On Mohammed Rafi’s 100th delivery anniversary at present, the staff at Filmfare’s archives has toiled to get you essentially the most un-heard of tales and factoids from the legendary singer’s profession. We dare you the reader. Should you’ve recognized greater than 3 of those details, then we’ll declare you die-hard Mohammed Rafi followers. Go on and get acquainted with a singer who dominated the roost in Hindi movie music earlier than Kishore Kumar, RD Burman and Rajesh Khanna broke that pattern.
Reality 1
Mohammed Rafi went on file saying that the primary music of his life was the Soniye ni heeriye ni duet with Zeenat Begum within the Punjabi movie Gul Baloch (1944). That quantity was composed by Shyam Sunder, as was, in keeping with Rafi, the primary music he sang for a Hindi movie. Mohammed Rafi has, as we all know, recognized that Hindi quantity as Aji dil ho kaaboo mein to dildaar ki aisi taisi from Village Woman (1945). Nonetheless, Rafi’s first music in Hindi movies might need been in 1944 and never 1945, it was composed by Naushad and never Shyam Sunder, it was in Pahele Aap (1944) and never Village Woman. This must be apparent from the truth that the file variety of Rafi’s Dildaar ki aisi taisi (Village Woman) music (with GM Durrani & Refrain) is GE3596, whereas the file variety of his Pahele Aap refrain music for Naushad is GE3416. The opening line of that Pahele Aap refrain quantity was Hindostan ke hum hain Hindostan hamara.
Reality 2
Rafi’s reminiscence of the Village Woman quantity was most likely sharper as a result of, in it, he was pitted reverse GM Durrani, the tremendous singer he later got here to switch within the esteem of music administrators. In truth, Naushad himself favoured GM Durrani these days, alongside Shyam Kumar. It was solely after 1950 that Rafi emerged because the voice of Naushad. Thus, for his first solo beneath the baton of Naushad, Rafi had, after making his Hindi debut beneath that composer in 1944, to attend till Anmol Ghadi (1946) the place he sang Tera khilauna toota balak.
Reality 3
In the identical 12 months (1946) as Anmol Ghadi got here Shahjehan, the movie we keep in mind not just for the vivid vibrance of Shamshad Begum (Jab usne gesoo bikhraye baadal aaya jhoom ke), but in addition for the inventive collaboration of KL Saigal and Naushad that yielded such musical gems as Ae dil-e-bekarar jhoom, Gham diye mustaqil, Chah barbaad karegi, Jab dil hello toot gaya and Kar leejiye chal kar meri jannat ke nazaare. And Shahjehan was a movie to recollect for Rafi, too, since in it Naushad had provided him his first, and final, alternative to sing with Saigal. Roohi roohi roohi mere sapnon ki raani was the music from Shahjehan rendered by KL Saigal and Mohammed Rafi. Along with his phenomenal vary and resonance, Mohammed Rafi stays, alongside Lata Mangeshkar, one of many best singing abilities ever recognized to Hindi cinema. One could repeatedly get to listen to the songs Rafi sang after 1950. But it surely’s uncommon to hearken to the 270 Hindi songs he sang early in his profession, between 1944 and 1950.
Reality 4
Mohammed Rafi’s first large break beneath Naushad got here in Chandni Raat (1949), the Naseem-Shyam starrer through which he had three memorable duets with Shamshad Begum, apart from a solo. Kaise baje dil ka sitaar, Chhin ke dil kyun pher leen aankhen and Khabar kya thi ki gham khana padenga are the three Shamsh-Rafi duets from the movie whereas Dil ho unhen mubarak jo dil ko dhoodhte hain is the Rafi solo music.
Reality 5
The disc-records of Naushad’s Dillagi (1949) had been launched nearly aspect by aspect with the disc-records of Chandni Raat. And Dillagi noticed Rafi rating as soon as once more beneath Naushad within the solos: Is duniya mein ae dil waalo and Tere kooche mein armanon ki duniya le ke aaya hoon. Even so, these prize duets with Suraiya in Dillagi, Tu mera chaand and Zaalim zamana mujh ko, went to Shyam Kumar, not Rafi. Nonetheless, later in 1949, Kardar’s Dulari (starring Madhubala, Suresh and Geeta Bali) noticed Naushad choosing Lata and Rafi, reasonably than Shamshad and Rafi, as his major singers. All of us heat even at present to the Pahadi virtuosity of Rafi in Dulari by Suhani raat dhal chuki. But it surely was the surpassing voice high quality of each Lata and Rafi in two Dulari duets that lastly satisfied Naushad that these two had inevitably to be his two major singers. Mil mil ke gaayenge ho and Raat rangili mast nazaare had been these two Dulari duets.
Reality 6
Perhaps it was Naushad who put Rafi on the Baiju Bawra peak for that singer lastly to clinch the difficulty as our primary playback. However the one composer to belief Rafi totally in his salad years was Firoz Nizami, who died in Pakistan 4 years again, forsaking a spouse and 17 youngsters. ‘Firoz Nizami, BA’ is remembered as the person who composed for Rafi in Jugnu that singer’s breakthrough duet with Noorjehan: Yahan badla wafaa ka. That was in 1947. However, in 1945 itself, Firoz Nizami had noticed the immense potential of Rafi by bestowing on him three solos in Sharbati Ankhen. Then in 1946, there have been two extra solos for Rafi.
Mohamed Rafi Noorjehan partnered in Rafi’s ‘Jugnu’ breakthrough from Firoz Nizami to Wadia Movietone’s Naseem-Trilok Kapoor starrer, ‘Amar Raj’. However the first quantity that Rafi recorded for ‘Amar Raj’ was the well-known competitors music with Mohantara Talpade. JBH Wadia reveals that he then went questing for Rafi within the Bhendi Bazar locality of Bombay, since he felt this tenor alone had the voice high quality for that essential competitors quantity. Predominant jab chhedoon prem tarana naache mere saath zamana was the music from Amar Raj the place Rafi sang with Mohantara.
Reality 7
Like Talat Mahmood, Mukesh and CH Atma, Rafi too momentarily toyed with the thought of turning into a singing-star. In truth, in a well-known quantity from the Swarnalata-Nazir starrer, Laila Majnu (1945), Rafi made a private look on the display. That quantity, put over by Rafi with SD Batish & Co beneath the music path of Pt Gobindram, was on each younger man’s lips these days because the tribute-in-song of Majnu to his Laila. That 1945 ‘Laila Majnu’ quantity through which Rafi offered an extremely good-looking sight on the display was Tera jalwa jisne dekha woh diwana ho gaya mere saath zamana.
Reality 8
Pt Gobindram and Firoz Nizami could have tapped the expertise of Rafi sooner than others, Shyam Sunder could have been the primary to open the way in which for Rafi with seven songs to render in Bazaar (1949) – amongst them the Ae mohabbat unse milne ka bahana ban gaya and Apni nazar se duur woh duets with Lata-Naushad could have lastly come to choose Rafi because the ghost voice nonpareil, however it was actually Husnlal Bhagatram who gave this colt, bred to remain, his head, for Rafi to go on to make each publish a successful one. Rafi’s breakthrough movie with Husnlal Bhagatram was the Nargis-Shyam starrer, Meena Bazar (1950), through which his voice figured in 10 of 12 songs, amongst them the duets with Lata – O maahi O maahi O, Apna bana ke chhod naheen jaana and Paas aa ke huye hum duur. Maybe compositionally most noteworthy in Meena Bazar was the music through which Rafi sang two variations, one with Shamshad and Lata Mangeshkar on the opposite. Equally worthy of discover, had been a Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar quantity, scored by Husnlal Bhagatram a 12 months earlier for Suraiya-Shyam’s Naach. It was Lab pe fariyaad hai dil barbaad hai.
Reality 9
Not just for Naushad and OP Nayyar, but in addition for SD Burman (Dada), Rafi was the best singer going. When Dada was composing what he felt to be the perfect rating of his life for Information, he might consider solely Rafi because the male singer able to doing true justice to the complicated theme, although the movie’s hero was Dev Anand and Kishore Kumar was the apparent alternative as his playback. However Dada confined Kishore in Information to the Gaata rahe duet with Lata, whereas drawing the perfect out of Rafi in Kya se kya ho gaya, Din dhal jaaye and Tere mere sapne. Information got here in 1965, whereas Rafi’s first music for Dada Burman had been, 18 years earlier, a solo in Filmistan’s Do Bhai (1947). Duniya mein meri aaj andhera hello andhera was that first SD Burman and Mohammed Rafi collaboration.
Reality 10
If Rafi thought that, after serving to Dilip Kumar to win his spurs as a tragedian with Yahan badla in Jugnu (1947), his voice would develop into a ‘fixture’ on that ‘hero of heroes’, he had one other assume coming. For even Naushad initially favoured the voice of Mukesh to go on Dilip Kumar in Mela (1948) and Andaz (1949), whereas choosing the vocals of Talat Mahmood on that actor in Babul (1950). At such a time, it was, mockingly, C Ramchandra, a composer by no means actually enamoured of Rafi, who conferred on this singer the theme-song of Nadiya Ke Paar (1948), filmed on Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal. Extra raaja ho le chal nadiya ke paar was that music from Nadiya Ke Paar that put over by Rafi with Lalita Deulkar.
