PUBLISHED IN THE BLOG: RAFI & THE FORTIES:

MOHAMMED RAFI AND THE NINETEEN FORTIES - PART 1.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

In order to appreciate the genius of the Indian Legendary Singer,

Mohammed Rafi, a very brief survey of the Indian Cinema during the

Nineteen Forties becomes imperative. Regional cinema is out of the

purview.

Dada Saheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra (1913) was the first silent

movie in India, with no synchronised sounds or dialogues. Some of

the well-known actors of the time were Patience Cooper, Ruby Myers

(Sulochna), and Renee Smith (Sita Devi), Zubeida, Fatima Begum,

Master Vithal, Master Nisar, and Prithviraj Kapoor. Improvements in

technology and the synchronisation of the sound with the pictures,

heralded the end of the silent-movie era. Alam Ara, the first “talkie”

film in India, was released in Mumbai’s Majestic Cinema in 1931. Its

producer, Ardeshir M. Irani is therefore considered to be the father

of the “talkie” film. Zubeida was the leading lady. It had the first

song of the Indian cinema, DE DE KHUDA KE NAAM PAR, by W.M.

Khan who acted as a faqir. It was recorded live, accompanied with a

Tabla and a Harmonium. The arrival of sound had serious

implications for the entire generation of film-makers, technicians

and artists who could not adapt themselves to the new system.

Many studios closed down. Now only those actors or actresses could

be employed in films who, besides their acting talent, could also

deliver dialogues and sing many songs. The Anglo-Indians were the

worst hit as they could not speak fluent Urdu or Hindi. Many actors

of the silent era lost their job since they could not sing.

There was no playback system. Direct recording meant that the

actors had to act as well as sing. The many retakes would leave

them dead tired to do either the singing or the acting as desired,

with the mircrophones being hidden with great imagination from the

camera. Not to speak of the perspiration and the repeated dabbing

of the make-up on the singing artiste who had to even sing louder to

reach the overhead mike without being able to hear the orchestra

fully. At times, the microphone, the instrumentalists and the camera

had to follow the walking singer.

During the silvern age of the Nineteen Thirties, the Bombay Talkies,

Prabhat, Wadia Movietone, and New Theatres ruled supreme. These

Houses employed the artistes mainly on a monthly salary. Some of

the reputed names of the talkie-films were Devika Rani, Shobhana

Samarth, Leela Chitnis, Durga Khote, Shanta Apte, Sadhna Bose,

Padma Devi and Kananbala, as well as Ashok Kumar, P.C. Barua,

Prithviraj Kapoor and others. It was also the era of the “Fearless”

Nadia who performed daring stunts in Homi Wadia’s movie. Her

name became synonymous with her role in Hunterwali which is

remembered to this day.

With the dawn of Saigal era (1932-1947) new techniques evolved

that could allow the actors to just mimic the off-camera song that

had already been recorded in the voice of the playback singer. Even

here, the songs used to be played on the loudspeakers for the actors

to mimic the songs. These songs could also be broadcast on the

radio and also made into flat discs called “records” whose

production, by 1931, was in the hands of a a single record company,

EMI.

It was R.C. Boral (d.1981), a stalwart of the New Theatres at

Calcutta, who had introduced the first playback singing for a movie

called Dhoop Chhaaon (Bhagyachakra in Bengali version) in 1935.

Punkaj Mallick, his colleague and an all-round figure, had earlier

made his debut as Music Director in Yahudi ki Ladki (1933) and

introduced the use of western instruments such as piano and

accordion in songs and also introduced the background musical

score to enhance the action, the mood and the tempo of the film

scenes, just as Naushad was to mix the clarinet, the flute and other

musical instruments and improve the background music. The

Thirties could boast of many fine movies that included Shantaram’s

Amrit Manthan (1934), Bombay Talkies’ Achhut Kanya (1936),

Mehboob Khan’s Ek Hi Rasta and Aurat (1939), and Minerva

Movietone’s Pukar (1939). It was also the time when there were

many gramophone stars. A 1938-movie was even named

Gramophone Singer (Music Anil Biswas) which had K.L. Saigal.

By 1940, many gramophone stars who could not make it to the film

music as playback singers soon lost their standing in the music

world. In the Forties, some memorable films were made such as

Shantaram’s Dr. Kotnis ki Amar Kahani, K.A. Abbas’s Dharti Ke Lal,

Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar, Uday Shankar’s Kalpana, Mehboob

Khan’s Roti, Wadia’s Court Dancer, Sohrab Modi’s Sikandar and

Prithvi Vallabh, Raj Kapoor’s Aag and Barsaat, and Vijay Bhatt’s Ram

Rajya and Bharat Milap.

Mumbai had the lineup of highly professional music directors such as

Shyam Sunder, Khemchand Prakash, Timir Baran, R.C. Boral, Datta

Kogaonkar, Husnlal-Bhagatram, Sajjad, Naushad, Ghulam Haider,

Hansraj Behl, Khursheed Anwar, Vinod and Anil Biswas. It was usual

for the orchestras to be on the exclusive payroll of the individual

music director. Mumbai had replaced Calcutta as the leading film

city of India and had become the base of composite culture where a

new amalgam of music was born.

Naushad Ali of Lucknow, who had made his debut in Prem Nagar in

1940, brought the fusion of Hindustani music and the classical ragas

and introduced many innovations in his musical compositions and

system of recording. If Ghulam Haider had the opportunity of

introducing Baby Noor Jahan in Gul-e-Bakavli a Punjabi movie of

1939, as Baby Noor Jahan, and later in 1941 as a playback singer in

Pancholi Art Pictures’ super-hit, Khanzanchi, Naushad too, made the

13-year old Suraiya playback in his second movie, Sharda, for the

heroine Mehtab. Pandit Amarnath had discovered Zeenat Begum of

the Gul Baloch fame (S.Mohinder). Around this time, Mukesh and

Habib Tabani (Habib Wali Mohammed) won the audition test meant

for aspiring singers. It was for Meena Kumari to appreciate the

Ghazals of Habib and play them on Radio Ceylon, thus making Habib

a celebrity in the mid-forties. Around 1941, Ghulam Haider “changed

the complexion of the Indian film music” especially with the

stretching and breaking of the lyrics to enhance the beauty and the

weight of the rhythm and giving peculiar charm to his musical

compositions. He introduced the Dholak and other instruments in

films. Ghulam Haider employed ‘Taals’ (beats) very prominently in

his films, including Khazanchi (1941), Khandan (1942), Zameendar

(1942) and Poonji (1943).

The playback singing in the movies gained ground and by the mid-

forties it became predominant. According to Naushad, initially, in

the early forties, a single mike was meant to be used by singers as

well as the musicians who used to take turn coming to the mike and

doing their bits. Besides, the mike called “Fedler Tone” needed the

heat of the fire before it could function. No sound-proof recording

studios existed. Recordings were done in the parks at the dead of

night so that there was no disturbance or echo.

As before, music, songs and dance, became an integral part of

Indian films, as they also pushed the film-story ahead and could

portray the inmost emotions of the performers who could now not be

bothered about singing their songs on-screen. The songs could

either make or break a movie. The genres of romantic songs,

patriotic numbers, the sad songs or laments, devotional songs, the

ghazals and the qawwalis were recorded, once the scenes were

finalised in most of the cases. The fragrance of folk songs came from

the soils of Rajasthan, Bombay Province (i.e. Gujarat, Saurashtra,

Kutch, and Maharashtra), and the United Province (U.P.). All this and

the Rabindra Sangeet of Bengal, found their way to the home of the

common man through films and gramophone records and through

the radio stations as and when they came to be established. New

technology also made it possible to have the songs released before

the movies, which in fact worked as an ad. New talents in the fields

of music, singing, acting, and producing and directing movies came

to the fore, impacting on the socio-culture of the indigenous

population that extended from the Hindukush mountains to the

Brahmaputra river and beyond so that a time came when the heroine

could sing, MERE PIYA GAYE RANGOON WAHAAN SE KIYA HAI

TELEPHOON... Yes, Rangoon, where Indians formed half of the city’s

population.

At least till 1942 the singing actors held on to their own since there

was a dearth of the playback singers. Ashok Kumar used to sing his

own songs with heroines such as Devika Rani, Leela Chitnis, etc., in

early career. Some of his famous songs are: MAI.N BAN KI CHI.DIYA

sung along with Devika Rani(Achut Kanya -1936), CHAL CHAL RE

NAUJAWAAN (Bandhan – 1940), NAA JAANE KIDHAR AAJ MEREE NAAV

CHALI RE (Jhoola – 1941), and his songs with Leela Chitnis in the

same movie; BOLO HAR HAR MAHADEV ALLAHO AKBAR (Chal Chal Re

Naujawan – 1941) to name just a few. Many times there used to be

different versions of the same song: one in the film by the actor, and

on the record it used to be the playback singer as happened in the

case of Ashok Kumar in Kismet when Anil Biswas made Arun Kumar

playback for him.

Some of the singers of the decade between the Nineteen Thirties to

the ‘Forties were: K.L. Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, R.C. Boral, Pahadi

Sanyal, Ashok Kumar, K.C. Dey (Manna Dey’s uncle), Mumtaz Ali

(Mehmood’s father), Arun Kumar, Ahmed Dilawar, Bashir Qawwaal,

Master Parshuram, S.N. Tripathy, Balwant Singh, Minu the Mystic,

R.C Pal, Vishnupant Pagnis, Kantilal, Master Suresh, Govindrao

Tembe, Akbar Khan Peshawari, Eruch Tarapore, Utpal Sen, Rafiq

Ghaznavi who was also a composer, Ashraf Khan the actor-singer,

Pradeep who continued to sing and write lyrics for at least three

decades thereafter. Some other singers were: Kamla Jharia,

Indubala, Shanta Apte, Gauhar Sultana, Umrao Zia Begum, Saraswati

Rane, Hameeda Banu, Kaushalya, Rehmat Banu, Zeenat Begum, Bina

Chowdhary and Munawwar Sultana. Filmy ghazals were popularised

by Ameerbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Kajjan, Jaddanbai,

Goharbai and K.L. Saigal. Non-filmi ghazals were rendered by

Akhtaribai Faizabadi (Begum Akhtar), Jankibai, Kamla Jharia and

Malika Pukhraj.

Some other singers who were mainly in the Forties and whose songs

were commonly heard in the Fifties were G.M.Durrani, Surendra,

Shyam Kumar, Jagmohan, Khan Mastana, Zohrabai Ambalewali,

Amirbai Karnatki, Noor Jahan, Suraiya, Raj Kumari, Shamshad

Begum, Shanta Apte, Meena Kapoor, S.D. Batish, Lalita Dewulkar,

and Surinder Kaur.

Coming to the contemporaries of Mohammed Rafi, we have Talat

Mehmood, who had popularised light ghazals and was known for his

“velvety or silken voice.” Manna Dey was known for his “manly”

voice and great classical background and the ability to take down

the musical notations. Mukesh who belonged to the Saigal School

was excellent in low tones; Kishore Kumar was an actor who could

sing. C. Ramchandra was the music director who could sing. Hemant

Kumar, who had been singing since 1937 in Bengal, was known for

his heavy-moulded and sonorous voice. He too was a musician. C.H.

Atma who had deep voice like Saigal’s made his debut in 1945.

These were the stiffest male competition that Mohammed Rafi had

to face and overcome. The others who would keep him company

would be Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Geeta Dutt, Sudha

Malhotra, Suman Kalyanpur, and a few others.

NASIR

To be continued...

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

Let’s now have some glimpses of the Mohammed Rafi’s pilgrim

progress that began in Nineteen Forties amidst a multitude of

talents and competitions and went on to establish a lasting memory

of his name and fame well up to the next century.

Haji Mohammed Ali was the native of Kotla Sultanpur (or Kotla

Sultan Singh) near Amritsar, India. Pheeko, the youngest of his six

sons, was born on 24 December, 1924. As a seven-year child, Pheeko

used to listen to the songs and hymns of a faqir who frequented his

locality and neighbourhood. Destiny was at work here. So much

enchanted was he by those hymns, that he began to sing them and

thus showing his great musical inclination.

Now, there used to be lot of vehicular traffic between Amritsar and

Lahore those days, undivided as they were by any of the rivers of

the Punjab. Fortunately for Pheeko, in 1935, his father shifted to

Lahore, then a great centre for Punjabi culture, educational

institution, music and film industry. Lahore had become a centre for

the aspiring actors, singers, writers, poets, lyricists, producers and

directors. Prithvi Theatre was established here by Prithviraj Kapoor

while Dalsukh M. Pancholi had the largest studio in south east Asia.

He made many famous movies at Lahore before he ruefully left for

Mumbai during the the partition of India in 1947. It was at Lahore

that Pheeko, who was to earn his name and fame as Mohammed

Rafi, got his Hindustani classical music training from Ustad Bade

Ghulam Ali Khan and his younger brother, and from the towering

figure of the Kirana Gharana, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan (d.1949). He

also took music lessons from Feroze Nizami and Pandit Jeevanlal

Matto Kashmiri in Lahore.

These music lessons and the classical music training stood him good

stead when he was asked to give his first public performance in

Lahore. The legendary K.L. Saigal had come to Lahore to sing in a

concert that was held to felicitate King George VI’s coronation in

Britain in May 1937. As is well known, there was a power outage and

K.L.Saigal refused to sing on the failed microphone. At this time,

since the audience was getting impatient, the organisers, at the

request of Rafi’s elder brother Hamid, put Rafi on the stage to

entertain the crowd till electricity was restored. Rafi had by then

stepped into his thirteenth year barely five months before. But he

was in his elements and such was his confidence that with his sweet

but powerful voice he was able to reach the far corners of the open

auditorium , regaling his listeners who were clamouring for more.

The legendary Saigal Saab was impressed by the potentials of this

young lad. According to Rafi Sahaab, it was here at the concert that

the great Saigal Saab blessed him saying,

“A day would come when you would be a much sought-after singer.”

Thus Saigal Saab has been seen by some critics as “Ruhaani

Ustaad”, or Spiritual Mentor of Mohammed Rafi. Indeed, he had

passed on the keys of the kingdom to him. Saigal Saab had his style

of singing; Rafi would evolve his own, and by November 1977alone,

he would sing some 25,000-26,000 songs.

Rafi’s musical training continued under Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan.

This was the time that the singing spree of Rafi began. By the time

he was 15, he would often be invited to sing at his friends’ places.

According to one account, on one such occasion, he was spotted by

Nasir Khan, a film Producer-Actor, who offered to take him to

Mumbai to groom him as a singer in films. It was only with great

reluctance and prodded by Hamid, that the head of the household

agreed. Saigal Saab’s blessing was realised earlier than thought.

On 28th February, 1941, Rafi was to record a Punjabi song for his

first movie, Gul Baloch, under the musical direction of Shyam Sunder

who had heard the young prodigy sing in that K.L. Saigal concert.

The Gul Baloch song, GORIYE NEE, HEERIYE NEE, TERI YAAD NE AAN

SATAYAA...was a duet which Rafi sang with Zeenat Begum who had

herself made her singing debut in a Punjabi movie, MANGTI, which

was released in 1942. So much impressed was Shyam Sunder that he

gave an invitation to young Rafi to come down to see him at

Mumbai. Most sources say that the release of Gul Baloch was

delayed and it finally came to be released on in 1944. Some

unconfirmed reports even attribute Rafi’s debut under the musical

direction of Pandit Govindram for the blockbuster Platinum-Jubilee

hit, MANGTI. This has not been corroborated by Rafi Sahaab when he

was asked about his debut song. According to him, his Mumbai

debut was in 1942, in the Nazir-Swarnlata starrer, Laila Majnu,

where he did a bit role and also sang a qawaali as part of the chorus

under Pandit Govindram. Whatever that may be, both Shyam Sunder

and Pandit Govindram utilised Rafi Sahaab around the same time.

Laila Majnu was released much later in 1945.

Otherwise, too, 1942 was an important year not only for the Indian

political Quit India Movement, but for the world at large. The sneak

attack on the Pearl Harbour in December 1941 had now drawn the

U.S. into the arena of World War II. Japan was growing stronger so

much so that it came right upto Burma which bordered India. During

the years 1930-1941 the number of Burmese films was 600 and this

number dwindled considerably. After the Japanese invasion of 1942,

half a million Indian fled on foot. Thousands died on their way to

India via Assam.

Film production was hit owing to the shortage of raw materials and

conservation. Gone were the hay-days of Bombay Talkies, Prabhat,

and New Theatres as many artistes sought their own independence.

There was a formation of independent studios such as the Filmistan,

Kardar Studios, Rajkamal Kalamandir, and Basant Pictures. Mehboob

Productions came out with the banner of a sickle and a hammer, and

the ominous lines: MUDDAI LAAKH BURAA CHAAHE TOH KYAA HOTAA

HAI, WOHEE HOTAA HAI JO MANZOOR-E-KHUDAA HOTAA HAI.

C. Ramchandra made his debut in Sukhi Jivan. Baby Mumtaz

(Madhubala) made her debut in Basant, lip-synching a Parul Ghosh

number. Manna Dey sang for the first time under his uncle, K.C.

Dey’s baton in Tamanna, including a duet, JAAGO AAYEE USHA, with

Baby Suraiya who had found an actress’s opening in Taj Mahal

(1941). Her song in Sharda, as well as the songs of Kanan Devi

(TOOFAAN MAIL..) in Jawab, Noor Jahan’s under Ghulam Haider in

Pancholi’s famous movie, Khandan were the rage of their days. In

Zamindar, Qamar Jalalabadi penned his first film lyrics which was

sung by Shamshad Begum for Ghulam Haider. Akhtari Faizabadi

(Begum Akhtar) sang six songs under Anil Biswas in Mehboob Khan’s

Roti. All these songs were very popular. Suraiya was lucky to have

the music directors who enhanced her singing career: Naushad,

Husnlal-Bhagatram, Khursheed Anwar; plus the stalwarts such as

Anil Biswas, Ghulam Mohammed, S.D. Burman and some others.

After the Japanese occupation of Burma in 1942, the year 1943 saw a

horrendous, but largely man-made, famine in Bengal where more

than 3.5 million people died. The dying destitutes, scouring for

rotten remains in trash-cans, were removed to the rural Bengal so

that the cities such as Calcutta and Dacca might look clean. Not to

speak of the massive sexual abuse of starving women and young

girls by the civilians and the military that could put even the

Japanese exploitation of the “comfort women” to shame.

In the film annals, 1943 is remembered for the blockbuster movie,

Kismet, starring Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti. Kismet ran for

more than three years continually at the Roxy Theatre in Calcutta.

This record would only be broken by Sholay (1975) and Sholay’s

record would be broken by Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (1995).

Anil Biswas’s music and all the songs of Amirbai, Arun Kumar, Parul

Ghosh in Kismet were superhit and are still unforgotten. Amirbai had

become a rage reaching her peak in 1947. The song: DUUR HATO AY

DUNYAA WAALON HINDUSTAN HAMARAA HAI had almost got the film

banned by the British Government.

Sohrab Modi of the Pukar (1939) and Sikandar (1941) fame was not

as successful in Prithvi Vallabh. A 14-year old Fatimah Rashid

(Nargis) was groomed as the heroine of Mehboob Khan’s Taqdir,

opposite hero Motilal by Sardar Akhtar. Shakuntala was another

blockbuster film of the year and the heroine Jayshree sang her own

song. Incidentally, this was the first movie of V. Shantaram’s own

studio. There are also more firsts: Ghulam Mohammed made his

debut in Mera Khwaab. Similarly, Najma was the first film of

Mehboob Khan under Mehboob Productions. Mahasati Anusuya was

the first musical venture of Avinash Vyas. Some other popular songs

of the time were by Ram Apte and Madhusudhan (Ram Rajya),

Khursheed and Saigal (Tansen), G.M. Durrani (Nai Kahani), Parul

Ghosh (Namaste), Raj Kumari (Nurse), Kanan Devi (Hospital),

Shamshad Begum (Poonji) and Suraiya (Qanoon). Manna Dey’s song

in Ram Rajya made him famous.

There in Lahore, not knowing what the future will have in store for

him, a lad had by this time transformed into a handsome but humble

youth of charming manners, and was much more mellifluous and

knowledgeable in the field of music and singing. He was Mohammed

Rafi! While still in his teens, Rafi got married to the thirteen-year old

Bashira, the sister of his brother’s wife. She vouches that Rafi used

to sing even when he was ten. By March 1943, thanks to Feroze

Nizami who was himself a competent vocalist of the Kirana Gharana,

the young Rafi began singing on the Lahore’s All India Radio which

was the fifth in the country and a home for Shamshad Begum,

Zeenat Begum, “Fateh Din” (Actor Om Prakash) and other worthies

since 1937. Kaur sisters were to follow a little later. This radio

station had become a local even as far as Amritsar. According to

Bashira, even at that time Rafi was well into singing ghazals which

were a craze at that time, though she herself being a conservative

Muslim it didn’t matter to her since music was not her forte. In

retrospect she remembered that those were such happy moments

for her that she could never forget them. When Rafi was around

there were no troubles. They would just vanish! Even decades later

she would say that Rafi Sahaab never lost his temper even once with

her. As for Hamid, a good brother that he was, he knocked on every

door to ensure that work kept coming to his little brother

Mohammed Rafi.

NASIR

To continue...

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

By 1944, lots of things were happening on the filmy scene.

Dadasaheb Phalke, the “Father of Indian Cinema” died. Mumbai

began to attract the Punjabi musicians. With the exception of Pandit

Govind Ram and Pandit Amar Nath, the other musicians of Lahore

such as Master Ghulam Haider who left Pancholi Arts, Shyam

Sunder, Feroze Nizami, Khurshid Anwar, Hansraj Behl, Rashid Atre ,

and Pandit Husnlal-Bhagatram who were the younger brothers of

Pandit Amar Nath, came over to Mumbai.

Devika Rani selected a youthful peshwari Pathan named Yusuf Khan

for a role in Jwar Bhata. Devika Rani who had earlier named Mumtaz

as Madhubala, launched him as Dilip Kumar for that was one of the

three names selected for Yusuf Khan. This name, Dilip Kumar, was to

cast a magical spell of its own for three generations.

The Jwar-Bhata song by Arun Kumar, SANJH KEE BELAA PANCHEE

AKELAA, was a hit. Anil Biswas who provided the music also sang a

song, and others included Manna Dey, Parul Ghosh, Amirbai,

Surendra, and C.Ramchandra.

Some other popular songs were by Raj Kumari in Panna, Amirbai in

Bharthari, and Manju in Chaand. Manju’s song in Chaand, DO DILON

KO YEH DUNYAA was the first hit of Husnlal-Bhagatram who had also

made their debut. With their lilt and rhythm they popularised the

Punjabi folk tunes. More on this later. Around this time, Hemant

Kumar recorded his debut song in Hindi in Iraada for music director

Amarnath.

Noor Jahan gave hit songs, including BADNAAM MOHABBAT KAUN

KARE under Sajjad Hussain in Dost. Bulo C. Rani made his musical

debut in Pagli Duniya. Another great musical hit was Meri Bahen.

K.L. Saigal’s DOH NAINA MATWAARE and KYAA MAINE KIYAA HAI

among other songs are the more memorable ones. Pankaj Mullick

was the music director.

But the year 1944 clearly belonged to Naushad for his trend-setting

musical compositions in Rattan, starring Swarnlata and Karan

Dewan, which was directed by M. Sadiq. The songs penned by D.N.

Madhok and sung by Zohrabai Ambalewali, Amirbai Karnatki, Manju,

Karan Dewan, and Shyam Kumar, were highly popular. Just hear the

beats in MILKE BICHHAD GAYEE ANKHIYAN (Amirbai)!

The superhit duet, O JAANEWAALE BAALAMWAA

(Amirbai and Karan Dewan) is parodied in the 1965 flick Padosan

where the hero who is a non-singer finally settles down to sing this

number to win the heart of his beloved, Saira Banu. Old timers

surely remember that ANKHIYAA.N MILAA KE, JIYAA BHARMAA KE of

Zohrabai, where the beloved tries to prevent her lover from leaving.

The movie as a whole, had such an impact on young girls of

impressionable age that many of them were emboldened to elope

with their young lovers. The signs of Life imitating Art had begun for

the better or worse. No more the puritan standards of the Thirties,

not withstanding the smouldering smooch of Devika Rani and

Himansu Rai in Karma (1933)! Rattan was a box-office hit across the

nation, with everyone humming or singing its song. S.D. Burman was

to find his formula for success when he heard his servant singing a

Rattan’s number, JAB TUM HI CHALE PARDES LAGAAKAR THESS...

Though annoyed at first, he soon realised that it’s the simplicity of

the song that makes it popular. Thereafter, he would hum his tunes

to his servants and obtain their feedback. This struggler was thus

able to obtain a firm foothold in Mumbai thereafter with a

thundering success for decades to come.

In April that year, two heavy explosions occurred, one after the

other, when a ship carrying inflammable material, such as cotton,

TNT and gold bullions caught fire. The explosions rocked the Victoria

Harbour of the Bombay Docks, killing 800 people and scattering the

debris around. Since World War II was ongoing, people thought it

was the work of sabotage or that Japan had bombarded Mumbai. But

the explosions were accidental around which many tales have been

woven. Many firemen who rushed to the scene after the first

explosion had pay with their lives when the second explosion took

place after some time. Eye-witnesses tell us that the impact was

such that those who were on the scene of incident had their heads

severed by the impact. Eye witnesses who came later even chanced

to see the bodies of headless firemen running around in the line of

duty. Owing to the explosions, many other ships were destroyed.

Gold bullions from the ship flew all around, either sinking in the

waters or falling in the homes of the nearby residents. A 28-lb gold

bullion was found a mile away from the accident site.

The above incident fanned the fear that the Japanese would be

coming to the Mumbai shore. The Japanese did not come but the fear

resulted in a mass exodus of people from Mumbai. Ghulam Haider’s

musicians too made their exits to Lahore and no amount of coaxing,

salary advance or double-salary, and secured shelter could hold

them back. This incident also had an impact on Naushad Saab, so

two decades later he explored it as the theme for his 1967 movie,

Palki, where the hero is given up for dead in the explosions. In

passing, it may be mentioned here that the incident was predicted

three days in advance by a naked faqir known as Nange Shah Baba.

This faqir who had never spoken before, suddenly began shouting,

“Bhaago Bhaago” as a warning to the residents around. The faqir

lies buried in the Chhota Sonapur Qabrastan of Mumbai.

Gul Baloch the Punjabi movie, which had featured the first filmy

song of Rafi with Zeenat Begum was released in 1944. Now with the

bulk of musical talent having shifted to Mumbai, it was time for

Mohammed Rafi too to follow suit. When Mohammed Rafi migrated

to Mumbai sometime in July 1944, little did he himself realize that

his immigration from Lahore to Mumbai was to catapult him in future

as not only the best playback singer of the sub-continent but also

the most revered one.

NASIR

To continue...

PART 4: MOHAMMED RAFI AND THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

One of the prestigious train services in India was the Frontier Mail

that even had air-conditioned coaches. This train used to run

between Peshwar and Colaba Terminus. Lahore was one of the halts

in between. In 1944, while Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was using it

for escaping to Peshwar and then Afghanistan, Mohammed Rafi and

Hameed boarded the III Class compartment of the train, to a tearful

send-off by relatives, friends and well-wishers.

After arriving in Mumbai, Mohammed Rafi took up a modest

residence first at Dongri and then in Bhendi Bazaar, a bustling

commercial area with narrow lanes and crowded tenements. The

‘Victoria’ i.e. the horse driven carriages, the taxis, and the electric-

trams running even in narrow lanes and by-lanes, added to the

congestion. Not to speak of the bullock-carts and the hand-carts

used to transfer the goods in the city. Only when things would get

better for him, that he would shift with his family to an apartment in

the posh Colaba area and finally to Bandra.

The era still belonged to actor-singers. For a person who wanted just

the job of playback singing, the time was still not ripe. Rafi had to

face a bitter struggle to make ends meet in the beginning of his

career. It is said that Rafi would walk from Bhendi Bazaar up to

Dadar, the centre of filmy activities then. Since non-Mumbaikars

would have no idea of this distance I would like to take the initiative

of providing an idea of this pretty long stretch. Dadar was then the

hub of the film personalities. Mahim was considered a suburb. In

order to reach Dadar on foot from Bhendi Bazaar one has to first

reach the junction of the J.J. Hospital, (15 minutes), from there

walking straight ahead, passing the Richardson and Cruddas, the

Jewish synagogue, Hume High School, and The Traffic Institute, one

would reach Khada Parsi which falls in Byculla (20 minutes). Again,

going straight from the Khada Parsi one would reach the Byculla

Market, Anthony D’Souza High School, Palace Cinema, Byculla

Railway Station, Rani Baagh or the zoo that was known as the

Victoria Gardens (another 20 minutes or so). Then further, we need

to reach Lal Baugh area by passing the Jaihind Talkies, (say 15

minutes); going from Lal Baugh to Parel would take another 20

minutes. Then from Parel we need to pass the Surya Talkies (wonder

if it’s still there), then further towards the Hind Mata Talkies, then

Chitra Cinema and the Kohinoor Mills and finally Dadar in maybe 25

minutes. So that’s about two hours walking distance at a fast pace.

A bagful of ‘Chana’ (grams) kept him and his brother Hamid,

company. Such were the days of struggle for Rafi Sahaab. The other

probable alternative must have been the electric-tram which was the

cheapest form of conveyance. From the Sassoon Dock which was to

the extreme south even further down than Colaba, the tram fare

upto Dadar was just One and a Half Anna (9 paise). From Bhendi

Bazaar to Dadar, it must have been One Anna (6 paise) at the most.

In fact, even as late as 1964 when last of the trams were removed

from Mumbai, the fare between Museum (the Regal Cinema) and

King Circle which is still further than Dadar, was just 6 paise.

In order to make the ends meet, Rafi also used to sing in the

‘Mehfils’ usually of the Punjabi fraternity. According to an account

by Syed Abid Ali, after Rafi’s arrival in Mumbai, he performed in his

sprawling bungalow on the occasion of the sister of Syed Abid Ali.

Roshan Ara Begum had shifted from Calcutta to Mumbai in the late

‘Thirties. She came to be known as “Bombaywaali” Roshan Ara

Begum (1917-1982). She used to live with her police-inspector

husband in one part of the Bungalow. Hearing the young Rafi sing,

she was duly captivated. She predicted:

“The man with the golden voice was destined to go far in life.”

This observation was significant as Roshan Ara Begum had herself

been a student of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (d.1937) who was the

cousin and brother-in-law of Mohammed Rafi’s Ustad, Abdul Wahid

Khan. After migration to Pakistan she was later conferred with such

titles as “malika-e-mausiqee.” She was an exponent of the Kirana

Gharana style of Khayal singing. Indeed, her early predictions about

Rafi Sahaab proved to be true. Roshan Ara Begum sang for films too,

such as Jugnu and Siskiyan.

Tanvir Naqvi, the poet and lyrics writer, (who after migration to

Pakistan married the elder sister of NoorJahan) also introduced the

young Rafi to Producer-Director Mehboob Khan, Actor-Director

Nazeer, and Producer-Director Abdul Rasheed Kardar who had made

the first silent movie in Lahore and was to produce and direct many

more movies in India. For his film, Pehle Aap, A.R. Kardar had signed

Naushad Ali as the music director. Naushad used the young Rafi for

what has been sometimes termed as the first Hindi/Urdu song of Rafi

Sahaab in this 1944 flick. The song was HINDUSTAA.N KE HAMM

HAIN/HINDUSTAA.N HAMAARA/ HINDU-MUSLIM DONO.N KI

AANKHO.N KA TAARA, accompanied by Alluaddin, Shaam Kumar and

chorus. Since this was a marching song, Naushad had a pair of shoes

bought from Mumbai’s infamous Chor Bazaar for Rafi who was to

sing the song while marching with the boots on at the microphone

itself. Two more songs followed: EK BAAR UNSE MILAA DE, and TUM

DILLI MAI.N AAGRE MERE DIL SE NIKLE HAAY. All the three songs

were penned by multi-facet personality, Dinanath Madhok. Shaam

Kumar was the co-singer in these songs.

Music Director Shyam Sunder who had given Rafi his first break in

Punjabi film, Gul Baloch, and promised to record more songs once

Rafi came down to Mumbai, made good his promise. Shyam Sunder

recorded Rafi’s songs for the Noor Jahan starrer, Gaon Ki Gori

(Village Belle). These were the duets with G.M. Durrani: AJI DIL HO

QAABOO ME.N, and MAI.N KHETO.N KA PANCHHEE. Noor Jahan had

four songs, including BAITHEE HOON TERE YAAD KA, in this movie.

According to Rafi Sahaab, his songs in Gaon Ki Gori were his first

Hindi songs. However, since the serial number on the records of his

Pehle Aap songs precedes the serial number on the records of his

Gaon Ki Gori songs, Naushad technically steals a march over Shyam

Sunder for the credit of introducing Mohammed Rafi to Hindi films.

World War II was over in 1945, leaving over 60-million dead. There

was an emergence of a new world order as U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R

rose as the world powers, with U.K. relegated to the background,

with heavy losses and wartime debts. United Nations Organisation

was established and the League of Nations was history. These

events accelerated the freedom struggle in India that eventually led

to the Independence in 1947. The Indian film industry was still

suffering from wartime restrictions and shortages.

Here in the film circle, in the meantime, word was out that there was

a young Punjabi singer who had immense singing potential and

whose enormous talent did not betray his youth. Under Pandit

Govindram, Rafi Sahaab sang in Vijay Bhatt’s Hamara Sansar AY DIL-

E-NAKAAM TAMANNA, said to be his first solo, and along with

Zohrabai and Shamshad Begum, CHHOTI SI EK BANAAYENGE NAIYAA.

Again for the Pandit, Rafi Sahaab sang a Qawwali, TERA JALWA JISNE

DEKHA WOH DEEWAANA HO GAYA along with S.D. Batish and chorus;

and another one with S.D. Batish: SAKHEE KEE KHAIR, MAI-BAAP KI

KHAIR in Laila Majnu (1945) where he also had an acting stint. Of

course, his name was not mentioned in the credit. The same year,

Rafi rendered a duet with Zohrabai in Kulkalank: TOPIWAALE BABU

NE DIL CHHEENA RE for A.R. Qureshi; and a duet with Mohantara

Talpade in Begum: DIL DIYE CHALE DIL LIYE CHALE under the musical

direction of Hari Prasanna Das.

Homi Wadia of Wadia Movietone was tremendously impressed with

the singing voice of the young Rafi so much so that he insisted that

it would be only Rafi who would sing for his film Sharbati Ankhen

(1945) and other movies for which Feroze Nizami was slated to give

music. The solos thus recorded were PYAAR KARNA HI PADEGAA EK

DIN; BAHOT MUKHTASAR HAI HAMAARI KAHAANI; and AB NA BEEN

BAJAA SNEHEE.

Some of the other music directors who utilised Rafi Sahaab in 1945

were Hafiz Khan for whom he soulfully rendered HAAY RE DUNIYA in

Zeenat. Speaking of Zeenat, this movie created a coup of sorts, with

Noor Jahan, Zohrabai, Kalyani singing AAHEN NAA BHAREEN SHIKWE

NAA KIYE with chorus. This was said to be the first kind of zenana

Qawwali in a movie. This Qawwali was always the hot favourite of

Radio Ceylon which I distinctly remember hearing it often on the

radio a decade later.

Mukesh who had earlier did not make it as a hero in his maiden

venture, Nirdosh '41, made himself known by his Pehli Nazar song,

DIL JALTA HAI TOH JALNE DE which he sang in a K.L. Saigal style for

the screen hero, Motilal. Talat Mehmood, who was known as Tapan

Kumar in Bengal and was already an established ghazal singer,

recorded his first Hindi film song in Raj Lakshmi in which he also had

the acting assignment. Madhubala, too, sang two songs in Dhanna

Bhagat with Brijlal under Khemchand Prakash. Noor Jahan, besides

acting in films, continued her spree of being a top playback singer.

Her DIYA JALAAKAR AAP BUJHAAYE in Badi Maa was a hit; while the

Khursheed-Mukesh duet, BADARIYA BARAS GAYEE USS PAAR from

Moorti was a super-hit number. Jagmohan’s Meghdoot number, O

VARSHA KE PEHLE BAADAL proved to be popular. Ghulam Haider and

Mehboob Khan came together for the first time in Humayun '45 but

the former charm of Ghulam Haider was missing here.

NASIR

To continue....

, S E P T E M B E R 2 7 , 2 0 0 9

PART 5: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest

Playback Singer of All Times - by Nasir.

Looking outside of India, the use of atomic bombs by the USA in

August 1945 over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan no doubt forced

the surrender of the Imperial Japanese forces, but the devastating

power of the bombs and the resulting annihilation and long-term

suffering of the survivors also shocked the world, leading to the

protests for abolition of nuclear weapons ever since. Many movies

were produced on the subject and in recent memory one Indian

movie Aman (1967) comes to my mind.

In India, by 1946, winds of change were blowing more and more with

the coming years. The two-nation theory was gaining ground and

there was a general unrest in the Indian populace at the prospect of

the division of the country. Worst Communal riots broke out in

Calcutta and this spilled over to other regions of Bengal and Bihar

and to some extent in other provinces too.

Sometimes, when the law and order situations prevailed, the

theatres had to be closed down. I remember my parents telling me

that once they were in the midst of watching Mehboob Khan’s Anmol

Ghadi at the Minerva Theatre in Mumbai when the Management

stopped the screening and asked everyone in the hall to go home as

communal riots had broken out in Mumbai. It was with great

difficulty that my parents reached home alive at the nearby Nana

Chowk and so must have others who stayed alive. It was not the kind

of Calcutta communal riots fortunately. So such unfortunate things

used to happen then.

The theatres or rather the “Talkies” which exhibited hundreds of

movies were one place where all people irrespective of the castes,

creeds, and communities could sit together as one family and enjoy

the movie. The themes of the movie were such which portrayed the

social problems that affected one and all, irrespective of the religion

of the community. Just as the blood of all the communities is red,

even of the so-called ‘blue-blood’ aristocracy and nobility. The filmy

themes dealt with poverty, child marriage, widow re-marriage,

women’s emancipation, patriotism, evils of usury, palace intrigues,

chieftan’s revolts, some war movies, cruelty of step-mothers, family

values and ideals - which were common to every one. It appears that

Indian movies were the great catalyst in restoring normalcy and

keeping the people together.

Before 1946 the cutting of records was in the hands of a single

company, EMI Ltd. This Company was incorporated as the

Gramophone Co. (India) Ltd., in 1946. There were subsequent name

changes too, the last being in the year 2000 when the name was

changed to Saregama India Ltd. But it is the brand name HMV (His

Master’s Voice) that the old timers are nostalgic about. Anyway,

during the early years when playback singing was beginning to make

waves, the names of the playback singers were not mentioned but

the names of the character of the movies were mentioned on the

gramophone records. Still worse, while the names of the female

singers were mentioned, Rafi’s name was not mentioned. Therefore,

Rafi Sahaab never got the credit for many of his early songs. Since

before then, all along, the actors had themselves been rendering

their voice for the songs, the actors did not relish the idea of making

the cine-goer believe that they were just lip-synching the song which

had been playbacked by another person behind the screen. The old

films did not list the playback singers even in their credit titles of

the movie. Thus many songs of Rafi Sahaab were lost, especially

during the conversion from the old 78RPM records to the newer

versions, as and when they came into vogue. Generally, the original

soundtrack of the movies and the masters of the 78RPM records

were also destroyed to reuse for newer songs. Needless to say, the

selection being subjective, many Gems of Rafi Sahaab’s songs were

lost – some of which were found only in private collections. It is also

known that disinterested members of family throw away the old

records once the avid collector of the family ceases to exist. Akbar

Shah, who came from the line of avid record collectors, during his

collection spree came to the Kabaadi (Junk) Market of Hyderabad

and found a record which he thought no longer existed. It was the

song of Mohammed Rafi where he had soulfully rendered SABAK

RAZA KA DE GAYE KARBALA WAALE which was from a 1954 flick,

Shaan-e-Haatham. If such could be the state of the songs of the

Fifties, what must have happened to those of the Forties?

On the positive note, the Hindi film production which had dropped to

74 in 1945, shot up to 156 in 1946.

It was in 1946 that Geeta Roy made her debut in Bhakta Prahlad

under Hanuman Prasad and later became famous with Do Bhai

(1947) under S.D. Burman who had made his Hindi musical debut

with Shikari in 1946. Geeta Roy had the looks more of a film heroine

than that of a playback singer. Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar is

exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival. Meena Kumar bagged her first

role as an adult person after a score of baby roles. Kishore Kumar

made his first appearance as an actor in Shikari. Meena Kapoor

made her debut in Eight Days which had music by S.D. Burman.

Music Director Sudhir Phadke, too, made his appearance in his first

Hindi movie, Gokul. Chitragupt came out as an independent music

director in Lady Robinhood. Ram Ganguli, an assistant of R.C. Boral,

made his musical debut with Maharana Pratap. Hansraj Behl too

came into his own after assisting Khemchand Prakash, Rashid Atre,

and Pandit Gobindram. He made his musical debut in Pujari in which

Baby Madhubala had a song to sing. Lata Mangeshkar appeared in

Jeevan Yatra and also sang a solo under the baton of Vasant Desai.

As far as actors were concerned, Dev Anand, Rehman, and Rehana

made their debut appearances in Hum Ek Hain which was directed

by the debutant P.L. Santoshi. Abhi Bhattacharya acted in a Hindi

film for the first time. This movie was Milan which starred Dilip

Kumar. Neecha Nagar lauched the careers of Chetan Anand, Kamini

Kaushal and others. Dharti Ke Lal, directed by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas,

won critical acclaim at home and abroad. K.L. Saigal’s Umar Khayam

was released. This was his second film with Suraiya. His third film

with Suraiya, Parwana(1947) would be his last.

The visually-challenged musician and singer, K.C. Dey was an

unparalleled singer who after earning great fame as actor, singer

and composer in the Thirties, had shifted to Mumbai in 1942 till his

final return to Calcutta in 1946. Once, aided by his protégé, Manna

Dey, K.C. Dey had composed a song for a movie called Justice. When

the composition was ready, K.C. Dey instructed Manna Dey to let

Rafi know that the tune was ready for him to sing. Manna Dey was

flabbergasted. Rafi had worked as a chorus singer under him when

he was the Assistant Music Director. How could this be? Manna Dey

frankly recounts in his interview with Kavita Chibber that he felt

very hurt at that time.

He asked his uncle: “’Why can’t I sing it?’

My uncle said ‘No you can’t! Only he can sing this.’

I swallowed my pride and fetched him and then after he finished

recording, I realised that indeed, I couldn’t have sung it as well as

he did.” (Italics mine).

This great singer has always been a frank admirer of Rafi Sahaab as

many of his interviews show.

First it was K.L. Saigal, and now here was another great singer, K.C.

Dey of MANN KEE ANKHEN KHOL BABA (Dhoop Chhaon) fame who,

on the strength of his inner eye, put a stamp of approval on the

tremendous potentials of Rafi Sahaab! Many years later, the

illustrious S.D. Burman, who was a chela of K.C. Dey, would use the

same ploy with Manna Dey and pass on the song to Rafi Sahaab.

Similarly, there is an incident which does not belong to the Forties

but mentioning it here is a must in order to complete the links of the

Bengali chain. That link in the chain is R.C. Boral. He was a stalwart

of the New Theatres, and the one who discovered and shaped the

voice of K.L. Saigal and the one who had introduced the playback

singing in 1935. To state it briefly, this Dada Saheb Phalke Award

Winner, would come face to face with Mohammed Rafi many years

later for recording of a Bengali Kirtan which the former had

composed. He thought that if he were not satisfied with Rafi, he

could always have any of the well-known Bengal singers sing the

Kirtan for him. Rafi Sahaab had always been conscientious about his

work. He asked R.C. Boral’s permission for a short prayer. After

offering his ‘Namaaz’ in one corner of the recording-room, he came

to the mike to render the Kirtan. The result of the rendition of the

Kirtan was so perfect that R.C. Boral was wonder-struck at the

genius of this non-Bengali singer.

It was after Rafi Sahaab had passed away in 1980 that R.C. Boral

paid a glowing tribute to him in an AIR programme at Calcutta,

narrating that wonderful experience. If he had not told us of this

amazing contribution of Rafi Sahaab at that time, we would never

have known, for the very next year (1981) R.C. Boral, the Father of

Indian Music, too passed away. For the records, R.C. Boral had

utilized Rafi Sahaab in the three movies of the early Fifties:

Mahaprabhu Chaitanya and Dard-e-Dil (1953) and in Swami

Vivekanand in 1955 which is not our subject-matter here.

NASIR

To continue...

M O N D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9

PART 6: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

While we are still in 1946, Noor Jahan was singing a beautiful song

penned by Anjum Pilibhiti and composed by Hafiz Khan in Hamjoli

starring herself, Jairaj and Agha among others. The song was: YEH

DESH, YEH DESH HAMAARA PYAARA HINDUSTAN JAHAA.N SE

NYAARAA/HINDUSTAAN KE HAMM HAIN PYAARE, HINDUSTAAN

HAMAARA PYAARA. This song draws our attention to the anticipated

independence from the British Raj.

It was in 1946 that Rafi’s Sahaab’s name appeared for the first time

in the credits of Arab Ka Sitaara which was Cuckoo’s debut film.

ROSHAN SA IK SITAARA was a duet he sang with Amirbai Karnataki.

Some of the other movies of 1946 for which Rafi Sahaab sang are:

Amar Raj:

Two solos: PRAAN TYAAG KAR TUUNE DEEWAANEE; and TO.DO

TO.DO TO.DO DIL KE TAAR. Another solo was: MAIN JAB GAAOON

GEET SUHAANA, GAAYE MERE SAATH ZAMAANA, written by Pandit

Fani. This must be his earliest semi-classical song. There was also a

duet with Mohantara: MAI.N JAB CHHE.DOO PREM TARAANAA. Music

was by Feroze Nizami. Yes, this was for Wadia Movietone. A curious

thing here is that Rafi Sahaab’s name is missing from the duet. The

78RPM record mentions: “Mohantara Talpade in duet” though she

sings hardly for a minute, while the young Rafi sings for nearly six

minutes for this song which is recorded on both the sides of the

record. In an ordinary 78RPM 10-inch disc, just a little over 3

minutes could be recorded on one side. Such was the limit of the

technology then. In this movie, a young Nirupa Roy, made her acting

debut.

Mera Geet:

MERA SWAPN BA.DAA SUHAANAA; JAAKE PARDES PIYAA BHOOL NAA

JAANAA; both under musical direction of Shankar Rao Vyas.

Rasili:

Rafi Sahaab sang two duets with Shamshad Begum: YEH NAYAN

KYOO.N SHARMA GAYE, and DIL MUJHKO JALAATAA HAI. Hanuman

Prasad was the music director.

Rang Bhoomi:

The music was rendered by Premnath. The songs of Rafi Sahaab are:

SOOYE MANZIL BADHAAYE CHALAA CHAL KOEE along with chorus;

then three duets with Shamshad Begum: AAG LAGEE TANN MANN

DHANN; JO AAGE BA.DHE USSE; and KHUD SAMAJH LO KE ILTIJAA

KYAA.

Sona Chandi:

Tufail Farooqi was the music director. Rafi Sahaab had two solos and

two duets as follows: ABKE BHAGWAAN DAYAA KARENGE and

DAATAA JI TERE BHED NAA PAAYAA; one duet with Shamshad

Begum: BAITHE HAI.N TERE DAR PE; the other duet with Ameerbai:

MANN KI SOONEE NAGARIYAA.

Rupa:

Music was by Gobind Ram. Rafi Sahaab sang two duets with

Shamshad Begum: WATAN KEE AMAANAT MEREE ZINDAGEE HAI with

chorus; and BALA JAWANVAA SAMBHAALAA NAA JAAYE.

Safar:

Music was by C.Ramchandra. The notable solos of Rafi Sahaab are:

KEHKE BHEE NAA AAYE TUM where the tonal quality and style of Rafi

Sahaab reminds us of the mid-fifties. It proved to be a hit song. The

other song was, AB VOH HAMAARE HO GAYE.

Some of the following 1946 movies have a song each of Rafi Sahaab:

Sassi Punnu:

AASHIQ KA KAAFLAA along with G.M. Durrani and chorus. Music was

by Gobind Ram.

Room No.9:

RAHE TOH KAISE RAHE DIL PE IKHTIYAAR, which had music by Rashid

Atre.

Insaaf:

Hari Prasanna Das was the music director. Rafi Sahaab sang a duet

with Hameeda Bano: ROOKHEE SOOKHEE MAI.N KHAA LOONGEE.

Mansarovar:

S.N. Tripathi composed the music for this movie. Rafi sang Yeh Hind

Ki Kahaaniyan with Geeta Roy and Binapani.

Shah Jahan and Anmol Ghadi.

In 1946 Naushad was again at his best

in Anmol Ghadi and Shah Jahan. Both these movies were immensely

popular along with other movies such as the Dilip Kumar starrer

Milan, Saigal starrer Omar Khayyam, V.Shantaram’s Dr. Kotnis ki

Amar Kahani, and Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar.

Noor Jahan and Mehboob Khan had come together for the first time –

and the last time in Anmol Ghadi which was Noor Jahan’s greatest

hit. As for the songs of Anmol Ghadi, Noor Jahan’s JAWAA.N HAI

MOHABBAT, AAJAA AAJAA MEREE, MERE BACHPAN KE SAATHI and

KYA MIL GAYA BHAGWAAN, and the duet AAWAAZ DE were super-

hits overshadowing the good songs of Shamshad Begum and

Suraiya. Noor Jahan at just 20 was at her career-best. Suraiya played

the second lead to her.

The songs of Anmol Ghadi are etched in everyone’s memory. So

when she visited Mumbai in 1982, she was accorded a warm

reception by Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Naushad. Even

Suraiya was present. When Noor Jahan began to sing AAWAAZ DE

KAHAA.N HAI, DUNYA MEREE JAWAA.N HAI, on the stage for the

show "Mortal Men, Immortal Melodies" she and the composer

Naushad had tears in their eyes. The latter exclaimed that she had

indeed done him the honour and “made my song immortal.” Anmol

Ghadi had also raised the stock of Tanvir Naqvi so that he had

charged a whopping Rs.5,0000/- for his work. What an irony of fate

that the same talented lyricist had to go round the studios in

Pakistan for merely Rs.200/- in the Seventies!

Two years had elapsed since Pehle Aap (1944) when Naushad had

given the young Rafi an opportunity to sing a couple of duets. For

the first time, Naushad Ali gave a solo number to Rafi in Anmol

Ghadi (1946): TERA KHILONA TOOTA BAALAK, which was playbacked

for an unknown character of a toy-seller, since the movie had

Mehboob’s favourite singer-hero, Surendra. After this, the team of

Mehboob Khan and Naushad worked in a number of blockbuster

movies.

Shah Jahan had the best of K.L. Saigal numbers. Naushad was the

first to record songs and the music on different tracks and then

mixing them together and he also did this in Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan

had excellent songs of K.L. Saigal such as GHAM DIYE MUSTAQIL

KITNAA NAAZUK HAI DIL, CHAAH BARBAAD KAREGEE HAMEN

MAALOOM NAA THAAH, and JAB DIL HEE TOOT GAYAA. The lyrics of

all the ten songs were credited to the debutant Majrooh Sultanpuri,

the young chela of Jigar Moradabadi. However, according to the

article in “Gaata Rahe Mera Dil,” the songs BEDARD NA KAR; CHAAH

BARBAAD KAREGEE HAMEN; AY DIL BEQARAAR JHOOM were written

by Khumar Barabankavi.

Naushad would be fulfilling the wishes of the young singer by giving

him an opportunity to sing in the chorus of a K.L. Saigal song in

Shah Jahan. Naushad himself had been enamoured of K.L. Saigal.

Rafi was happy with just the chorus rendering of RUHEE RUHEE

RUHEE, MERE SAPNON KI RANI, where he can be easily spotted on

the screen and actually sings the entire line towards the fag-end of

the song when a faqir is shown entering the scene. The blessing of

K.L. Saigal had come full circle. Who could have imagined that after

nearly a decade the same lad who sang at the K.L. Saigal Concert in

Lahore would also sing along with the legendary singer/actor in a

movie that would create history of the present and the future

legends coming together in the same song! The RUHEE song is

specially remembered for that reason.

Thus Rafi Sahaab also has the distinction of not only being blessed

by K.L. Saigal but also singing a song with him – the distinction

denied to self-proclaimed fans such as Mukesh, Manna Dey, Kishore

Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Talat Mehmood, and

Shamshad Begum who were already a sensation by mid-Forties. All

of them and also Geeta Dutt, would be dominating the Indian

playback scene along with Rafi Sahaab in the decades to come.

NASIR

To continue...

PART 7: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

The year 1947 was a very eventful year. Politically, India got

independence from the British Raj and a new country of East and

West Pakistan also came into existence.

Millions of people were dislocated on either side. At least a million

died in the beastly and brutal communal riots that followed. Saadat

Manto has graphically chronicled the holocaust of the Partition but

from a humanitarian view. Amrita Pritam in her Ode to Waris Ali

Shah, the Sufi Saint and Poet known for his legendary Poem, Heer

Ranjha, has lamented the division and burning of Punjab. The

historical account has been rendered in Freedom at Midnight by

Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. Deepa Mehta’s movie, 1947

Earth (based on Ice Candy Man) and Gaddar a Prem Katha are

depicted against the background of the horrendous consequences of

the Partition.

The why’s and wherefore’s of the Partition have never been openly

discussed, or if discussed they, just as some other historical facts,

have been glossed over or distorted in various books. The latest

exposure comes from Jaswant Singh’s book, Jinnah: India- Partition,

Independence which was initially banned in the Indian state of

Gujarat, and for which Jaswant Singh has been thrown out by his

own party, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) like a fly in the ointment

for glorification of Jinnah and holding Pandit Nehru and Sardar

Vallabh Patel responsible for the Partition of India. According to

journalist Khushwant Singh, the leaders were not to blame, but the

circumstances that had evolved over the centuries. Let’s leave this

matter to the political analysts, intellectuals and historians, and

come back to our subject and see what the film industry lost and

gained as the result of the partition.

A.R. Kardar’s Shah Jahan, V.Shantaram’s Dr. Kotnis ki Amar Kahani,

and Vijay Bhatt’s Ram Rajya were shown at Canadian National

Exhibition at Toronto. Unfortunately, the hero of Shah Jahan was no

more. It was Naushad Saab who had convinced Saigal Saab that he

could sing very well even without his “Kaali Paanch”. “Kaali Paanch”

was the code name for whiskey pegs that K.L. Saigal used to imbibe

during recordings. “If I had met you earlier, I would have been a

different Kundan altogether,” the singer told Naushad. Alas! It was

too late then.

The legendary singer died of cirrhosis of the liver on 18th January

1947. The band played JAB DIL HEE TOOT GAYAA at his funeral as per

his dying wish. Just 250 soulful songs and 28 films had made K.L.

Saigal immortal in the Musical Hall of Fame. There was no one who

commanded rapt attention as Saigal Saab used to command during

that time. With his untimely death a void had been created in the

world of Hindustani filmy music.

(This "void" can be explained better with an example: After Rafi

Sahaab’s premature death in 1980, many aspiring singers jumped on

the bandwagon of his style of singing and successfully carved a

niche for themselves for a decade, managing with just an individual

shade out of the many shades of Rafi Sahaab’s powerehouse of a

talent. These singers were Anwar, Shabbir Kumar, Mohammed Aziz,

and others. Sonu Nigam was a just a child then, but when he took to

singing it was his idol, Mohammed Rafi, whose songs he began to

sing before coming into his own. The same thing happened after the

demise of K.L. Saigal.)

With most of the actors having given up singing too about the mid-

Forties, playback singing was a new industry and those who came in

at that stage. Most of them were heavily influenced by the Saigal

style of singing. Mukesh and Kishore Kumar too were smitten by K.L.

Saigal for that matter, and in fact earlier in 1945 Mukesh sang DIL

JALTA TOH JALNE DE in a typical K.L. Saigal style in Pehli Nazar.

Kishore Kumar, initially sang in the traditional style of Saigal Saab.

C.H. Atma too carried this tradition all his life. Surendra in Bombay

remained a poor man’s Saigal. Even Bulo C. Rani who later stuck to

musical direction had initially commenced singing in the style of K.L.

Saigal. Naushad, who had teamed up with Saigal in Kedar’s

masterpiece Shahjehan gave the last of great musical hits that kept

the memory K.L. Saigal alive.The contemporaries and the gen-next

were crazy after K.L. Saigal. A classic example is that of Lata

Mangeshkar who in her early years had a crush on him and wanted

to marry him but was advised to the contrary by her father,

Dinanath Mangeshkar. Shamshad Begum watched Saigal’s Devdas

over and over again. Suraiya, too, was thrilled by K.L. Saigal when

he directed the director of movie, where Suraiya was singing, to cast

her opposite him in Tadbir (1945) after which they did two more

movies. Talat Mehmood was an ardent fan of Saigal, and used to

croon his songs in family gatherings in early stages of his life.

Mohammed Rafi, too, in his early years wanted to sing along with

K.L. Saigal even if it meant singing in a chorus and he did sing in the

chorus of the famous Ruhee song as we have already noted. After

more than a decade later, Rafi Sahaab would be singing: MARR KE

AMAR HAI SAIGAL JISKA HAR KOEE DEEWAANA HAI in the TEEN-

KANASTAR song from a 1958 film, Love Marriage. It is no wonder,

therefore, that for many years after Saigal’s demise, Radio Ceylon

used to play a 78 rpm record of his songs every day at 7:57 a.m. It is

against this background that emergence of Mohammad Rafi has to

be seen to be fully appreciated.

India suffered a loss of many film artistes who permanently shifted

to Pakistan. Noor Jahan did not at once migrate to Pakistan in 1947.

She did so after finishing her assignments here one of which was

Mirza Sahiban that again had her unforgettable numbers such as

KYA YEHI TERAA PYAAR THAAH and AAJAA TUJHE AFSAANA JUDAAI

KA SUNAAYEN. By 1949 Noor Jahan and Shaukat Hussain were

spotted in Karachi and thereafter in Lahore. Though Shaukat

Hussain was a hit director with Khandan, Zeenath and Jugnu in India,

he proved to be a flop director in Pakistan. One of her fans informs

us that she had already sung about 127 songs in about 69 Indian

films during the period 1932-47. Some 55 movies were made in

Bombay, 5 in Lahore, 1 in Rangoon (Burma), and 8 in Calcutta. She

also did 12 Silent Movies. Noor Jahan had been Lata Mangeshkar’s

inspiration in the early years of the latter’s musical life.

The others who migrated were Actress Swaran Lata and her actor-

director husband Nazir, producer-director W.Z. Ahmad, and Khwaja

Khursheed Anwar who had last composed the music for K.L. Saigal-

Suraiya starrer, Parwana. Khursheed Bano of Tansen fame migrated

later. Composer Master Ghulam Haider went to Pakistan in 1950

after doing some more films, including Kaneez (1949), in India. Film

star Rehana who had the best phase of her career in India from

1948-51, migrated later in 1956 after completing her last films here.

Meena Shorey, the Lara Lappa girl, migrated to Pakistan in 1956 for

good and died in penury. Tanvir Naqvi also went back to his original

place, Lahore, after a few years of partition. Shaikh Mukhtar

migrated to Pakistan in the Sixties saddened by the fact that his

magnum opus, Noor Jahan, flopped miserably after its premier at the

Naaz Cinema, Bombay. This movie, however, did roaring business in

Pakistan. There is a very mellifluous number of Rafi Sahaab in Noor

Jahan: VOH MUHABBAT VOH WAFAAYEN... Composer Nisar Bazmi

(Khoj fame) too migrated in June 1962, since his talent was not duly

recognised despite his struggle for 15 long years in Bombay. Khoj

has been rendered immortal by Rafi Sahaab’s moving song:

CHANDAA KA DIL TOOT GAYAA HAI. Some other names are Nashad

and Faiyaz Hashimi (Bara Dari fame) Iqbal Bano, and Fateh Ali Khan.

There were a host of classical singers and musicians who went to

Pakistan.

If Bombay lost lots of filmy talents to Lahore, it gained many in

return. Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan also went to his native place

Kasur in Pakistan, but he came back to India and acquired the Indian

citizenship in 1957. He had said: “If in every home one child was

taught the Hindustani Classical Music, this country would never have

been parititioned.“

Dev Anand and Balraj Sahni had graduated from Government

College, Lahore, where Amitabh Bachchan’s mother, Tajasavi

Bachchan, was the lecturer before their earlier migration. Also,

Kamini Kaushal’s father was a Professor of Botany there, while she

herself did her B.A. at the Lahore’s Kinnaird College. Others were

Ramanand Sagar, Om Prakash, Pran, Chetan Anand, film tycoon

Dalsukh Pancholi (remember the famous Pancholi Theatres?), and

others including Jayant. B.R. Chopra, (who used to publish English

film magazines then) Yash Chopra, Shekhar Kapoor, Anupam Kher,

too were Lahorites. Others who migrated from Lahore were

composers O.P. Nayyar, Roshan (Gujranwala), Pandit Gobind Ram,

(Pandit Amarnath had already died in Feb.1947) Shyam Sunder,

Lachhi Ram and Dhanni Ram. Khayyam had started his career in

Lahore. So also Sahir Ludhianvi. Prithviraj Kapoor and his sons were

from Peshwar. Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan was also from Peshwar.

Raj Kumar was born in Baluchistan. Rajendra Kumar had come from

Sialkot, Gulzar and Sunil Dutt from Jhelum, and Anand Bakshi from

Rawalpindi. At the same time more and more film personalities

permanently shifted from Lahore and elsewhere in Pakistan to

Bombay. Many chose to make India their home. Rafi Sahaab and

Shamshad Begum, who were originally from what came to be called

as the East Punjab, had gone to Lahore in mid-Thirties. They finally

left Lahore for good in 1944 to seek singing career in the Bombay

film industry. As for Suraiya many sources trace her roots to Lahore

and a few to Gujranwala, but she had already settled in India long

before, completing her high school studies in Bombay.

NASIR

To continue...

T U E S D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 2 9 , 2 0 0 9

PART 8: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

Let’s check out some 1947 songs of Rafi Sahaab:

Jugnu:

The success of Anmol Ghadi had boosted the confidence of Noor

Jahan and Shaukat Hussain, both of whom had married in 1944, to

come out with their own production banner. The result was Jugnu,

produced under the Shaukat Art Productions. Dilip Kumar and Noor

Jahan came together for the first and last time. So also Rafi and Noor

Jahan sang together for the first and the last time. Rafi Sahaab sang

for Dilip Kumar for the first time: YAHAAN BADLAA WAFAA KA

BEWAFAAI KE SIWAA KYAA HAI (with the reigning queen of melodies,

Noor Jahan). It was Noor Jahan who favoured the budding Rafi over

the currently popular G.M. Durrani for that classic duet. This shows

that she knew him or had at least heard about him, having arrived in

Bombay earlier in 1943. Feroze Nizami, of course, had no objection.

He had known Rafi from his Lahore days when he and Rafi used to

train under Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. We can also be sure that

Noor Jahan must have been truly amazed by the mellifluous voice of

the young singer from Lahore. The difficult part of the song such as

BADE ARMAAN SE WAADON NE...DIL MEIN GHAR BASAAYAA THAA...

which is in the form of an Alaap in the first stanza, and then the

crying anguish of the character (Dilip Kumar) BHULAA DOH HAAN

BHULAA DOH in the second stanza, had all the elements of making

Rafi the tragedy king of Bollywood singing in the same manner as

Dilip Kumar became the Tragedy King of Acting. The interesting

coincidence is that Jugnu zoomed not only Dilip Kumar but also

Mohammed Rafi to the top. Both were destined to become legends in

their respective field of acting and singing during their lifetime.

“Iss ke Baad Rafi Sahaab ko kabhee peechhe naheen dekhnaa

pa.daa,” observes Shammi Kapoor for whom Rafi Sahaab sang so

many songs of romantic love and flirtations, in the Sixties,

enhancing his flamboyant image as the Rebel Hero. The price-tag of

Rafi’s song came at par with that of Noor Jahan. He also had an

acting stint in Jugnu and is seen singing his own song, WOH APNEE

YAAD DILAANE KO with a chorus, a jovial collegian song which was

something new in the movie at that time. After all, the tragic story

was based on the college romance. Despite the ongoing communal

riots, this movie did a fantastic business.

It would be of interest for the readers to know that on February 11,

1982  a show called Mortal Men, Immortal Melodies (as

mentioned before) was held at the Shanmukhanand Hall at Matunga,

Mumbai to celebrate the visit of Malika-e-Tarannum Noor Jahan to

India after the Partition.   We could easily discern the nostalgic

sentiments on the faces of both Dilip Kumar and Noor Jahan as if the

Jugnu days were here again.  In a very impressive Urdu speech, Dilip

Kumar confessed to the audience that intelligence and the words

were unable to translate the feelings of a person who all of a sudden

were to see a “dilkash” and “dil-fareb hasti” after 35 years. He had

finally this to say to her: “Noor Jahanji jitne baras ke baad aap

hamse milne aayee.n hai.n, Theek Utne hee baras aap kaa hamne

intezaar kiyaa hai.” Sadly, there was no Mohammed Rafi Sahaab. O

that the Madam had come some 2-3 years earlier!  Then the trilogy

would have been complete. There would have been a historic repeat

of YAHAAN BADLAA WAFAA KAA.... Alas!

Aage Badho:

Sudhir Phadke had given the music for this Dev Anand-Khursheed

starrer. The only song that Rafi Sahaab sang with Khursheed before

her departure to Pakistan was SAAWAN KI GHATAAO DHEERE

DHEERE AANA where Khursheed has late entry in this song.

Do Bhai:

Rafi Sahaab had the outstanding song: DUNIYA ME.N MEREE AAJ

ANDHERAA HI ANDHERAA. This song of lament was also a pointer in

the direction that despite his youth, the young Rafi had ample

maturity to empathise very well with the afflicted character of the

film. It was S.D. Burman who provided music for Do Bhai. Two songs

written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan: MERA SUNDER SAPNA BEET GAYAA,

and IK DIN HAMKO YAAD KAROGE among her other songs, made

Geeta Roy very famous.

Aap Ki Sewa Mein:

Rafi had one solo number, MEREE ANKHON KE TAARE, plus a duet

with Mohantara, MAIN TEREE TUU MERAA. Rafi had another duet

also, DESH ME.N SANKAT AAYA HAI. This was with G.M. Sajan.

Datta Devjekar was the music director who had begun his career

with Marathi films. In this movie, he introduced Lata Mangeshkar to

Hindi films who sang her first three songs in Hindi. Her debut song

was SHAM MOSE NAA KHELO HOREE which was written by Mahipal –

yes Mahipal who was later to become the hero of many

swashbuckling and mythological movies.

Shadi Se Pehle:

Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar sang their first duet together:

CHALO HO GAYEE TAYYAAR, ZARAA TEHRO JEE... This number is

really one of its kind and a hilarious one. There was also a Rafi’s

solo, probably his first ‘Bidaai’ song: CHALI SAJAN GHAR JAAYE AAJ

DULHANIYA KES SA.NWAARE KESAR BINDIYAA KAAJAR DAARE... An

interesting song this is, with ‘taan’ ‘alaaps’ and even a different

type of high pitch lines. Music is said to be by C. Ramchandra. The

composition type, however, seems to me to be a mixture of Pankaj

Mullick and S.D. Burman styles. Lyrics were by Pandit Mukhram

Sharma.

Sajan:

C. Ramchandra provided excellent music. Mohammed Rafi gave us a

song which even after more than sixty years does not fail to pull us

to him by virtue of its oozing romance, sweetness and lovable

sadness. This was HAMM KO TUMHAARA HI AASRA penned by Moti.

We have also the same song of his in a duet with Lalita Dewulkar.

Other duets with Lalita are KISKO SUNAAOO.N HAAL-E-DIL, and MAIN

HOON JAIPUR KI BANJAARAN – the first one was written by Moti and

the second one by Qamar Jalabadi. Then we have the trio of Rafi,

Lalita, and Geeta singing ISS BANJAARE SANGG HAMAARE as well as

SAMBHAL SAMBHAL KE JAIYO, written by Moti and Ram Murti

respectively. Both the songs had the chorus for company. Another

Rafi solo was O BAABU GALI MEIN TERE CHAAND CHAMKAA which

was written by Qamar Jalalabadi.

Some of the other 1947 movies in which Rafi Sahaab sang were:

Shanti: JEEVAN HAI ANMOL, and QISMAT KO DEKHO HAMSAFAR for

which V.S. Thakur provided the music and Shakeel Badayuni penned

the lyrics;

Malika: DAS NA JAAYEN ZULFEN TUJHKO which was composed by A.R.

Qureshi while the lyrics were written by Tanvir Naqvi;

Utho Jaago: PREM KI NAIYA DOL RAHEE HAI, composed by Aziz Khan;

Rishta: MAYA MANN KA ROG HAI penned by Wahshi Jaunpuri and

composed by Mohammed Shafi;

Ek Kadam: TUU BHEE RAAHEE a duet with Shamshad Begum,

composed by Prakash Sharma and written by Avatar Visharad;

In Dak Bungalow: JAB BAITHE BAITHE DIL BHAR AAYE penned by D.N.

Madhok and composed by Naresh Bhattacharya.

Besides Jugnu, Samaj Ko Badal Dalo was another film in 1947 where

Rafi had done some acting stint. Some of the other movies that did

brisk business were Mirza Sahiban, Shehnai, Elan, Saajan, Neel

Kamal and Dard. Shehnai is especially remembered for that western

number composed by C. Ramchandra: AANA MEREE JAAN SUNDAY KE

SUNDAY sung by Meena Kapoor and C.Ramchandra as Chitalkar, and

the same song again with Shamshad Begum. Amirbai’s MAARI

KATAARI MAR JAANA is simply unforgettable. The year also saw

Rajinder Krishan writing his first song, GOREE GHUNGHAT KE PATT

KHOL for the movie, Janta, which had music by Harishchandra Bali.

Raj Kapoor sang his own song in Jail Yatra, PIYA MILNE NAVELEE

JAAYE RE. Even in Dil Ki Raani he sings a song, O DUNYAA KE REHNE

WAALON. Then, In Piya Ghar Aajaa, Meena Kumari sang 2 duets with

Karan Dewan and six 6 solos under the musical direction of Bulo C.

Rani. Actor Manhar Desai made his Hindi film debut in Toofaani

Sawaar. Next, Mirabai had all the 13 songs sung by Sitara of Kanpur

(not the Kathak dancer Sitara Devi) where the music was provided

by S.K. Pal. In Mira, M.S. Subbulakshmi played the role and sang 15

of the 18 songs in the movie. Manna Dey sang the devotional

numbers in Geet Govind.

The year also saw the emergence of a music director and excellent

trumpeteer who would have been easily forgotten if it were not for

his four sons who became music directors in the Bombay film

industry in the next generation. Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal

was one such son. His father, Pandit Ram Prasad Sharma, gave

music for 7 movies, beginning with Nayee Baat and including Shakti

(1948) and Magic Carpet (1964) – the same year that Dosti made the

nation crazy with Rafi Sahaab’s immortal songs CHAAHUNGAA MAIN

TUJHE SAANJH SAVERE and other songs under the musical direction

of his son Pyarelal along with Laxmikant.

In 1947 A.R. Kardar released his Dard which is notable for the

singing debut of Uma Devi under Naushad’s baton. The song was

AFSAANA LIKH RAHEE HOON DIL-E-BEQARAAR KAA, and this song

alone made her very famous. Another of her songs was AAJ MACHEE

HAI DHOOM. It’s a pity that such a fine singer was reduced to

playing comic roles, such as the one in Babul (1950) where she was

christened as Tun Tun by Naushad. But even in this new avatar she

excelled herself. I remember her children attending the same school

as me in Cadell Road, Mahim, Bombay. Old timers inform me that

Shamshad Begum’s song HAMM DARD KA AFSAANA almost got Dard

banned, as the British Government thought that it incited a section

of the Indian citizens against the British governance which was still

in place – though there were no such thing in that song, unless they

considered the line ROTE HUWE NAGHMON SE TOOFAN UTHAA

DENGE.... or the lines:

SARKAR-E-DO AALAM KEE UMMAT PE SITAM KYOON HO,

ALLAH KE BANDO.N KO MAJHDAAR KA GHAM KYOON HO,

ISLAM KI KASHTEE KO HAMM PAAR LAGAA DENGE,

HAMM DARD KAA AFSAANA DUNYAA KO SUNAA DENGE,

HAR DIL MEIN MOHABBAT KEE EK AAG LAGAA DENGE.

Haay! Those were the fiery lines of Shakeel Badayuni who had just

made his debut with this film and who would go on to write lyrics for

some 89 movies, mostly with Naushad and Ravi and to some extent,

Hemant Kumar.

NASIR

To continue...

W E D N E S D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 0 9

PART 9: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest

Playback Singer of all times – by Nasir.

The year 1948 was a shocker. India and Pakistan were at war, their

first one, over Kashmir. In 1948, the State of Israel was carved out of

the Palestine State, thus driving out the Palestinians Arabs and

rendering lakhs of them homeless. On 30th January 1948 Mahatma

Gandhi was assassinated in a well pre-planned murder by Nathuram

Godse. No one was ready for such a rot that had set in right at the

dawn of India’s freedom. While the fascists organisations in India

celebrated this tragic event, the entire world was weeping. The

Indian film industry’s reaction was no exception to the Gandhian

tragedy.

The newcomer, Rajinder Krishan penned a song on the Mahatma,

which went SUNO SUNO AY DUNYAA WAALON BAAPU JI KI AMAR

KAHAANI. Husnlal-Bhagatram, the first musical duo, composed the

four-part song. It was given to Mohammed Rafi. Before that no one

had attempted to sing such a long song. What an emotional singer

Rafi Sahaab was! The tide of his emotions swept away whoever

heard the song. The song was a rage in India for many years and still

holds us in thrall. The first Prime Minister of India, Pandit

Jawarharlal Nehru, evidently having heard of the awesome singer,

invited Rafi to his residence to sing to him that lyrical obituary

relating to the Father of the Nation - that Bapu who was as

venerable as the waters of the holy Ganga: “POOJYA HAI ITNA JITNAA

GANGA MAA KA PAANI”. There was, perhaps, no one to record how

many precious tears the Indian Prime Minister must have shed on

listening to the deep, rich voice, that heart-rending pathos... On the

Independence Day celebrations in 1948, the Prime Minister awarded

the young Rafi with a Silver Medal. For many years this song used to

be faithfully aired on the radio stations in the country on every 30th

of January.

Dilip Kumar’s touching performance in Jugnu, a year before, had

made him the heartthrob of the nation. Following on its heel in 1948

were his other super-hits movies such as Ghar Ki Izzat with Mumtaz

Shanti, Mela and Anokha Pyaar with Nargis, and Nadiya Ke Paar and

Shaheed with Kamini Kaushal.

Mohammed Rafi in the Nineteen Forties was not actually the voice of

Dilip Kumar. Mukesh and Talat Mehmood were preferably used to

playback for the tragedy king. Anil Biswas used Mukesh in Anokha

Pyaar. Naushad used Mukesh in Mela and later in Andaz (1949) to

playback for Dilip Kumar. Mela had Rafi’s YEH ZINDAGI KE MELA but

it was filmed on an unknown character, while Ghar ki Izzat had a

background song WAH RE ZAMAANE composed by Pandit Govindram.

Only C. Ramchandra had a Rafi-Lalita Dewulkar duet, MORRE RAAJA

HO LE CHAL NADIYA KE PAAR, which was filmed on the leading pair

Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal. Ghulam Haider’s WATAN KI RAAH

MEIN WATAN KE NAUJAWAA.N SHAHEED HO had the Rafi and Khan

Mastana duet number along with the chorus in the fast-paced song

filmed on Dilip Kumar and another artiste. The same version has

only Rafi but again it is played in the background when the dead

body of the martyr Ram (Dilip Kumar) is borne to the cremation

ground by a crowd of thousands. When Rafi says: HAI KAUN

KHUSHNASEEB MAA...in that song, we can feel the lump in our

throat.

No singer had such an emotional impact before. Happily, there was a

promise in this song that Rafi Sahaab would be excelling in the

genre of patriotic songs too – the promise that would be more than

fulfilled the same year as we have seen and in the years to come, as

we all know.

On the aside, it is a cruel irony of fate that Khan Mastana who has

also provided music for some films under a different name and was

also a singer of repute, would die decades later on the streets of

Mumbai, begging near the Mahim Dargah. I learn that the same fate

awaits his son too near the said Dargah.  Some of his beautiful songs

are PANGAT PE EK CHHABEELEE in Main Hari (1940), ZINDAGI HAI

PYAAR SE with chorus and two others in Sikandar (1941), a duet

with Parul Ghosh, KANTE LAAGE RE SAJANWA MOSE RAAH CHALI NA

JAAYE in Basant (1942),  HAMM APNE DARD KA QISSAA SUNAAYE

JAATE HAIN in Muqabla (1942) and even as late as 1959 in Nek

Parveen: MAULA KI REHMAT SE HOGI HAR MUSHKIL AASAAN.  

My deceased father, may Allah grant him the Jannatul Firdaus,

often used to say: BANEE KE CHEHRE PE LAAKHON NISAAR

HOTE HAIN, BANEE JO BIGADTEE HAI TOH DUSHMAN HAZAAR

HOTE HAIN. In English, this can be tersely stated as: Prosperity

brings friends, Adversity tries them! Shakeel Badayuni’s lyrics

sung by Rafi sang in Mela (1948): YEH ZINDAGI KE MELE

DUNYAA MEIN KAMM NA HONGE AFSOS HAMM NAA HONGE,

are true for all times to come.

Some of the other 1948 songs of Rafi are:

Actress:

HAMM APNE DIL KA FASAANAA; AY DIL MEREEE AA.NHO.N

ME.N, and a duet with Shamshad Begum: DHEERE DHEERE BOL

KOEE SUN NAA LE.

Shyam Sunder provided the music, while J.Naqshab wrote the

lyrics.

Adalat:

DOH VIDAA DOH PRAAN; QISMAT TOH DEKHO; KYOO.N BICHA.D

GAYEE; and a duet with Mohantara Talpade, BAIRAN HO GAYEE

RAAT.

Music Director was Datta Devjekar. Mahipal was the lyricist.

Shehnaz:

MOHABBAT MEIN KHUDAAYA AYSE GUZRE ZINDAGI APNI, and

AY DIL TUJHEE KO NEEND NAA AAYE. Then there were four

duets with Amirbai Karnataki who was also the music director

for Shehnaz: TERE NAZDEEK AATE HAIN; and NAZAARON SE

KHELOON. These two songs and the 2nd solo were written by

Pilbheeti. Then then we have ZINDAGI KEE RAAH MEIN TEZ

CHAL and the first solo penned by Devbandi. Fiza Kausari

wrote the duet MUJHE TUMSE MUHABBAT HAI.

Lal Dupatta:

The two duets of Rafi with Shamshad Begum are: CHALO

JAMNA KE TEER and ARREE O ALBELI NAAR. The first one was

penned by D.N Madhok and the second one by Manhar Khanna.

Gyan Dutta was the music director.

REHNUMA (The Guide):

It had two solos: QISMAT SE KOEE KYAA BOLE and SULTAAN-E-

MADINA. The two duets were: EK AISA MAHAL BANAAYEN with

Rekha Rani, and EK ABRE SIYAAH CHHAAYAA with Shamshad

Begum. The last song was written by Dhumi Khan and the

others were written by Habib Sarhadi. It was Dhumi Khan who

provided the music.

Amar Prem:

Rafi had two duets here. One was with Raj Kumari: AAO CHALE

MANVAA MORE DUUR and the other was with Rekha Rani:

YAMUNAA KE TAT. Music was by Datta Thakar and the lyrics

were written by Mohan Mishra.

Khidki:

The music for this film was composed by C.Ramchandra who

was also a singer. Rafi sang with him and Shamshad Begum in

AJI MERAA BHEE KOI HAAL SUNO (which cites FIFTY-FIFTY as

the solution to all problems of the world), comedy song. The

tune of just the two words, FIFTY-FIFTY reminds me of a

Shabnam (Dilip-Kamini-S.D. Burman) song of Shamshad

Begum: PHIR DEKH MAZAA! Another song, KHUSHIYAAN

MANAAYEN KYOON had Rafi sing along with him again and

with G.M. Sajan and chorus. The songs were written by P.L.

Santoshi.

Chunariya:

A duet with Geeta Dutt was: PHOOL KO BHOOL KE LE BAITHA

KHAAR. The solo of Rafi, SAB KUCHH LUTAAYAA HAMNE AAKAR

TERI GALI MEIN, placed the music director Hansraj Behl among

the top class music directors of the day. This movie saw Asha

Bhonsle singing her first Hindi line in Chunariya under Hansraj

Behl. Mulkraj Bhakri was the lyricist.

Satyanarayan:

Rafi had three duets with Beena Pani: KYAA YAAD HAI TUMKO;

MERA DIL GHAAYAL KARKE; and DIL WAALE SAAHAB GHAZAB

KAR DAALA. The lyricists were Surjit Sethi and Sevak.

Kajal:

A duet with Suraiya: TAARON BHARI RAAT HAI which was

written by D.N. Madhok. Music was by Ghulam Mohammed.

Rang Mahal:

Again, a duet with Suraiya, ROOTHO NAA TUM BAHAAR MEIN,

composed by K. Dutta.

Bhakt Gopal Bhaiya:

The two solo Bhajans were: RADHE SHYAM, RADHE SHYAM

RADHE SHYAM TUU GAAYE JAA and BHAGWAAN HAMM CHEEKH

RAHEN HAIN, written by Ramesh Gupta. Music was by S.R.

Vyas.

Then we have the solos: BUJH GAYE DEEPAK was penned by

Mahipal and composed by Purshuttam in Mere Lal; DOOBEE

NAIYA AAKE KINAARE in Jeene Do, written by Shevan Rizvi and

composed by Shaukat Hussain; a Bhajan composed by S.N.

Tripathi in Shri Ram Bhakt Hanuman: MADHUR RAM KA NAAM

which was written by B.D. Mishra; MUJHE JAANE TUMSE

KYOO.N PYAAR in Mitti Ke Khilone which was written by B.R.

Sharma and had music by Hansraj Behl. Then was NIGAAHEN

MILAANE KO JEE CHAAHTAA HAI in Paraayi Aag, which had

music by Ghulam Mohamed and the lyrics by Tanvir Naqvi.

Raj Kapoor’s directorial venture, Aag, had Ram Ganguli as the

music director besides three heroines: Nargis, Kamini Kaushal

and Nigar Sultan. There was only one song here for Rafi and

that was a duet with Shamshad: SOLAH BARAS KI BHAYEE

UMARIYAA penned by Bahzaad Laknawi.

Not just Feroze Nizami and Shyam Sunder were smitten by the

singing voice of Mohammed Rafi. The musical duo of Husnlal-

Bhagatram was another addition to the growing influence of

the young singer. Bhagatram who had earlier association with

Master Madhavlal teamed up later with his brother Husnlal.

Rafi was their favourite singer along with Lata and Suraiya.

They were also responsible for giving break to Surinder Kaur

with four songs in a row. Pyar ki Jeet (1948) put them in fore-

front of the music directors. Rafi’s IK DIL KE TUKDE HAZAAR

HUWE was a chartbuster, giving a new dimension to sad songs.

This song which was penned by Qamar Jalalabadi, as indeed he

wrote so many other songs for the duo. It was initially written

for the 1941 flick Sindoor. S.Mukherjee the director of Sindoor

rejected this song, terming it as “useless.” Husnlal-Bhagatram

did their best to make this composition a hit, and the pathos in

the voice of Rafi perfectly suited the song as well as the

musical temperament of the duo. Picturisation was altered to

suit the demand of the song. Music Director Khayyam proudly

calls the duo as his Gurus. It would be his fortune to be

associated with Mohammed Rafi in the ‘Fifties-Sixties,

beginning with Biwi where he provided music under a different

name. The song, AKELE MEIN VOH GHABRAATE TOH HONGE in

Biwi (1950) proved very popular. In the meantime, Husnlal-

Bhagatram would utilize Rafi more and more and churn out hit

songs in 1949.

NASIR

To continue...

S A T U R D A Y , O C T O B E R 3 , 2 0 0 9

PART 10: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

In 1948 the Government of India revived production of

documentaries and reels. This year also saw the triumph of Anil

Biswas’s music in Anokha Pyaar starring Dilip Kumar, Nargis and

Nalini Jaywant. Mehboob Khan produced Anokhi Ada with 13 songs

composed by Naushad. Despite Naushad, there was not a single

song of Rafi. He had given just one song to him in Mela that year. It

would take him another year to give him some solo numbers. But the

next decade would cement their bond in a lasting and memorable

musical journey.

Chandralekha, directed by S.S. Vasan, was released after five years

in the making and remains the costliest South Indian film so

produced. Uday Shankar produced a ballet called Kalpana and won

critical acclaims. Some other notable movies of the year were Vidya

which had good music from S.D. Burman; Shikaayat which had the

first-time film lyrics from Jaan Nisaar Akhtar the father of Javed

Akhtar; Sehraa which had songs sung by Actor Govinda’s parents to

the music of S. Mohinder; Gunjan where Nalini Jaywant sang six

songs out of nine songs composed by Ashok Ghosh; (She indeed had

a sweet voice that ranges somewhere between Suraiya and Lata

style); Heer Ranjha where Khayyam gave music with Varmaji; and

Gajre the Suraiya-Motilal starrer that had music by Anil Biswas; Ziddi

where Kishore Kumar recorded his first song in his brother’s movie,

Ziddi, starring Dev Anand: MARNE KEE DUAYEN KYOON MAANGOO,

and a duet with Lata too in the same movie under the baton of

Khemchand Prakash; (these were his only songs in 1948); and

Mandir, where Shanta Apte was the star, and Nanda and Lata

Mangeshkar did their acting stints.

Speaking of Lata Mangeshkar, it was Ghulam Haider who really

groomed her after her father’s initial training in music. Ghulam

Haider was a tough task-master and a perfectionist who brought out

the best among his musicians and singers. According to an article on

Ghulam Haider by Harjap Singh Aujla, (South Asia Post Issue 36 Vol

II, March 31, 2007) he had even gone to the extent of slapping her

when she kept on making a crucial mistake during a rehearsal in the

recording room. The members of his orchestra were stunned. One of

his most trusted harmonium players, Kartar Singh, asked why he

had done that. Upon that Ghulam Haider replied: “Look Kartar

Singh, I used to slap Noorjehan and see how high a pedestal she has

reached, she is on top in her profession. This slap is going to

catapult Lata Mangeshkar into a great singer, who will rule the

World of music”. The prophecy proved to be true.

Of course, that slap was not out of spite but was a token from a

teacher who wanted the best for his student. Those were different

times. JO APNAA HOTAA HAI USEE PAR HAMM HAQ JATAATE HAIN.

Wasn’t he the one who had discovered her in a running train while

she was singing something in a shrill but sweet voice? Did he not

call her to the recording studio for an audition? It was Ghulam

Haider who told her to pay attention to the lyrics and enunciation of

the words. He also told her to keep in mind the film characters who

were to mime her song. So she followed those instructions to the T,

besides using the nuances and variations while singing. The song,

DIL MERA TODAA was recorded in 1947 for Majboor which was

released in 1948. This song in fact launched her career. She also

sang for Ghulam Haider in Aabshaar in 1948. Ghulam Haider even

introduced her to other musicians such as Anil Biswas, Khemchand

Prakash, and Sajjad Hussain. As Lata Mangeshkar stated in an

interview in Mumbai Mirror of the Times of India of 28th September

2009:

“One of the earliest composers to support me was Master Ghulam

Haider. When he was told that my voice wouldn’t suit the heroine in

a Dilip Kumar saab starrer Shaheed, he gave me songs in Majboor.

Then other composers like Anil Biswasji, Khemchand Prakashji and

Naushad saab came forward to sign me. From 1947 onwards there

was no looking back.” By the mid-Fifties and the Sixties Lata

Mangeshkar could make or break any music director. Such would be

her clout.

Surinder Kaur had replaced her in Shaheed, and her song BADNAAM

NAA HO JAAYE proved very popular. It seems that a duet of Lata-

Madan Mohan Kohli was recorded but ultimately dropped from the

movie. It was at this time that she met Madan Mohan – "Madan

Bhaiyya".

The partition of India that led to the migration of Noor Jahan to

Pakistan played a great role for securing the filmy future of the

newcomer Lata Mangeshkar. Noor Jahan had introduced the trend of

singing in shrill feminine voice so that the new actresses began to

demand it, thus sealing the fate of Zeenat Begum, Sitaradevi

Kanpuri, Lalita Dewulkar, and Zohrabai of Ambala. Additionally, at

the time of Lata Mangeshkar’s entry in 1947, Amirbai Karnataki was

over forty years of age, while Zohrabai Ambalewali retired at the

peak of her career in order to groom her daughter, Roshan Kumari,

the noted Kathak dancer. Amirbai Karnataki often praised this very

young petite singer and used to advise her that whenever anyone

should praise her songs, she should say: YEH ALLAH KI MEHERBANI

HAI. Other older female singers saw the writing on the wall and

gradually faded away. Raj Kumari of the Mahal fame (GHABRAA KE

JO HAM SAR KO TAKRAAYEN TOH ACHCHAA HO) was the unluckiest

and died in poverty in 2000. It was only the “Khanakti Aawaaz” or

the “Punjab ka Jaadu” Shamshad Begum, whom Mehboob Khan had

brought to Bombay after much persuasion for his Taqdeer where

Nargis made her debut, went on singing with many music directors

such as Naushad, Khemchand Prakash, Hansraj Behl, Ravi, Kalyanji-

Anandji, R.D. Burman and O.P. Nayyar right upto 1968 (KAJRA

MOHABBAT WAALA with Asha Bhonsle in Kismat) and even beyond.

She was already a sensation by the mid-forties when she lost no

chance in helping out the newcomers, such as Raj Kapoor and Madan

Mohan. On the national television, O.P. Nayyar acknowledged her

contribution to his career. Some others did not even come back to

her after they had attained fame. It was in the late Sixties that she

was happy to quit the film industry with grace though we

occasionally find her songs even in 1971, and yet again 1981 when

she sang three songs with Mubarak Begum in Ganga Maang Rahi

Balidaan.

Geeta Roy (or Geeta Dutt after marriage with Guru Dutt) was

another female singer who stood against the Lata Wave. We have

seen that she began her singing career in 1946. In the Forties-Fifties

she worked with almost all the worthy music directors including

Hanumant Prasad, Pankaj Mullick, Shyam Sunder, Anil Biswas, S.D.

Burman, Ghulam Haider, Bulo C.Rani, Gyan Dutt, Vasant Desai, S.N.

Tripathi, Arun Mukherjee, C. Ramchandra, Avinash Vyas, Sajjad

Hussain, Naushad, Husnlal-Bhagatram, O.P. Nayyar and others. Asha

Bhonsle was inspired by her style in her early career. Her voice was

so soothing that it could induce sleep and was best suited for

Bhajans (e.g. Ghungat Ke Patt Khol Re in Jogan 1950, and Torah

Manwa Kyoon Ghabraaye in Sadhna, 1958) , lullabies and the tragic

songs. But she could easily swing to Rock 'N' Roll songs, the

romantic songs and the pub-songs with ease if the music director

demanded. The most astonishing fact about Geeta Dutt and Guru

Dutt is that their songs would sum up the tragedy of their life. She

sang MERA SUNDER SAPNA BEET GAYA (1947) and WAQT NE KIYA

KYA HASEEN SITAM (1959 Kaaghaz ke Phool). While the very next

year Guru Dutt was to lip-synch Rafi Sahaab’s song: MILI KHAAK

MEIN MOHABBAT JALAA DIL KA AASHIYAANA (1960 – Chaudhvin ka

Chand). It was for Meena Kapoor to pay her a tribute at the Mortal

Men, Immortal Melodies concert at Bombay in 1982. In addition to

her own songs and the ones she sang with other playback singers,

Geeta Dutt has a total of no less than 162 hit songs with Mohammed

Rafi, being the highest number of her duets with any singer.

As for Suraiya, both acting and singing were just accidental for she

never aspired to be either an actor or a singer. When she was 13,

she was discovered by Naushad who got her to sing for Mehtab

(future Mrs. Sohrab Modi) in Sharda as we’ve noted before. She

became a very popular film-star who also sang her songs, thus

having an edge over Nargis and Kamini Kaushal. The flip side was

that popularity of her songs was bracketed with her being the

heroine of her movies and that could not go on forever. Her peak

period was 1948-1949. By 1963, she appeared for the last time in

Rustom Sohrab playing the role of Premnath’s mother and often

collapsing during the shoot. YEH KAISEE AJAB DAASTAA.N HO GAYEE

HAI under the baton of Sajjad Hussain was her swan song. But

Suraiya always acknowledged that Lata had achieved greatness

whereas the greatness had been thrust on her. As for Noor Jahan,

Suraiya stated that she was born great. But more about her later.

After the death of Noor Jahan, Lata Mangeshkar

admitted: “Maine unke suron ki ungli pakad kar gaana seekha hai.”

No doubt then, that the early songs of Lata Mangeshkar were sung

in the style of her idol, Noor Jahan. Had Noor Jahan chosen to make

India her home, Lata Mangeshkar would not have found the kind of

encouragement she received from Ghulam Haider. As she used to

copy Noor Jahaan’s style, she would have remained more of a poor

man’s Noor Jahan, just as Suman Kalyanpur was a poor man’s Lata

Mangeshkar, for at least ten years more, before the rise of political

regionalism would change the equation. However, this is idle

speculation. Who can stop the march of events?

Lata Mangeshkar was no ‘Daal-Bhaat’ singer, having acquired her

initial training under her own father, Dinanath Mangeshkar. She was

also the student of Ustad Aman Ali Khan of the Bhendi Bazaar

Gharana since June 11, 1945 and after his migration to Pakistan she

got the the classical training from Amanat Khan Devaswale, other

Ustads, and Maulanas of Urdu language as well. The term "daal-

bhaat" has an interesting story behind it. One day Dilip Kumar, Anil

Biswas and Lata Mangeshkar were travelling to work by train. Those

were the days sometime in 1947-48, when no one used to recognise

them. Which makes me believe that it was definitely before the

release of Jugnu and before filming of Andaz (1949) and Anokha

Pyaar(1948) - otherwise Dilip Kumar would have surely known about

her. Anyway, upon enquiry, Anil Biswas introduced Lata Mangeshkar

as a singer who sings well. When Dilip Kumar learnt that she was a

Maharashtrian, he was concerned that she would not be able to

pronounce the Urdu words correctly. It is in this context that he

used the expression: "In their singing you can smell the 'daal-

bhaat.'" That was the day when she made it a point to learn the Urdu

language well. With the help of Mohammed Shafi who was the

Assistant to Naushad and Anil Biswas, she hired one Maulana named

Mehboob who began teaching her the language. Thus Dilip Kumar's

chance utterance worked wonders for Lata Mangeshkar and we find

a flawless renditions of "Hindi" songs.

Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar had met during their days of

struggle in the Bombay’s film industry. To use her own words,

“HAMNE BHEE KAAFI PAAPA.D BELE HAI.N.” She would walk from her

home in Nana Chowk to the Grant Railway Station to go to Malad and

from there instead of using a Victoria, she would walk upto the

recording studios to save some money which would enable her to

buy vegetables at home.

There are stories of how Rafi and Lata used to be given intensive

musical training by Husnlal. It appears that Husnlal used to call Rafi

at his residence at 4 a.m.. Rafi was supposed to carry his ‘Tanpura’

as well. There Husnlal would give him the ‘Alaap’ of the Raga that

was to be used for the song. Rafi would practice this ‘Alaap’ for

several hours after which he would be given the composed tune to

sing. Even Lata was given such a regimen, only, in her case she used

to be called to the recording studio. However, Husnlal’s late-night

arrivals at home was not liked by his wife, and this generated a

continual domestic tension between him and his wife. As years

passed by, Pandit Husnlal began to maintain his distance from Lata

Mangeshkar. After ten years they came to the point when they could

no longer work together.

The ‘Forties were the days of their camaraderie, and Rafi and Hamid

would often visit her home at Nana Chowk from their nearby Bhendi

Bazaar home, have meals and chat all day long. Even during the late

Forties, Rafi would visit Lata during the Ganpati Festival. She

remembers that once he even sang at her house, and during one

such visit of Mohammed Rafi, she had gifted a gold button to Rafi.

Later in life when they could hardly meet each other, Rafi remained

very close to her younger brother, Hridyanath Mangeshkar.

While singing the duets with Mohammed Rafi, Lata

Mangeshkar took extra care, for in him she found a formidable

singer who used to put his own additional inputs while

rendering his songs. So she too would try to add some nuances

to the songs that she sang with him. Sometimes she would

face difficulties. Such instances, though rare as they were, did

happen not only in the Forties but also in the Fifties which she

has herself recounted. While recording the title track for S.D.

Burman in Tere Ghar Ke Samne, for example, she had a

problem with Rafi’s executing a particular word. In the Sixties

she complained to the musical duo Shankar-Jaikishan that their

range of the song made her ears turn red and whether they

were testing her. That was the Arzoo song: AJEE ROOTHKAR

KAR AB which Rafi Sahaab sang as the solo version, AJEE

HAMSE BACHKAR KAHAAN JAAYEGAA; and in the Sixties while

recording TASVEER TEREE DIL MEIN there was certain

misunderstandings between her and Rafi Sahaab, when Salil

Chowdhary took her side.

Lata Mangeshkar is very forthcoming when she says that Rafi

Sahaab’s voice was his greatest blessing. Irrespective of the

pitch, whether high or low, the voice had a certain “namrataa”

(softness). And as for his “inimitable ‘harkatein’ and ‘taan,’ all

this was a natural part of his talent.

NASIR

To continue...

M O N D A Y , O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 0 9

Part 11: Mohammed Rafi & the Nineteen Forties.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of All Times

by Nasir.

During the Nineteen Forties too, the Indian society being a

conservative one in general, the unreliable profession in the movies,

namely singing, dancing and acting in particular, did not inspire

much respect not only in the cultured and elite circles but also

among most of the middle class. On the day of his wedding, when

asked to enter his profession in the Nikahnama by the Qazi, Naushad

mentioned it as “Tailor” for the fear of what his “Biraadari” would

say if they learnt that he was in the film industry. What an irony that

precisely at that time the wedding band was playing the hit music

from his own movies where as the Music Director he had composed

beautiful songs and given the background music! Imagine, the

profession of a tailor was more preferable to that of a person from

the film background!

The use of words such as “Kanjar” and “Miraasi” were derogatorily

used for ‘Nachne Gaane Waale.’ I remember having listened to a

radio-programme of AIR or the Vividh Bharti in the Sixties. Some

film-personality while hosting the programme narrated an incident

that occurred at the time when he and his group were in transit to

go to Afghanistan for some cultural-show. The interesting thing

about the incident was that at the time of granting the visas at the

border, the immigration officer was at a loss of words to categorise

this group. Finally he came up with the words. The words used by

him for the group were: “Tolaa-e-Kanjaaraan!”

It was also the time when the likes of Dilip Kumar, Anil Biswas, Lata

Mangshkar and others, before they became legends in their own

right, used to travel by trains to Malad for their work in the film

studios such as the Bombay Talkies or at the Filmistan which is

actually located at Goregaon in Mumbai. Some used to go round

plying second-hand motor-bikes. Some preferred to just walk in

order to save money for the meals. Some, such as Naushad, used to

sleep on the foot-path so that they need not walk many miles to the

place of their work. Mohammed Rafi, too, used to walk from Bhendi

Bazaar to Dadar as we have noted before.

Now before we go to 1949, let’s see what else occurred in the film

industry in Mumbai in 1948 or thereabout. At this time, there were

some beautiful actresses around such as Kamini Kaushal, Nargis,

Suraiya, Nalini Jaywant, Geeta Bali and Madhubala who would leave

their lasting impressions on the cine-goers well up to the next

century. Leela Chitnis was the first Indian actress who endorsed the

Lux Beauty ad in 1941, but by 1948 was reduced to playing mother’s

role.

The pages of the history of Mumbai film industry would be

incomplete if we don’t mention the real-life romance of the film

personalities that provided glamour. sheen and colour of their own

to the Nineteen Forties. Unfortunately, the flower of their love was

doomed to wither away from the beginning itself. Their love was just

an autumn flower that would see no happiness of the spring. These

three pairs could not succeed for the reasons that a woman and a

man were already married to someone else, while the third pair of

lovers was of different religious donomination. The film heroes, who

were involved, would rise to the topmost level in the immediate

decade of the Fifties. Yes, they were Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj

Kapoor who would head the three tier system of film-stars that

would automatically come into being in the Sixties. Though the

cinema is considered to be the director’s medium, yet these actors

gave wings to new concepts in their profession which were not

inferior to those of directors.

It is to be remembered that the Forties were the conservative times

and therefore the impact on the contemporaries then was much

more than we could possibly imagine in these days of permissive sex

and pornography. Without going into their biographies or

introductions, let’s examine these love-birds very briefly:

Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal were the leading pair that worked

together in Shaheed, Nadiya Ke Paar, (both 1948), Shabnam (1949)

and Arzoo (1950). Kamini Kaushal was senior to Dilip Kumar, having

begun her filmy career in 1941 in Sangam. She was a popular actress

that can be gauged from her earlier release of Neecha Nagar (1946)

and the five releases during 1948: Shaheed and Nadiya Ke Paar with

Dilip Kumar, Pagree with Amar (Remember the Sang-Taraash in

Mughal-e-Azam?), Ziddi with Dev Anand, and Aag with Producer-

Director-Actor Raj Kapoor. Naturally, the shooting for these films

must have been going around at about the same time. Dilip Kumar

and Kamini Kaushal came closer to each other while doing Shaheed.

Both were very young and deeply involved. When Kamini was not

with him, it appears that Dilip Kumar would feel the pangs of

separation. So he would visit her on the sets where Kamini used to

shoot for other pictures during that period. As such, he would often

drop on the sets of Pagree which was being produced and directed

by P.N. Arora.

However, there was a terrible problem facing this pair, for the real-

life story of Uma (for that was Kamini’s real name) appears to be the

story of the heroine of Gumrah that was made in 1963 by B.R.

Chopra. (Dilip Kumar had refused to do Gumrah when B.R. Chopra

offered him the role) Her sister had died leaving her husband and

children behind and she was made to marry her sister’s widower,

Mr. Sood who was a senior officer in the Bombay Port Trust and had

been allotted a beautiful bungalow by the Port Trust. Is it not said in

the sub-continent of India and Pakistan that who else but a “Mausi”

or “Khaala” (maternal aunt) would make the best of the step-

mothers?

So there you are! Otherwise, too, how could the family tolerate

Kamini Kaushal’s love affair, when she was a married woman? It was

not easy to obtain a divorce. The comprehensive Hindu Marriage Act

came into effect only in 1955 and even that was very stringent on

the question of divorce. P.N. Arora had never interfered with Dilip’s

visit to his studio since the love-affair was their personal affair. But

one day, according to him, a military guy who happened to be the

brother of Kamini Kaushal stomped on the sets of Pagree and

pointing his pistol at Kamini he threatened to shoot her if the

clandestine love affair did not end there and then. Later it was

settled that she would be allowed to complete her pending

assignments. Kamini suspected P.N. Arora’s hand in leaking out the

information to her family but completed his movie which required

just a few days’ shoot.

However, it appears that the affair had gone on as far as the Arzoo

(1950) days. In the meantime, Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal did

Filmistan’s Shabnam (1949) which was based on the English movie,

Caravan. Ismat Chugtai who was the story-writer as well as the

playwright and dialogue writer for Arzoo reveals that while shooting

for Arzoo, Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal would hold each other’s

hand under the cover of the film script that they used to read. By

then the scandal had broken out when Kamini Kaushal’s brother

threatened to shoot Dilip Kumar if the affair was not wound up. As a

kid I did hear some such rumour but it was a little more serious

namely that Kamini’s brother had actual taken a shot at Dilip Kumar

but missed him! After Arzoo the pair never acted together again.

According to Sitara Devi the noted Kathak dancer and who also

played Dilip Kumar’s boss’s role in K. Asif’s Hulchal (1951), Dilip

Kumar was a broken man thereafter since he really loved Kamini

Kaushal. Dilip Kumar has admitted in the biography written by

Bunny Reuben that as a young man he was attracted to Kamini

Kaushal. Kamini Kaushal never offered any statement in this regard.

As the decades would roll, in Dilip Kumar’s life there would be new

women that would include, Madhubala, Vyjayantimala, Waheeda

Rehman, Saira Banu, and the forgettable Asma.

Incidentally, neither Shabnam nor Arzoo had any songs of

Mohammed Rafi. The music director of Shabnam was S.D. Burman

and its lyricist was Qamar Jalalabadi. In Arzoo Anil Biswas provided

the music, while Majrooh Sultanpuri, Jan Nisar Akhtar, and Prem

Dhawan provided the lyrics.

Before we come to the next pair of love-birds, I would like to very

briefly acquaint the dear readers with at least a sketchy information

about the hold that Suraiya had on this nation of cineme lovers,

reminding you at the same time that she was not a classic beauty

as, say, Naseem Banu was, but her charms and songs plus her good

looks made up more than that. It was that beauty and those

melodious songs that captured the imagination of the cinema-lovers

of the sub-continent. Suraiya was at her zenith in 1948-1949 and

with the grand success of Pyar Ki Jeet, Badi Bahen and Dillagi and a

string of other movies in the Fifties, she became the richest female

star of her time. Old timers simply cannot forget the craze that

Suraiya generated both as a film-star and singer. Pyar ki Jeet and

Badi Bahen which had music by Husnlal-Bhagatram, and Dillagi

which had music by Naushad had outstanding songs of Suraiya.

Dillagi’s MURLI WAALE MURLI BAJAA, and the songs composed by

the said duo musicians, TERE NAINON NE CHORI KIYA and WOH PAAS

RAHEN YAA DUUR RAHEN and other songs generated a mass

hysteria. She used to be mobbed on the road, at her house, and at

the premiere shows of her movies. She had a daily fan-mail of 7,000.

This craze continued till the mid-Fifties and I remember having read

about an incident when one of her passionate fans stole all her disc-

records from her home. She lodged a police complaint, pursuant to

which the police went on looking for the culprit. Finally, they were

able to nab the thief from a cottage at Lonavala, near Poona (Pune).

What led them to the thief were the melodious songs of Suraiya that

were being played by him in that cottage at that time, oblivious to

all else.

Dharmendra who was still in his native place, not knowing that one

day he would himself become a great film star, used to walk miles in

his native place to see Dillagi nearly 40 times. Not just the

commoners, but the film-stars too were enamoured of her. Even the

super-star of Hollywood Gregory Peck came to see her at her

residence in 1954. It was Al-Nasir who told him that Suraiya was his

fan and so Gregory Peck, who was on his way to Ceylon for the

shooting of Purple Plain and was lodged at the Ambassador Hotel at

Bombay during his transit, gave a midnight knock at her doors and

spent an hour with her.

Suraiya was a big star when

Dev Anand fell for her charms. Dev Anand changed his mannerisms

to those of Gregory Peck precisely for the sake of Suraiya it seems.

Both of them did seven films together, beginning with Vidya (1948),

Jeet and Shayar (1949), Afsar and Neeli in 1950, and Do Sitare and

Sanam in 1951. The origin of their love began while they were

picturising a song in a boat for Vidya. The song was KINAARE

KINAARE CHALE JAYENGE. While they were rowing, their boat

suddenly turned over and Suraiya found herself drowning since she

did not know how to swim. Dev Anand saved her life, and that was

it! But the course of true love never doth run smooth. Suraiya’s

granny was strictly against the fruition of this romance since Dev

Anand was a Hindu and Suraiya a Muslim. While shooting for Jeet

Dev Anand proposed to Suraiya and gave her diamond ring worth

Rs.3,000/-. On seeing the ring, Suraiya’s granny threw it into the

sea. Remember they used to stay at Krishna Mahal on the Marine

Drive facing the Arabian Sea. The granny took steps to ensure that

they could never marry, and even undermined their plan to elope.

The story is long and not really our subject-matter. Ultimately, they

drifted apart. Suraiya’s movies started flopping one after the other.

Soon Dev Anand married Kalpana Kartik. Suraiya gave up acting. But

she did return in 1954 in Waris opposite Talat Mehmood and in Mirza

Ghalib opposite Bharat Bhushan. She won great commendations

from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for her role in Mirza Ghalib and for her

Ghalib’s ghazals. She later did a supporting role in Shama in 1961

and her last movie was Rustom Sohrab in 1963 after which spent the

life of a recluse. Dev Anand admitted in his autobiography,

“Romancing with Life”: “Yes, I loved Suraiya.” But Suraiya’s love

was more sincere. She remained unmarried all her life till the icy

hands of death claimed her.

Such was the epic romance of Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal on

one hand, and Dev Anand and Suraiya, on the other. The romance of

Raj Kapoor and Nargis belongs to the Fifties and is therefore not

broached here.

Mohammed Rafi sang some 24 duets with Suraiya. Suraiya was

friends with Lata and both of them have paid tributes to each other

and the poisonous story about Suraiya is not true. If at all Suraiya

had any grudge, it was against Madhubala who had replaced her in

Mahal (1949).

NASIR

To continue...

T U E S D A Y , O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 0 9

PART 12: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

Having discussed about Suraiya in the last article, I still find myself

in a swoon at the mention of her name. However, sometimes I

wonder how could Rafi Sahaab have escaped the charms of Suraiya

while singing such romantic songs with her. As we have observed in

the last article, that was the time when her presence used to cause

traffic jams, people used to stalk her, rob her records to hear her

voice in solitude, and even Dev Anand the lady killer wanted to

marry her. Not to mention the mischievous shooting retakes of Dilip

Kumar with her in K.Asif’s Janwar - when she finally withdrew herself

out of suspicion after returning the signing amount, never to act

opposite Dilip Kumar.

It's time for some musings now: Though the songs of Fifties are out

of the scope of this article, I cannot help but mention DIL KO HAAY

DIL KO, DIL KO TEREE TASVEER SE, BEHLAAYE HUWE.N HAI....

(Dastaan 1950) Just listening to this song races my blood, makes my

heart beat faster, while the body shakes to the rhythm of the song.

Just mere thoughts whip up the hidden desires to be with the

“Chocolate Charmer” in the sylvan setting of the Omar Khayyam

Rubaiyat:

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness—

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

I wonder how the young pair of Rafi and Suraiya must have recorded

that song. Ordinarily, sparks should have flown.

Now this is no speculation: Noor Jahan or Suraiya; or Saira Banu or

Sharmila Tagore (in 1963 and 1967) or even Tina Munim (in 1980)

Rafi Sahaab always concentrated on the songs and not the female

singer’s beauty and bearings. It was only through his singing voice

that he conveyed the inner emotions of love and romance. He was

never involved in any filmy romance or scandal at all throughout his

life. Neither did he need a "Jug of Wine". He could easily bring

himself to sing like an incorrigible boozard or like an occasional

drinker drowning his sorrows in the goblet or trying to enlist the

virtues of wine, or discoursing on the philosphy of life. But all of

those songs pertain to the Fifties, the Sixties, and the Seventies. If

he needed any jug, it was of rich tea laced with almonds and

pistachios which he shared with others during the recordings. At

times he even went to drink Lassi with a musician. The “Book of

Verses” pertain to the lyrics that he sang and recorded. While the

“Loaf of Bread” that he earned he divided it between his family on

the one hand, and the poor and the needy on the other. As for the

“Wilderness,” he lived in the tinsel town as if it were a wilderness -

in a true Sufi spirit – i.e. he lived in the world but was not swayed by

the world and its temptations and sins, or glamour and greed, or

rivalry and cunning. Man, that’s not easy. Just try living like that! So

much for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam!

Lata Mangeshkar was slated to become a much sought-after female

playback singer chiefly owing to the encouragement of Ghulam

Haider who stood by her when others had rejected her as we noted

before. Naushad too wanted to have a share in this “discovery”. So

Andaz had all her songs for the heroine Nargis. Shamshad Begum

had just one song (filmed on Cuckoo), and that was the duet with

Lata Mangeshkar: DAR NAA MOHABBAT KAR LE. But it seems that he

had sought the permission of Mehboob Khan for using Lata

Mangeshkar. Also, he would make her do the rehearsing for days on

end before the final take would be recorded in the presence of

Mehboob Khan. It thus appears that Mehboob Khan would interfere

in Naushad’s work. One day, the witty Naushad would make him eat

a humble pie by giving him a tit for tat. Once during a shooting of

some movie (I don’t remember at this moment which one was that -

probably it was Andaz) Naushad went right up to the camera,

brushed Mehboob Khan aside, peeped into the camera lens and said

that the camera- angle was not proper. Bemused with this remark of

Naushad, Mehboob Khan asked him what he knew about the

cameras and their angles and shots. “Nothing,” said Naushad. In the

next breath he put the counter-question to Mehboob: “What do you

know about music, Ragas, the Raginis?” Mehboob Khan got the hint.

It is said that from that onwards he never interfered with Naushad’s

system of work. Naushad had grown big since his Prem Nagar (1940)

days. In late ‘Forties, he began to have a large orchestra. His Indian

classical music had a western arrange-ment. However, his greatest

musical wonders were reserved for Nineteen Fifties when he would

provide music for Babul, Dastaan, Jadu, Deedar, Aan, Deewana, Baiju

Bawra, Amar, Shabab, Uran Khatola, Mother India, Sohni and

Mahiwal. And for his movies of the ‘Sixties such as Kohinoor,

Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jamuna, Mere Mehboob, Leader and Dil Diya

Dard Liya, Ram Aur Shyam, Aadmi, to name a few only.

Playback singers Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar had already

become household names. Even as late as 1949, Lata Mangeshkar

would still be singing in the style of Noor Jahan as her songs from

Mahal, Andaz, Padmini, and even in Barsaat, would suggest. The

Mahal song AAYEGA AAYEGAA AAYEGAA AANEWAALA AAYEGAA

AAYEGAA composed by Khemchand Prakash, was a super-hit and it

zoomed her career. This song used to played on loudspeakers time

and again at most of the nooks and corners of towns and cities, and I

myself remember hearing this song as a three-year kid whenever I

went out to buy myself some ‘Gulgule’. Mahal was a huge success

for Kamal Amrohi - though I am told it was released and soon

removed from the theatres. It was only after the re-run soon

thereafter that it caught on. I remember that initially Madhumati

(1958) was criticized by drawing comparison with Mahal. In my

personal opinion, Mahal has heavy overtones of mystery, while

Madhumati is a superb entertainer in all respects.

The year 1949 saw the Government of India raising the

entertainment to a ridiculous extent, thus leading to protest and

closure of cinemas all over India. New censorship classification code

came into existence. The Film Division was launched. Exhibition of

approved documentaries before screening of the movie was made

compulsory. Now I understand why as a kid I had to wait for at least

half an hour or so watching the news that I then found torturous. To

make matters worse, sometimes in their zeal, they would come out

with a second documentary too.

Out of nostalgia for my childhood friends, Hyder Ali and Asghar Ali,

now I would like to make a mention of their mother, actress Pramila

(Esther Victoria Abraham) who, in 1949, was crowned the First Miss

India 1947. She joined the theatre company and later went on to

become the vamp and a fearless stunt star in many movies that

included Ulti Ganga,Bijli,Jungle King and Basant. In Basant (1942)

the Amirbai Karnataki’s song, HUWA KYAA QASOOR was picturised

on her. She was also a major film producer in her hey days. Her last

film was at the age of 92, entitled Thaang. It is a Marathi film which

is directed by Amol Palekar. She was once wrongly arrested at the

instance of Morarji Desai, on charges of being spy simply because

she used to visit Pakistan to see her father and also for the business

of film distribution. She was the fighter all her life and never gave

up under any circumstance. I had the opportunity to see her and her

husband Kumar sometimes in the mid-Fifties when I visited her

home near the Paradise Cinema at Mahim, Mumbai, along with her

son Hyder Ali who was my classmate in the Belvedere Convent which

used to be located by the side of the Scottish Orphanage at Cadell

Road. Asghar Ali was one year senior. Later Hyder Ali joined the St.

Michael High School. I still remember a skit presented in the school

by Asghar Ali. It was, what used to be called “record dance.” He and

a girl gave a brilliant dance performance while the Kishore Kumar-

Lata Mangeshkar record, MERA NAAM ABDUL REHMAN was played in

the background. I know that Hyder Ali also performed in the TV

shows of Nukkad in the Eighties, though I never had a chance of

meeting him after the school days.

Hyder Ali and Asghar Ali with their mother Pramila and family.

T H U R S D A Y , O C T O B E R 8 , 2 0 0 9

PART 13: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

Rafi Sahaab’s repertoire of songs in 1949 increases compared to his

past years.

Just to point out a few more songs with some music directors:

With Pandit Husnlal-Bhagatram:

As we mentioned before, Husnlal-Bhagatram had found immense

success after Pyar ki Jeet (1948). In 1949 they gave seven songs to

Rafi in Jal Tarang: four solos and two duets to Rafi. Three solos were

written by Kaifi Irfani and they were: HAI KAAM MOHABBAT KA; AAYI

JAWAANI; and TUMEH SUNAAYE EK KAHAANI; while Kedar Sharma

penned HAAY RE PYAARE PYAARE. ZARA TUMNE DEKHA TOH was a

Rafi-Lata duet penned by Kaifi Irfani. The Rafi-Shamshad duet,

MUSAAFIR SADAA GEET GAYE CHALA CHAL was written by Sudarshan

Fakir.

Rafi found further favour with Husnlal Bhagatram in Naach where

there were: two duets with Suraiya; CHHAAYAA SAMAA SUHAANA,

and SEENE MEIN AAG BHADAKTI;

Two songs were with Geeta Roy and Lata Mangeshkar: KYOON

KARTA MAAN JAWAANI KAA and LAB PE HAI FARIYAAD. One with

Shamshad Begum: DIL SE DIYAA HAI TUJHKO.

In Hamara Manzil, there were two duets with Geeta Roy: ANDHERE

SE NAA DARR...KAANTE BANENGI KALIYAAN, written by Rajinder

Krishan, and WOH AUR ZAMAANA THAH which has S.D. Batish along

with them. He also had a solo: TOOTE HUWE DIL KO.

Bansuria had a beautiful solo: TERI YAAD SATAAYE GHADI GHADI

written by Mulkraj Bhakri.

Baalam had a musical solo: THUKRAKE HAMEN CHAL DIYE, and

another, TUM HAMEN BHOOL GAYE. There were two duets too, one

with S.D. Batish and another with Suraiya: DUNYAA WAALON MUJHE

BATAAO and AATAA HAI ZINDAGI MEIN BHALA respectively. Songs

were written by Qamar Jalalabadi.

In Badi Bahen, there was a solo song of Rafi: MOHABBAT KE DHOKE

MEIN KOI NA AAYE which was a super-hit. The lyrics were by

Rajinder Krishan.

In Saawan Bhadon Rafi sang a duet with Lata: SADAA RAHE YEH DIN

HAMAARE. Mulkraj Bhakri was the lyricist.

With Shyam Sunder:

Not to be outdone, Shyam Sunder gave sevens songs to Rafi: four

solos and three duets, written by Qamar Jalalabadi, as under in

Bazaar:

The solos were: O JAANE WAALE CHAAND ZARAA MUSKURAA KE JAA;

SHAHEEDON TUMKO MERA SALAAM; YEH HAI DUNYAA KA BAAZAAR;

and the heart-rending MERE BHAGWAAN TUU MUJHKO YUNHI

BARBAAD REHNE DE. While the second song is a satire on day to day

life in a city, the last one is a touching song that decries one’s fate

but indulges in the sacrifice of seeing one’s beloved happy at her

new home.

The duets were:

AY MOHABBAT UNSE MILNE KA BAHAANA MIL GAYAA with Lata

Mangeshkar was extremely popular. APNEE NAZAR SE DUUR was

another duet with Lata Mangeshkar.

Tnere was another song too that he sang with Shamshad Begum and

Satish Batra: CHHALLA DE JAA NISHAANI TERI MEHERBANI .

In an M. Sadiq directed movie, Char Din, there was a Rafi-Raj Kumari

duet: HASEENON KI ADAAYEN BHEE. The lyrics were written by

Shakeel Badayuni.

With Vinod:

A musician who was influenced by Husnlal-Bhagatram style of music

since he worked under their elder brother Pandit Amarnath was

Vinod (Eric Roberts). He got a good break in Ek Thi Ladki (1949)

which had a good number of Mohammed Rafi songs. Some of his

duets with Lata Mangeshkar were: YEH SHOKH SITAARE; EK BAAT

SUNO SAATHI; AB HAALE DIL HAALE JIGAR; and HAMM CHALE DUUR

which also had Satish Batra. His solo number along with the chorus

was LAMBI JORU BADI MUSIBAT. The most famous of the songs was

the LARA LAPPA number sungs by Rafi-G.M.Durrani-Lata, based on

the Kangra folk tune. All the songs were penned by Aziz Kashmiri.

With Ghulam Muhammed:

One of the earliest melodious solos of Mohammed Rafi we find in

Paras (1949) for which Ghulam Mohammed provided the musical

score: DIL KI LAGEE NE HAMKO DIWAANA. If one wants to know how

sweetness was the backbone of Rafi Sahaab's voice even during his

salad days, then please listen to this song. Shakeel Badayuni was

the lyricist. Rafi had two duets with Shamshad Begum: MOHABBAT

MEIN KISE MAALOOM and MERE DIL KI.. His duet with Lata was: DIL

LEKE O CHHUPNE WAALE.

In Shair, there was a Rafi-Shamshad duet: O MORE BAALMA.

Ghulam Mohammed later proved a great asset to Naushad and used

to make a liberal use of the Tabla – the tradition which he carried

right upto his Pakeezah days. I remember a friend of mine informally

telling Asha Bhonsle and R.D. Burman when they were discussing

Umrao Jaan's (1981) musical success at their home that it was

nothing compared to Ghulam Mohammed's music what with the

'thaap' or beats of Tabla in Pakeezah that was released a decade

before. They just stared at his face. Anyway, that was the personal

opinion but the pity is that Ghulam Mohammed died unrewarded.

With Hansraj Behl:

Rafi’ song in Raat ki Rani, JIN RAATON MEIN NEEND UD JAATI HAI,

written by Arzoo Lucknawi for Hansraj Behl, was a nation wide hit.

Another solo was TAN PHOONKTA HAI, which was penned by

Shikarpuri who also wrote the Rafi-Lata duet: SUN LO MERA

AFSAANA. The other lovable duet of Rafi-Lata was written by

Shameen: USS CHAAND SE PYAARE CHAAND HO. It appears that the

same duet was recorded in the voice of Mukesh and Geeta Roy but

was not retained.

Hansraj Behl gave five songs to Rafi in Rumaal:

A solo: DIL TOOTAA AUR ARMAAN LOOTE, and four duets out of

which three were with Bina Pani and one with Asha Bhonsle: HAM

MAATI SE SONA BANAAYENGE; O LACHHI LACHHI TUU MANN KI; and

TUMSE MILAAKAR NAINA were the duets with Bina Paani.

A lone duet with Asha Bhonsle was: LO DOOM DUBAA KAR BHAAGE

written by Nazim Panipati. The other songs were written by Mulkraj

Bhakri.

In Zevraat there was his notable solo, AAKAASH PE REHNE WAALE,

written by Habib Sarhadi. A duet with Lata Mangeshkar was: SAAJAN

KI OT LEKE.

Karvat had a Geeta-Rafi duet: Gaya Andhera .... Jaag Uthe Sansaar ,

written by S. K. Dipak.

In Chakori, Rafi had three solos written by Mulkraj Bhakri: KYOO.N

GARM SARD HOTE HO; PREET LAGAA KE CHALE GAYE; and ISS

DUKHIYAA JAWAANI KI HAI BAS ITNI.

Raaz had the solo SAMAY KA CHAKKAR SAU BAL KHAAYE which was

composed by Sardar Malik and written by one Meeraji.

Incidentally, Hansraj Behl's last great composition would also be

sung by Mohammed Rafi in Sikandar-e-Azam (1965): JAHAAN DAAL

DAAL PAR SONE KI CHIDIYAAN KART HAIN BASERA...

With Naushad:

We have seen above that the young singer of 19 years of age had

sung his own first Hindi song in Pehle Aap, HINDUSTAA.N KE HAMM

HAI.N, plus two more songs which were anything but solos. What

strikes me regarding Naushad is that he gave a solo number to Rafi

Sahaab only in 1946, while Rafi Sahaab also recorded so many

excellent songs for other music directors even prior to 1946; and

then he gave just another solo number after two years in Mela

(1948). It was as late as in 1949 that Naushad gave a real break to

Rafi by recording his lead solos for the heroes in Dillagi, Dulari and

Chandni Raat which had lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.

Rafi got to sing the choicest of songs in Dillagi for the main lead in

Dillagi - the Suraiya and Shyam starrer: TERE KOOCHE ME.N

ARMAANON KEE DUNYA LEKE AAYA HOON, and ISS DUNYAA ME.N AY

DILWAALO.N.

And the ever-popular, the evergreen, song from Dulari: SUHAANI

RAAT DHAL CHUKI filmed on the hero, Suresh, has become a legend.

This was Rafi Sahaab’s favourite song. Dulari also had the pleasant

Rafi-Lata duet: MIL MILKE GAAYENGE HO DOH DIL YAHAAN; and

RAAT RANGEELI MAST NAZAARE.

In Chandni Raat, Rafi sang a solo: DIL HO UNHEN MUBAARAK JO DIL

KO DHOONDTE HAIN which proved very popular in 1949. The others

were duets with Shamshad Begum: KAISE BAJE DIL KAA SITAAR,

which has a good accompaniment of piano, and KHABAR KYAA

THEEH KE GHAM KHAANA PADEGAA. However, by Rafi’s standards

these songs are of low notes.

Mehboob’s Andaz had the Rafi-Lata duet: YOON TOH AAPAS MEIN

BIGADTE HAIN which was filmed on Nargis and Raj Kapoor. Another

lively Rafi-Lata duet, SUN LO DIL KA AFSAANA DUNYAA DIL KE

BASAAKE NAA BHOOL JAANA was, however, not used in the movie.

This was also the fate of a Mukesh song: KYOON PHERI NAZAR

DEKHO TOH IDHAR.

With C. Ramchandra:

C. Ramchandra was himself a singer who sang as "Chitalkar" and so

we don’t find him using Mohammed Rafi much. As we noted before,

he did use Rafi in Safar, Sajan and Nadiya Ke Paar in previous years.

C. Ramchandra gave some beautiful duets and solos to Rafi in 1949.

The Duniya duets with Suraiya were HAAY RE TUUNE KYAA KIYAA,

and QISMAT KE LIKHE KO. The solos were RONA HAI TOH RO CHUPKE

and ISS WAADE KA MATLAB KYAA.

In Patanga, BOLOJI DIL LOGE TOH KYAA KYAA DOGE was Rafi’s duet

with Shamshad Begum.

In Namoona, TADPAA KE MUJHE was the duet song which Rafi sang

with Lata.

The next decade would find “Anna” C. Ramchandra using lots of

western instruments such as bongo, clarinets, oboe, saxophone. He

also used the alto-sax with guitar and harmonica. His autobiography

written some 30 years later, "Maajhya Jeevnaachee Sargam" (My

Life's Melody) makes interesting reading and throws light on his

personal relationship with his muse and his fall-out later.

With S. Mohinder:

Rafi had four duets in Jeewan Saathi:

Two with Shamshad Begum: MILKAR JAAYEN HAM PREET and

MUHABBAT ROG BAN KAR.

One duet with Amirbai: MAI.N KAISE KEH DOON.

One duet with Chand Barq: CHAAND KI GOD MEIN...

With Bulo C. Rani:

Bulo C. Rani utilized Rafi in Gareebi. The two solos that Rafi sang

were: KISI SE HAMNE POOCHAA and EK DIN EK ARMAAN BHARA DIL.

A duet with Shamshad Begum was AY SAMNE AANE WAALE BATAA.

Some of the other movies in which Mohammed Rafi recorded his

songs were:

With Khemchand Prakash:

Rhimjhim: A duet with Ramola: HAWA TUU UNSE JAAKAR KEHDE,

written by Moti of Sajan fame.

Sawan Aaya Re: A duet with Shamshad Begum: AY DIL NAA MUJHE

YAAD AA, written by Bharat Vyas.

With Sajjad/Nisar Bazmi/Khumar Barabankavi.

In Roop Lekha there was a solo of Rafi: TEER PE TEER KHAAYE JAA.

A duet with Surinder Kaur was: TUM HO JAAO HAMAARE KABHI.

With Mohammed Shafi:

In Gharana, there were two duets of Rafi: One with Paro: TUU

KAHAAN HAI BAALAM.

The other was with Shyama Bai: FARIYAAD NAA KARNAA HAAY

KAHEEN.

With Sharmaji (Khayyam):

In Parda, there were two solos of Rafi: SITAMGAR SE LETA HAI TUU

INTEQAM, penned by Tanvir Naqvi; and the other one penned by

Swami Ramanand: IK DIL NE KAHAA, a beautiful sad song indeed.

In Jannat, Bashir Khan was the music director. One of the solos of

Rafi was: JAHAAN QISMAT TERI MEHFIL SE and, penned by M.K.

Chibbar.

In Chilman, H.P. Das was the composer while P.L. Santoshi was the

lyricist. One of the Rafi solos was: ZAHE QISMAT TERI MEHFIL SE JO.

He sang a duet with Mukesh: JALEN JALNE WAALE HAMKO JAISE.

Krishna Dayal was the music director of Lekh which had a Qamar

Jalalabadi lyrics sung by Rafi and Asha: KAR LE KISEE SE PYAAR.

In Nisbat, the music was composed by Pandit Govindram. The Rafi-

Shamshad duet was: TAARON KA YEH KHAZAANAA. Majrooh wrote

the lyrics.

Kaneez had three music directors: O.P. Nayyar made a debut with

the background music. Ghulam Haider provided the usual music.

There was a duet of Rafi and S.D. Batish: HAR AYSH HAI DUNYAA

MEIN AMIRON KO. On the other hand, Hansraj Behl provided the

music for the very famous Rafi song: ISS DIL SE TERI YAAD BHULAAYI

NAHEEN JAATI. O.P. Nayyar would not taste success with his movies,

Aasmaan, Chham Chhama Chham, and Jaal, till as late as 1953. His

success story belongs to the Fifties and thereafter, and amazingly

he never ever used Lata Mangeshkar.

The year 1949 is noteworthy for the new entrants Shankar and

Jaikishan who would since gradually leave all the other musicians

behind for at least two decades. They had worked as assistants to

Ram Ganguly who provided music for Raj Kapoor’s first directorial

venture, Aag in 1948. Raj Kapoor knew that for his home-production

Barsaat the Aag type of music would just not do. He wanted

something new. He therefore gave a break to the musical duo of

Shankar-Jaikishan who also "discovered" Lata Mangeshkar and

recorded their first song in her voice: JIYA BEQARAR HAI. All the

songs of Barsaat were hit and they created a history of sorts.

However, their style initially resembled that of Husnlal-Bhagatram

whom they had assisted before. How could they leave out

Mohammed Rafi? His song went thus: MAIN ZINDAGEE MEIN HARDAM

ROTAA HI RAHAA HOON. The high notes, KHAMOSH.. KHAMOSH

MOHABBAT LIYE PHIRTAA HI RAHAA HOON sung by Rafi effortlessly

put life into the lyrics. The combination of Mohammed Rafi and the

Shankar-Jaikishan musical duo would rise to its greatest height in

the Sixties.

Mohammed Rafi with Jaikishan

In 1949, Khurshid Anwar came back to India from Pakistan. He had

been a music director of several films in the pre-partition years, but

it was his musical composition in Saigal-Suraiya starrer, Parwana

(1947)that made him very famous. Surprisingly for the riot ravaged

lands, this movie had done a great business among the Muslims of

Lahore and the Sikhs and Hindus of Amritsar. Khurshid Anwar is

known for hiring Roshan as a dilruba player (while with AIR Delhi)

and also for giving a break to Rajkumar in Kurmai - an early Forties

Punjabi film of A.R. Kardar. It is also to be noted that Lata

Mangeshkar has rued the fact that she did not get an opportunity to

sing the musical compositions of Khurshid Anwar. After coming back

he composed music for three movies: Singar, Nishana and Khamosh

Sipahi which were released in the early Fifties. Before he went back

to Pakistan, he composed the music for Neelampari (1952) which

incidentally was his only movie that featured Mohammed Rafi,  and

that was a duet with Geeta Roy: CHAAHE QISMAT HAMKO RULAAYE.

NASIR

To continue...

F R I D A Y , O C T O B E R 9 , 2 0 0 9

PART 14: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of all times – by

Nasir.

Rafi Sahaab used to work very hard on each and every song he was

asked to sing. To surmarise, during the years 1944-1949, Rafi

Sahaab worked with the following lyricists and music directors:

Some of the lyricists who worked with Rafi Sahaab in the Forties:

Majrooh Sultanpuri, Tanvir Naqvi, Pandit Mukhram Sharma, Mahipal,

D.N. Madhok, Gopal Singh Nepali, Wali Sahaab, Rupbani, Pandit

Indra, Pt.Fani,

Gaafil Harnalvi, Hanuman Prasad, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Moti, Qamar

Jalalabadi, M. Ibrahim, Ram Murti, Shakeel Badayuni, Wahshi

Jaunpuri, Amar Verma, Avtar Visharad, Asghar Sarhadi, Mohan

Mishra, J.Naqshab, P.L. Santoshi, Manohar Khanna, Pilibheeti,

Deobandi, Fiza Kausari, Surjit Sethi, Sevak, Rajinder Krishan,

Ramesh Gupta, Shevan Rizvi, Habeeb Sarhadi, B.D. Mishra, B.R.

Sharma, Mulk Raj Bhakri, Bahzad, I.C. Kapoor, Mohan Misra, Kaifi

Irfani, Kedar Sharma, Sudarshan Faqir, Aziz Kashmiri, Bharat Vyas,

M.G. Adeeb, Sarshar, Nazim Panipati, Alam Siyahposh, S.K. Deepak,

S.H. Bihari, Arzoo Lucknowi, Swami Ramanand, Hazrat Lakh, M.K.

Chibbar, P.L. Santoshi, Shameen, Shikarpuri, Hamid Khumar, Hasrat

Jaipuri, Meeraji, Gulshan Bawra, and Khumar Barabankavi

Some of the Music Directors who worked with Mohammed Rafi in the

‘Forties:

Naushad, Shyam Sunder, Pandit Govindram, Chitragupt, A.R.

Qureshi, Datta Devjekar,Premnath, S.D. Burman, Naresh

Bhattacharya, B.S. Thakur, Mohammed Shafi, Azim Khan, Sudhir

Phadke, Prakash Sharma, Firoze Nizami, Datta Thakar, Gyan Datta,

Amirbai Karnataki, Hansraj Behl, Husnlal-Bhagatram, Shankar Rao

Vyas, S. Purshottam, Shaukat Hussain, Dhumi Khan, S.N. Tripathi,

Ghulam Mohammed, Shankar Rao Vyas, Ram Ganguli, Master

Ghulam Haider, Datta Thakur, Vinod, Khemchand Prakash, Bulo C.

Rani, Sharma ji, Basheer Khan, H.P. Das, Krishna Dayal, S. Mohinder,

Shankar-Jaikishan, Sardar Mallik, Rashid Atre, Tufail Farooqi and

Khan Mastana.

As we noted before, by 1947 especially after Jugnu, Rafi Sahaab’s

name became a household name and that his songs had become a

run-away hit with the masses. Rafi Sahaab’s voice had laid the

foundation in the forties to make the business of musical recording

songs more exciting. He had proven his magic in the ‘Forties and the

Nineteen-Fifties was beckoning him with open arms. Of course, in

the next decade he was going to astonish his music directors and

the lovers of music by his wonderful feat of powerful singing and

versatility that had not been attempted before with such success. In

the process he would ‘liberate’ the music directors from their beaten

path of low octaves and limited range and scope within which they

composed their songs.

The presence of senior male singers such as G.M. Durrani, Surendra,

Khan Mastana, Shyam and others could not suppress the rising star.

But then, they too were gentle souls. As Rafi Sahaab recounted:

”’Unki Khoobi yeh thi janaab ke’ instead of considering me as yet

another competitor they encouraged me to give my best….” And this

is what Rafi Sahaab himself did along the way. Later, not only he

used to recommend to music directors those playback singers who

were once a force to reckon with, but he also made it a point to

encourage the new talents to give their best without considering

them as his competition – which brings me to Mahendra Kapoor

since his story unfolds in Nineteen Forties.

As we all know, Mahendra Kapoor was a huge fan of Mohammed Rafi

whose voice and songs had enchanted him since his early age and

he would sing in the style of his icon at Amritsar. He once purchased

a record of Jugnu but to his dismay found that the record did not

have the male singer’s name. After lots of enquiries he learnt that

the name of the singer was Mohammed Rafi.

Even when the family shifted to Bombay, his craze increased all the

more so that even at school he would scribble “Rafi, Rafi, Rafi” in his

class note-book. Seeing the litany, we are told, that his class-

teacher scolded him. One of his more knowledgeable class-mates

then gave him the address of Mohammed Rafi who was still at

Bhendi Bazaar – indicating that it was the earliest phase of the

singer then. Mahendra then went there all alone to meet his icon

with the sole wish “Bin Guru Gyan Kahaan Se Paaoon.” Seeing his

love and devotion, Mohammed Rafi accepted him as his disciple,

teaching him how to play the Harmonium and even taking him along

with him to his shows and recordings. The teacher would then treat

him to a glass of Lassi. Such details were known before but they

were repeated by Mahendra Kapoor’s son, Rohan Kapoor while

accepting the award on behalf of his father at the Tribute to a

Legend show at the Indian Museum Auditorium, Kolkata, on 30th

November 2008. Rohan Kapoor, the actor-singer son narrated the

earliest phase of his father’s brush with the Legendary Mohammed

Rafi. The audience was naturally spellbound and moved to tears. The

student also took the advice of his teacher seriously and began

learning the Hindustani classical music under Pandit Husnlal (of the

musical duo Husnlal-Bhagatram) and Tulsiram Sharma.

Rest of the story of Mahendra Kapoor belongs to the late ‘Fifties,

and I would have left it at that if it were not for certain comments of

Raju Bharatan: “Kapoor may not have matched Rafi but he was so

committed to his craft that he always kept Rafi on his toes.”

The craft lies in this statement. Note how a damaging idea is

interwoven along with a seeming praise in a single sentence which

does service neither to Mohammed Rafi nor to Mahendra Kapoor. At

the outset I may state that there was never any question of

matching Mahendra Kapoor with Mohammed Rafi, least of all

keeping Mohammed Rafi on toes!

If the case of Mahendra Kapoor was like any other normal

competition, then there would have been some semblance of sanity

in Raju’s statement. Besides, this was not the sibling rivalry of some

noted playback singers. Nor was it the story of “Abhimaan” of a

wife’s or husband’s one upmanship. For Mahendra Kapoor,

Mohammed Rafi was a father figure. Nay, he was more: He was his

Guru, his idol! A father is always proud of his obedient and

successful son. A guru is always proud of his chela even if he

exceeds him in wealth and fame, which of course was not the case

here any way. The pages of history is replete with such examples.

The clinching evidence for rebuttal of Raju’s statement has its roots

in the Nineteen Forties, which we have noted above. Therefore,

Raju’s statement should have read: “Kapoor may not have matched

Rafi but he was so committed to his craft that he made Rafi proud of

him.” Nothing more needs to be said. More rebuttals would require

an article by itself.

To state briefly, how much Mahendra Kapoor loved and respected

Rafi Sahaab was exhibited by him unabashedly after doing a show at

the Royal Albert Hall in Lodon. When Rafi Sahaab’s sons went to pay

their respects to “uncle” Mahendra Kapoor backstage the latter

astounded them by touching their feet in a humble obeisance

instead. At that time Mahendra Kapoor made a very significant

statement:

“I’m only paying respects to my Guru with whose blessings,

grooming and guidance I’m here and a packed audience has come to

her me.”

We’ve to remember always: Mahendra Kapoor was not a competition

for Rafi Sahaab who had taught him the rudiments of songs and

music and after his lessons had recommended him to many film

personalities, including B.R. Chopra. The best period of Mahendra

Kapoor's creativity was during the lifetime of Rafi Sahaab. Mahendra

Kapoor’s success must have surely delighted Rafi Sahaab, just as

the miserable conditions of some of the yesteryear singers used to

cause him pain so that he would quietly recommend them also to

music directors of the day. Sometimes he helped them monetarily.

Not only such singers but also the music directors who had fallen on

bad times used to receive regular checks for a number of years

without their knowing who was their benefactor. It was only decades

later one day when the cheques stopped coming that they realised

that Mohammed Rafi Sahaab had been their benefactor all along.

Mahendra Kapoor was the torch-bearer of the Mohammed Rafi

School. This torch came to be later passed on to Anwar, Shabbir

Kumar, Mohammed Aziz, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam and others

about whom the world will soon know. At the same time, the name

and fame of Mohammed Rafi is growing by leaps and bound even

after nearly 30 years of his demise.

Let’s hark back to the Forties! In his early career in the Forties, Rafi

Sahaab never faced the kind of rejections, say, as Lata Mangeshkar

did. The young Rafi was lapped up wherever he went. It’s true that

in the Forties we have no Rafi songs for Anil Biswas according to

whom Rafi was not quite fit for his compositions. He was no O.P.

Nayyar who never used Lata Mangeshkar all his life. Anil Biswas did

use Rafi only in the Fifities but that was not out of condescension.

That was the time when Mohammed Rafi was rising and rising, and

Anil Biswas was sliding and sliding, especially after 1958 whereafter

he could do just about ten films – the last being Chhoti Chhoti

Baaten (1965) – the time when Rafi Sahaab was at the zenith of his

singing career.

But the gentleman that he was Rafi Sahaab did not mind singing for

him. He sang for him in Beqasoor (1950): KHABAR KISEE KO NAHEEN

VOH KIDHAR DEKHTE HAIN sung by Rafi, Durrani and Mukesh; in

Paisa Hi Paise (1956): PYAAR KIYA JHAK MAARI which was a solo

comedy song; a duet with Asha: UFF NAA KARNA KE MERI

MOHABBAT BADNAAM HO; and ULFAT MEIN HAR EK which was sung

by Rafi-Kishore and Asha (Kishore Kumar was the hero) and a duet

with Kishore Kumar: LELO SONE KA LADDU; in Heer (1956): two

solos: ALLAH TERI KHAIR KARE and LE JAA USKI DUWAAYEN; and a

duet with Asha: O KHAAMOSH ZAMAANA HAI; in Abhimaan (1957):

CHALI JAWAANI THOKAR KHAANE which is a didactic duet with Asha

Bhonsle; and a solo in Sanskar: WAAH RE TIKDAMBAAZI.

With all respects for him, I’m constrained to quote one Anonymous

in his review of “How the Golden Age of Bollywood should have

sounded:”

“Bollywood productions during the career of Mohammed Rafi (1946-

1980) unfortunately employed some of the worst recording

techniques ever - thanks to a certain Anil Biswas, who although

revered for his music abilities obviously knew very little about how

to use a music recording studio. ... “

Even decades later, Anil Biswas targeted Mohammed Rafi, and then

Kishore Kumar himself did not take it kindly and put a poser to him:

“How could Rafi then remain on the top for two decades?” Anil

Biswas, of course, had no answers. Kishore Kumar certainly

remembered that in Haathi Mere Saathi (1971) the song NAFRAT KI

DUNYAA was not his cup of tea and so Rafi Sahaab was called to sing

it. And he did sing it without any trace of complaint or hurt as to

why he was not called to render it in the first place. It was not for

nothing that Kishore Kumar had a huge portrait of Mohammed Rafi

fixed on the wall of the drawing-room of his home at Juhu, Mumbai.

He had frankly told one of his loyal fans that he himself was the fan

of Rafi Sahaab. “If you insult him, you insult me!”

Similarly Anil Biswas praised Manna Dey no ends saying that he was

the only singer who took down notations of every song and did the

song in one take. He told him that he could sing whatever Rafi, or

Kishore or Mukesh or Talat Mehmood could sing but that they

couldn’t what he sang. Manna Dey had this to say:

“That’s very generous of him. He was very fond of me, but I don’t

think there is anyone to touch Mohammed Rafi.”

But whatever his predilections might have been, Anil Biswas could

not escape the touching impact of Rafi Sahaab’s good nature and

humility, as he himself confessed, for the latter had no grudges

despite being ignored by him. We can only say that it was not the

loss of Rafi Sahaab who has by his songs immortalised even the

lesser-known musicians whose names might have sunk into oblivion

if it were not for the songs that he sang for them. But as Rafi Sahaab

used to say: “Yeh Sab Khuda ki Dain Hai.”

NASIR

To be concluded....

S U N D A Y , O C T O B E R 1 1 , 2 0 0 9

PART 15: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

Concluding Part of the Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of All

Times – by Nasir:

Here on the Bollywood music scene in the Forties, Mohammed Rafi

surmounted all competitions and emerged as a winner. According to

statisticians, when the Forties ended, Rafi Sahaab had sung more

songs than the combined songs of all the male playback singers,

including Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey,

C.Ramchandra and Kishore Kumar. Similarly, by the end of the

decade Zohrabai would top the chart for the most popular female

singer, recording three times more songs than either Lata

Mangeshkar or Geeta Roy. Asha Bhonsle was nowhere in the

reckoning.

In the Fifties, it would be a tough going for Mohammed Rafi what

with Mukesh competing for the sad songs plus mainly the Raj Kapoor

songs, Talat Mehmood competing mainly for ghazals and nazams

and romantic songs plus Dilip Kumar songs, Manna Dey competing

mainly for classically-based songs, patriotic songs and the Bhajans,

with C. Ramchandra also trying to fill in the gaps wherever he could,

Hemant Kumar competing for Pradeep Kumar songs, and coming out

with beautiful romantic solos and duets and ‘loris’ (lullabies),

Kishore Kumar competing for comedy songs plus mainly Dev Anand's

songs and the compositions of S.D. Burman. Happily, Naushad would

revise his preferences for one reasons or another in the Fifties and

stand by Mohammed Rafi like a solid rock. But that alone would not

do. Rafi Sahaab had to work his way around all the music directors if

he were to survive. This he did very deftly by keeping himself

abreast of the times by always being a learner and cultivating good

habits such as hard work, punctuality, genuine humility, and giving

100% to the songs whether they were composed by the mighty

music directors or by the small ones, or even by little known artistes

who wanted to cling to his name in order to seek their bread and

butter in the film industry. Thanks to his understanding of the

classical Hindustani music and his versatility to sing all genres of

songs, his “adaaygi” his pure diction and “throw” of words to suit

the mood of the songs, backed by his powerful but soft and

mellifluous voice, Mohammed Rafi Sahaab left all of them in awe

whoever heard him.

By the mid-Fifties and towards the end of that decade he would not

only fill in the void left by the previous legend, K.L. Saigal, but with

passage of time he would also acquire the irrefutable position of

being the Greatest playback singer of all times in the annals of the

Indian film industry. By adapting himself to the changing face of

music, he left an undelible impression on the music itself, setting up

excellent standards for the aspiring singers. His voice never

sounded monotonous despite the thousands of songs that he left to

posterity.

Despite the very stiff competition for Rafi Sahaab, history was to

repeat itself by the next decade too. When the Fifties ended, Rafi

Sahaab again, had recorded more songs than the combined figures

of Talat Mehmood, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar,

C.Ramchandra and Kishore Kumar. So when the time permits we’ll

have a dekho of the Nineteen Fifties!

In conclusion, it will be interesting for us to know how the film

industry people found Mohammed Rafi when they saw him for the

first time. Who else could be the most qualified in this respect than

the Thespian Dilip Kumar himself, the most revered acting legend in

the sub-continent of India and Pakistan!

According to Dilip Kumar, he found Mohammed Rafi a very

handsome man when he first set his eyes on him at the Bombay

Talkies, in the Nineteen Forties. He found his personality impressive

and there was something in his eyes which attracted Dilip Kumar to

him, telling him that “he would have a nice tuning” with this

newcomer. When Dilip Kumar heard Mohammed Rafi sing for the

first time, he immediately felt that this was no ordinary singer, for

here was the young man who had come into the field of playback

singing fully prepared. The emotions in the singing voice of

Mohammed Rafi that Dilip Kumar heard for the first time were such

that he could never forget even after decades had passed away.

How could he? Was it not Jugnu(1947) that heralded the arrival of

these brightest stars on the horizons of singing and acting? He

believes that all the emotions made Mohammed Rafi’s singing

“complete” in all respects, and therefore he could sing with

complete ease whether it was a tragic or sad song, a light peppy

song, a classical song or a romantic duet. Even after five decades,

the song MADHUBAN MEIN RAADHIKA NAACHE RE (Kohinoor – 1960)

doesn’t fail to overwhelm Dilip Kumar on whom the song was

beautifully picturised. He says that Rafi’s voice had tremendous

talent, and with Naushad his voice used to reach even greater

heights.

However, Dilip Kumar feels that since Mohammed Rafi was a simple

person who could not say no, this “Emperor of Voice and Melody”

was exploited by some music directors who made him sing some

third-class songs. He remembers that in 1969 and the early

Seventies when people were talking of how Kishore Kumar had

“dismantled the position” of Mohammed Rafi, the latter was not

even slightly affected by it. Nor did he reply those critics with words.

“It was always his voice and songs that used to do the talking.”

Surmises the Tragedy King: “Rafi is not among us today but his

voice and his songs are still there with us.”

One could go on writing about the Legendary Mohammed Rafi

Sahaab forever, for such was his persona and charisma as well as

the impact on the Indian film industry, its films, music, musicians

and film stars. As long as there are people who love good songs and

music, and take pride in the rich heritage of our films and musical

traditions; as long as there are people who value sterling personal

character, altruism, charity and faithfulness; as long as there are

people who are moved by pain and sufferings of humanity, as long

as there are people who are in quest of true songs of love, romance,

philosophy and devotion, the name of Mohammed Rafi Sahaab will

always come to the fore to emblazon the cultural and humane side

of Bollywood.

NASIR.

Concluded.