There cannot be any music which is sweeter than the compositions that God has created in nature for human beings to cherish generation after generations. What is required is the poetic and musical mind to realise the melodies evident in the breeze, in the rainfall, in the fragrance of flowers blossoming at the arrival of spring. Tripura is situated at the border of East Bengal, and as a landmass has similarity with East Bengal and West Bengal which in Bengali we term as “nodi matric” meaning being fed by a number of rivers.The minds of the people in this part of the world is as soft as the alluvial soil of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Padma and other rivers.
SD Burman came to Kolkata and learned Classical Music from the Giant of Ustadi Gharana named Viswadev Chatterji.Viswadev’s famous song “Nabaruno Rage” used to be played as the first song in All India Radio in the morning, everyday and acted as messanger of dawn.The genius had taught SD Burman, ragas of different origin and created a legacy of Hindustani classical which shaped SD Burman into a grand creator as known by the later generations.
SD Burman had his own basic discs in Bengali, some having flavour of folk songs, others having the orthodox ragas embedded in them.His notable songs include “Paddar dheu re”, “Jhilmil jhilmil jhiler jole dheu kheliya jaire”,”mono dilona badhu”,etc. When he went to Bombay, he took Manna Dey with him, another legendary singer of the Bengali modern era. Manna Dey dominated the BEngali film arena with his tremedous performance in Uttamkumar’s films “shankhobela”, “Antony firingi”,etc in the 60s and 70s.
SD Burman got involved with the Navketan Banner and composed most of his songs for that banner. But he developed an everlasting bond with Mohammad Rafi, the man with the golden voice who had an answer for the different emotions of human being, including happiness, tragedy, comedy,etc.
SD Burman had composed the songs “yeh mahalon ,yeh takhton, yeh tajho ki duniya” in the film Pyasa, 1957 and “Bichre sabhi, bari bari” in the film Kagaz ke phool, 1959, for Gurudutt, with whatever pathos he had in him. Rafi brought tears in the eyes of music lovers with his compassionate andaz.
Manna Dey sometimes had a grievance, that inspite of the classical control being possessed by him SD Burman had preferred Rafi in some of the classical compositions. In the film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen, Manna Dey gave a superlative performance with the song “Pucho na kaise maine rain bitayi.” Rafi had superceded SD Burman himself with the performance of “Tere bin sune” composed in raag Pilu which was the hindi version of SD’s own song”Ami chinu Eka basoro
Jagaye”.
In the film Tere Ghar ke saamne, 1963, SD Burman’s composition “tu kahan yeh bata”,”tere gharke saamne” “dil ka bhanwar karen pukar”and the rest of the songs combined sweetness of Rafi’s voice with the folk effect in the orchestration. In the film “Teen deviyan” Rafi’s song “aise to na dekho” and “Kahin bekhayal hoker” had Ghazal andaz.Besides Rafi’s preformance in Guide,
1965, with the songs “Tere mere sapne”, “din Dhal Jaye””Kaise kya ho gaya bewafa hogaya tere pyar me” brought out the softer side of SD Burman.
Mohd Rafi with S.D.Burman
There are other songs like “Hum bekhudi me tumko pukare chale gaye” in the film kalapani,1960, where Rafi matched SD Burman himself (his bengali song was “Ghum bhulechi”) and “yeh di diwana hai” and “mehbooba teri tasveer” in te film “Isqe par zor nahin” where Rafi’s excellence is balanced with SD Burman’s orchestration.In Rajenderkumar’s film Talash, SD Burman brought out his best for Rafi in the song “Palkon ke peeche se.”
The list of songs showing Rafi’s combination with SD Burman can go on. But one thing is common, whenever SD Burman was passionate about the hindi version of his own songs, Rafi appeared in his mind automatically. Rafi’s Archive should contain SD Burman’s creation also to show the background of folk song and hindustani classical, used in the songs composed in 50s, 60s, 70s.
Souvik Chatterji – the author along with his wife, Rumi Chatterji
Other articles by Mr. Souvik Chatterji
Superb. A great research by a Bengali . Rafi saheb is really unparalal. I convey my thanks to Shri Chatterjee. I wish to talk to him.
Read how S. D. Burman stole Jaidev’s tunes:
What happened to Jaidev after Hum Dono is the kind of heart-wrenching cruelty that film industry keeps inflicting on its best talents. After the mega success of Hum Dono songs Jaidev was the natural choice of Navketan for their next film Guide starring Dev Anand. Jaidev composed and recorded two brilliant songs and all persons in Navketan management were extremely happy with the songs. But all of a sudden, mysteriously enough Jaidev was thrown out of Guide!
It is said that Dev Anand pressurized Jaidev to work as S.D. Burman’s assistant in Guide. It was a cruel event where a sensitive creative genius like Jaidev was suppressed by the heartless mighty. Jaidev was never again invited by Navketan to compose songs. Dev Anand used both the Jaidev songs in his film Guide. It is said that those two songs were ‘Din Dhal Jaaye’ and ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ sung by Mohammad Rafi. ‘Din Dhal Jaaye’ was composed in Jaidev’s favourite Raag Bilawal and ‘Tere Mere Sapne’ in another favourite Raag of him, Gara. Being cast out of Guide was a very big setback in Jaidev’s film music career. He never really recovered from the shock. Jaidev used to frequently narrate such incidents to his friends, wracked by inconsolable grief
Read full article here:
http://shajiwriter.blogspot.in/2010/02/jaidev-loneliness-of-unsung-music.html
Chatterjeeji excellent article on SDB & GREAT RAFISAAB.
excellent idea… i like very much… please carry on… all the best to all of you… S.D. Burman & Md. Rafi sahib was the god fathers of Indian music and Film Industry what ever steps you Taken this is very good and i wish for long live… and save the good music…thanks..viswarup. 4m Bombay,
H.V.GURU MURTHY Post No. 21
Asha Bhonsle has gone on record that her first ever cabaret song was under SDB in Taxi Dirver (1954). This is for information of all music lovers.
myk, SDB’s Tabla Player in many of the movies was Pandit Nikhil Ghosh. His daughter Tulika ghosh, in her interview with me, has written highly about Sachinda.
It is sad that knowledgeable music lovers like P Haldar refer to SDB as old man (posting 55 above), even if they are quoting someone else.
SD Burman’s tunes in the film Tere Ghar Ke Saamne captured the romantic mood of Rafi. The song “tere ghar ke saamne”, “dil ka bhawar karen pukar”, etc., were very melodious and Rafi was sublime in his style of imitating Dev Anand. SD Burman very strangely could not utilise the romantic andaz of Rafi in films like Chupke Chupke, the song “saregama” sung by Rafi and Kishore had comedy andaz but Rafi was still a romantic singer and any romantic composition for the legend could have added flavour in the film.
Souvik Chatterji.
Most of Rafi lovers have missed out one of his lovely renditions in a Gazal, “Kahin bekhayal hokar, Mujhe chhoo liys kisine” in film ” Teen Deviyaan” with music by great maestro Dada Burman. It has 4 lovely Antaras written by Majrooh and u like to listen to it again.
Mr.myk,
I do like many “dard-bhare” geet of kishore-da, mostly those which he delivered under sd and rd, but surely not because of his singing skills, it’s only because of compositions,in my view there is nothing much in kishore-da’s singing to discuss about.
However kishore-da was really amazing while rendering joyful songs such as ” o meri sharmilee”, “chala jata hoon,kisi ki dhun mein”, but in other genres, there is nothing much in his singing when compared to his 5 major contemporaries.My favorite “dard-bhara” geet by kishore-da is “dukhi mann mere” from funtoosh.
now regarding the song “teri bindiya re” i agree that there is some bass but aprat from this there is heavenly sweetness in Rafi’s voice which is major attraction of this song, i mean that silken element of rafi’s voice is more prominent in this song..
and there is the masterpiece by l-p(mujhe teri mohabbat ka sahara)which shows two inherent gifted qualities of rafi sahab, excellent bass voice and going to high pitch in same song which gives us the utter feel of pathos, now tell me, have you seen any singer other than rafi who can bring up so much variation in just two songs(not just in these two songs, there are many such example of course), lata is no doubt more than excellent in both the songs, she emoted the songs extremely well with her divine voice, but that basic structure of voice is almost same in both duets(teri bindiya & mujhe teri..), how ever rafi has changed his voice amazingly(from every angle) according to mood of the songs..
“Mile na phool to kaaton se dosti karli”- great gem with bass, but what more fascinating is how well roshan exploited the soft vocals of rafi, imo naushad exploited the bass of rafi sahab in best way and (roshan, sdb) extracted out that soft voice(Dil ka bhavar, jo baat tujhme hai) in a best way and to the great impact.
Another composer who used rafi sahab very well is Ravi. Mr.myk, what are your views on these songs from “Kajal” by ravi
1.chhu lene do nazuk hoton ko
2.aap ke pas jo aayega pighal jayega
3.ye zulf agar khulke bikhar jaye to achha…
in my views these three golden gazals are enough to topple all the gazals of various non-filmi maestros(mehdi,gulam,jagjeet), and these are not just three, there are many other golden gazals too. song #1 is sheer magic of rafi sahab, what to say!! it is a perfect blend of bass and sweetness, there can’t be any better example. song #2 is Roshan style of song(having ravi’s own touch too), in a nutshell-all three songs were great and beyond the capabilities of any singer to render(of course barring rafi sahab!!!).
Hats off to rafi-ravi combo.
Mr. XXX,
I do agree that Kishore did a good job in Sharmilee, but had Rafi sang these songs, they would have been at such a higher level. I feel SDB should have atleast given a couple of songs to Rafi in this album, but anyways atleast the songs were still good. SDB knew how to bring the best out of Kishore without exposing his limitations, something RDB did not know how to do. With RD Kishore went “out of control”, and his flaws were exposed. Out of all his 1971 songs, I feel Kishore sounded the most vibrant in this album. Maybe the fact that he was singing for his mentor.
Sajjad Hussain rated “Megha chhaye adhi raat” very highly, and this song once again proves all doubters wrong that SDB was not strong in western music. You are right about the rhythm, it is splendid, the shift from roopak to western. Dada Burman was a master at all types of rhythm, and this song is no exception. Just take this one album Sharmilee in terms of music, it would beat out a whole lot of other albums that same year. This is the magic of Dada Burman that even in the 70’s he was as good and as fresh as ever.
I fully agree when you say that Rafi saab used to sing differently for different MD’s. Even in that aspect, he took it further that every actor would sound different, but still have the same ‘Rafi voice’ under different MD’s. For example, the Rajendra Kumar-Rafi of SJ would sound a bit different from the Rajendra Kumar-Rafi of LP, but still sound like pure RK thanks to Rafi. Or Rafi would sound different for Shashi under KA than RDB, but it would still be vintage Shashi vis a vis Rafi. I agree for MM and Naushad, Rafi had a bass voice, and for SDB and Roshan there was the lightness plus the softness. For SJ it would be various styles, his voice would take on different angles just like under SDB and Roshan. I think the bass voice even came in under SDB and Roshan as well, notice for example “Teri bindiya re” or “Mile na phool”, so it varied, but these two composers (along with others) knew how to extract every inch of that golden voice. Rafi had a special style for all composers, but he varied his voice under all of them too. So for example, under MM we also have the light “Main yeh soch kar” and “Tu mere samne hai”. Composer Anandji mentioned that he feels OPN used Rafi’s art the best. OPN also knew how to extract the best from Rafi’s voice, and he used the golden voice in a variety of ways too.
The voice transitions in the songs you mentioned are outstanding, each song has a distinct flavour, mood, voice texture and they all sound very distinct. I don’t know of any singer who could have sang “Apni to har aah ek” the way Rafi did. It was in such a soft voice, yet the rendition was so powerful, its really amazing how he sang that composition. Then “Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar”, in each stanza, Rafi is picking up speed with the rhythm to reach a peak where his voice soars, an awesome melody from SDB.
Mr. XXX, what do you think is Kishore’s best “Dard bhari” song under SDB ?. How would you rate “Badi sooni sooni hai”, and “Duniya O Duniya” ?. Also, There is another Lata song from 1971, “Kitne din aankhen tarsenge” from Naya Zamana. The song is light and simple with a beautiful melody and great singing from Lata, how would you also rate this song ?.
Mr.myk,
i personally rate sharmilee a great soundtrack. Kishore did fine job under hard task master sdb, but the major attraction of this album is “megha chhaye aadhi raat, bairan ban gayi nindiya”, what a song!! great fusion of east and west..
i love the way “taal” keeps changing from Hindustani “roopak” to western rock ‘n’ roll, interlude just before first antara is amazing & prelude is great as well. Lata is superb as usually. I also believe Rafi could have done much better job while rendering “kaise kahen hum” and “khilte hain gul” but kishore was good too, however no doubt that lata’s “khilte hain gul” is more melodious”
good to know that dada is among yours most favorite mds, he is my 2nd most fav, well my most favorite you know very well, it’s Naushad-“Ali”…
Rafi sahab used to sing with a different voice for different mds, rather i should say he used to sing with different style e.g. for mm and naushad he normally used to sing with some bass, but under dada and roshan he changed his voice amazingly, i am referring to that thin thread like melodious voice, e.g. lets have these songs
1.Apni to har aah ek toofaan hai
2.jo baat tujhme hai teri tasveer mein nahi
3.Dil ka bhavar kare pukar
4.Jo vaada kiya wo nibhana padega
5.teri dhoom har kahin
and for numerous other roshan’s and sd’s songs, rafi sahab’s voice is heavenly sweet thin thread like, and same rafi sahab became rocking-rafi with shankar jaikishan..
1.yahooooo.. chahe koi mujhe
2.suku suku
3.badan pe sitare..
Mr.myk, what are your views on these voice transitions of rafi sahab?
ending up with this beautiful melody from kala bazaar::
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=0KOYCgXLn3g
The line in the third paragraph of my previous post should read as:
I have many favourite composers, but Dada Burman is among my ‘most favourite’ composers.
I want to mention another incident which I read from a Manna Dey interview. According to Manna Dey, he was not SDB’s first choice for “Soch ke yeh gagan jhoome” from Jyoti (1969), the nice duet with Lata. However, due to producer pressure, SD had to give him the song.
My guess, is that this song was probably composed for Lata-Rafi, the melody structure suggests that. Imagine if Rafi had sung this song, how he would have matched steps with Lata. Manna sang well, but somewhere along the line fell short. This whole song is carried by Lata only. SD knew which singer suited a particular song, and I am sure he had Rafi in mind when creating this composition.
Mr. Korti, do you have any inside information on this song ?. Are there any unreleased songs from the SDB-Rafi combo ?.
Mr. Haldar & Mr. XXX,
What are your opinions on the soundtrack of Sharmilee, and the Kishore songs in them ?. Dada should have given the songs in this album to Rafi, but he gave all of them to Kishore, and that too a Shashi Kapoor film. Kishore did great in “O meri sharmilee”, but that’s the only song he should have got, the rest “Kaise kahen hum”, “Khilte hain gul yahan” and “Aaj madhosh hua jaaye” should have gone to Rafi, he would have taken these songs to another level. Check out the santoor in Lata’s version of “Khilte hain gul yahan”, it is similar in use to Lata-Rafi’s “Palkon ke peeche se” (Talash). Also, overall the music in this album is great. In Kishore’s version of “Khilte hain gul yahan”, the santoor, flute, violins, saxophone all create magic. How about the east-west fusion in Lata’s “Megha chhaye adhi raat”, with the electric guitar and accordion, simply excellent.
I rank “Mera man tera pyaasa” and “Mehbooba teri tasveer” among the best SDB songs in the 70’s. What are your views on these two songs ?. No other male singer under SDB could re-create the Rafi magic with SDB. This association was divine, and they created history in HFM.
I have many favourite composers, but Dada Burman is my ‘most favourite’ composer. His music had this certain charm, appeal, freshness, and he was always ahead of his time. Anil Biswas mentioned in an interview that “Aise to na dekho” from Teen Devian, has its roots in Rabindra Sangeet. This is such a masterpiece of a song, it showcases many aspects of Rafi’s brilliance. Can you two please elaborate on this song and the Rabindra Sangeet aspect.
Btw, who were SD’s main tabla players ?.
———————-
Mr. Korti,
Can you please tell us more about your meeting with SDB, would really appreciate it. What else did he say to you about Rafi-saab ?.
ref post 65:
binuji, that’s what I suspected all along. But rd’s mama is writing this nonsense in a bengali magazine. I’ll provide you the name of the periodical and the issue date. Maybe we need to lodge a protest against publishing such false stuff.
Post 55 : haldar ji..
The news item and interest of the legend reported ‘may’ not be
true.
today, i spoke to shahid rafi and he confirmed that the maestro not
to be very adept at cooking…
binu nair. mumbai.
The songs of Pyar ki Kahani are great. can my friend parvez send
me these two songs and also the two songs of Maryada. Only rafi
numbers from the movies mentioned.
———————
Myk.
thanks for the S.D.B. article. do you have the illustrated weekly article
too on rafi saab – written by raju bharatan.
by the way its noted that there are two great writers who can
write exclusively on – legend rafi saab.
both happen to be raju. one is raju bharatan and the other raju korte
one of the best and the biggest fan of rafi saab. my the magic grow.
ref post 59:
myk, technically speaking, the precursor to “maine poochha chand se” is “koyi aur duniya mein tumsa haseen hai” from pyar ki kahani.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zXIaE7BC3Q8
myk, here’s ka-shashi trying to emulate sj-shammi. The common weapon? Rafi. Here’s “pyar to ek din hona tha” from “ek shriman ek shrimati”:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YM9Q4ACUApE
who is usha ?kindly give me some detail.
I would have preferred Lata-Rafi for “Salam E Isqu” in Mukadar Ka Sikandar. Now I know this isn’t popular opinion, but I’d rather have Rafi’s more melodious voice for happy version of title song and KK’s somber voice for sad version of title song (so I’m flipping it). KK did a great job with the few lines in sad “Yeh Dosti” in Sholay.
Haldar-ji,
Excellent story you have posted there. Hopefully Binu-ji can confirm the ‘cooking’ angle.
I have a query. Who was Dada Burman’s regular tabla player ?.
I absolutely adore the way SD used the tabla, it is just pure class. We know Samta Prasad played in MSTA, and I believe Shivkumar Sharma also played it along with the santoor in SD’s orchestra. Then we have Maruti Keer who was a SD regular as well.
The IPZN song is a masterpiece. “Mehbooba teri tasveer” is one of the best Rafi solo’s of the 70’s. Not only the amazing tabla but the excellent orchestration as well. Rafi is as usual top class, you can just close your eyes and listen to him singing this song the whole day.
I am not sure if this is true, but I read once in an Anand Bakshi article that for IPZN, this song was chosen over “Maine Poocha Chand Se”. RD then used “Maine Poocha” in Abdullah ten years later, which was in fact composed by SD.
If you compare the tunes that SD gave to Rafi as opposed to Kishore or other male singers, there is a difference. Rafi had the voice and the range to sing such beautiful SD creations. With Rafi, SD was never limited in any way, with others he was, as simple as that.
Narayanan-ji,
Thanks for your post. I agree, in the 70’s KA made some choices that should have gone the other way, towards Rafi saab. I agree with all the examples that you have listed. Rafi saab sang excellent solo’s for KA but for now I would like to focus on the ‘duet’ aspect in the 70’s. In many films even if Rafi saab only sang one song in the film which was a duet, that song proved to be the best, and most long lasting, not to mention the most popular of the film. There are numerous examples (these are only for the 70’s), just to name a few:
Wada karle sajna (with Lata) – Haath Ki Safai
Tumse door rehke (with Lata) – Adalat
Yeh wada raha dilruba (with Asha) – Professor Pyarelal
Main tujhse milne (with Lata) – Heera
Kya dekhte ho (with Asha) – Qurbani
Hum hain pyar ki (with Lata) – Do Musafir
Pyar se dilbar de (with Asha) – KKAK
Ban ke saathi pyar (with Lata) – Sweetheart
Yunhi tum mujhse baat (with Lata) – Sachcha Jhoota
Mere mitwa mere meet (with Lata) – Geet
Bheege hue jalwon par (with Asha) – Shankar Shambu
O meri chorni (with Lata) – Kaatilon Ki Katil
KA only used Rafi once for Amitabh in Adalat and the song turned out to be a stunner. I wonder why they didn’t make more Rafi-AB combo’s.
For all his Kishore songs, I would rank this KA-Rafi masterpiece right up there amongst the very best of Rajesh Khanna, “Yeh Raat Hai Pyaasi Pyaasi…” (Chhoti Bahu).
KA’s use of the santoor reminds me of SDB. SDB had his own special way of using the santoor, and KA too were excellent when it came to this instrument.
Haldar ji..
the person is right (post55). rafi (is) an expert in kite flying.
I went to his old villa just behind Babha hospital. the villas name
is green view and its on waterfield road.
the pco operator confirmed to me that – people still come to this
area and describe how rafi used to fly kites and wave at groups of
people who assembled to see him. he had more pull than any hero –
of his time, usha timothi was mentioning.
rafis eating habits were subjects of great discussions. he used to
have delicious ghee soaked biryanis . He used to say : how will
i sing if i do not have energy..
about his cooking – i will report back soon…
binu nair.. mumbai.
MYK SIR,
Sorry to change this thread referring to ur enquiry on KA- Rafi saab combination. Yes I agree that they also had a successful jodi with more than 175 songs. But somehow I personally feel that KA went with popularity and the hero/producer choice post 1970.
How can u explain that for Kahani Kismat ki for Dharam Rafi saab’s voice was not used. The same is true with JMN of Devanand. Even for all the Feroz Khan movies from Apradh,Dharmatama to Qurbani [ only 1 duet for our legend}. Even the title song was sung by Anwar with KK. Also in Victoria no 203 not a single song for our legend.
THE MOST SURPRISE ELEMENT IS THAT EVEN FOR DILIP KUMAR IN GOPI EXCEPT FOR SUKH MEIN SABH…… ALL WERE RENEDERED BY MK.
Can anyone explain this partisan approach?
Also in Samjhoutha there are 3 solos of peerless Rafi saab with KA in the 70s..
This is only a debate to gain knowledge not that Rafians are particular about any association as Rafi saab has left so much anmol ratans n treasures which requires more than one birth.
We all know about Rafi saab’s passion for kites, badminton and carrom. But does anyone know about his skills in another activity? At least, I had no idea. And I cannot fully vouch for its truth, but it has been reported in a bengali magazine, according to my friend in Kolkata. RD, in fact, was supposed to be very skilled in this activity and now I wonder where he picked up his skills from. My friend, who had the good fortune of spending a few nights at rafi mansion in the 80s, has sent this message to me. Can Binuji or anyone else on this forum confirm whether Rafi saab was indeed skilled in this area, or do you think rd’s mama is pulling a fast one on us?
—————–
Recently, a person called Abhijit Dasgupta, who is RD’s mama by relation but actually younger by six years, wrote his reminiscences in a Bengali periodical. His family and SD had built houses on adjacent plots of land in Southend Park, and he and RD had grown up together. Once he had arrived at the Burmans’ s Jet bungalow on a Sunday morning from Calcutta. They all became so immersed in adda that nobody noticed that even though it was close to noon no arrangement had been made for lunch. The old man proposed they have murgi, and said to RD, ” Ki re Pancham, aurey khobor dibi naki?” The author had no idea who this ‘aurey’ might be. However, Pancham went to the telephone and called up someone. About half an hour later the doorbell rang at the Burmans’. The man who stood without was Rafi, reputed to be one of the best cooks in Bombay filmdom when it came to chicken. So, into the kitchen Rafi went, and in due time everyone, Rafi included, sat down to a lunch of chicken cooked by Rafi.
SDB also had competition from LP and KA in the 70’s and yet managed to hold his own during that time. He is a timeless composer.
One more thing P. Haldar, why didn’t SDB take Rafi for Sagina on Dilip Kumar ?. Here was another great opportunity for the two to team up together. I don’t think Raju Bharatan got it right when he mentions by that time (1974) Rafi refused to sing for Dilip, because he sings for him in Bairaag and Kranti both released after Sagina. I don’t understand the reason or logic behind using Kishore for Dilip Kumar. Please elaborate.
Thanks Haldar-ji and Binu-ji for your comments.
Yes Haldar-ji, RR is indeed one of my favourite MD’s and so is SDB. Right now my whole IPOD is taken up by Dada Burman. Not only was he a trend-setter, but his music was always modern, youthful and fresh right up until his last days. Add to this his folk background, his classical base and his modern/western touch combined with his rhythm, he was the complete MD.
Your analysis of ‘serves’ makes sense, and I agree Abhimaan would have been the perfect time to fix his voice on Amitabh. Imagine what the Rafi-AB combo could have done then. Looking at things, SDB was a leader in the truest sense. For eg:
a) He fixed Rafi’s voice on Dev starting with NDG, and proceeded to make the Dev-Rafi combo one of the greatest in history and by far Dev’s best and most memorable voice.
b) When Lata stopped singing for him, he moulded Asha along with OPN into a leading singer.
c) With Aradhana he changed the music scene post 1970.
d) With his help, Kishore broke through as a lead singer.
There are other examples, but based on just the above, SDB is a leader, and as you pointed out knew how to combat his son with KK. He could have also done a lot of things with Rafi in the 70’s, but that was not to be. Even if Mukesh sang very little for him, he arguably sang two of his finest songs under his baton from BKB and Bandini.
————————————–
Binu-ji,
Thanks a lot for letting us know about your metting with Yogesh. I would really like to know:
a) Who handled the song “Ae Mere Man” from Us Paar, was it SDB all the way or did RD have anything to do with it ?.
b) What his thoughts are about Rafi saab and Burman Dada ?.
c) When he wrote “Badi Sooni Sooni Hai”, did he envision Rafi singing that song ?.
Please ask him these questions if possible. I will send you the article soon.
myk, the first serve usually goes at around 120 mph, the second at around 100 mph. When sd was competing with the likes of naushad, sj, op and roshan in the 60s, he needed his first serve. By 1972, Roshan and Jai were no longer there, naushad and op had lost their touch, and the competition was at a much lower level. Madan Mohan, as always, was composing great tunes but he never used to work for big banners. Commercially, sd’s major threat was his son and no one knew how to use the kishore weapon better than sd. True, second serves usually don’t become aces, but aces were no longer necessary in the 70s. sd hardly ever double-faulted with kishore; he managed to keep winning the points on his serves. sd’s ears were always close to the ground and he quickly adapted to the changes in musical tastes. But still I’ll have to admit that his easing out of Rafi remains a mystery to me. I’ve said this many, many times before but I’ll say it again: dada could have given the entire male score for Abhiman to Rafi. Rafi got just one duet and that became the most enduring song from the film. That was his golden opportunity to fix his voice on Amitabh.
While KA let his banarasi babu sing “jaaneman jaaneman…” to lp’s tune, it was your favourite md rr who had the conviction to bring back rafi saab to sing for the star after a gap of 10 years.