Mohammed Rafi’s voice transcended generations, emotions and eras, becoming the soundtrack to countless memories. On his death anniversary, Filmfare’s Editor-in-Chief Jitesh Pillaai reflects on Rafi’s extraordinary legacy, his music, and the man behind the voice.
He was a healer; his voice healed you, and no other voice in the ’50s and ’60s had that kind of effect on the nation like Mohammed Rafi. The biography by Sujata Dev, coauthored by son Shahid Rafi, illustrates this point amply. Charmed by a mendicant voice, young Rafi in his village in Punjab, then undivided, was deeply immersed in singing while his father had other plans to get him into a regular, mundane business.
But destiny willed otherwise, from singing his first song in Gul Baloch to coming to Mumbai, singing in Naushad’s chorus till his big breaks. All of it is chronicled. It speaks of his generosity of spirit, his humility, his absence of malice. All that you would expect in a commissioned biography by the family.
Nothing controversial or unpalatable is mentioned. A brief reference to his first marriage to his cousin, who refused to go to India with him, is followed by a happily ever after marriage to Bilquis; Rafi the god of melody represented all things nice and good.
Broad references are made to the media playing up the Kishore vs Rafi war, plus the 4-year-long standoff with Lata Mangeshkar over royalty is also mentioned. There is also fulsome praise from contemporaries, colleagues and juniors, including the likes of Shabbir Kumar and Sonu Nigam.
Some interesting insights from music director Pyarelal, and Rafi’s only surviving younger sibling add to the compendium. His bungalow was an open house, and no one went away disappointed. Much is made of his generosity of spirit and various charities that he did without letting anyone else know. There is a mine of information, but perhaps some tighter editing would have been done with the way the information is presented.
Ultimately, it is also the portrait of arguably the greatest singer ever born in this country. The simplicity and purity in his soul reflected in his voice. A voice that could make you crumble with poignance and lift you with joy. That changeling voice that showed you in one instant the depths of passion and in the next the pits of pain. In his gentle timbre we have found our solace and salvation.
It’s 40 years since he passed away. Unarguably the most gifted singer in Bollywood. Mohd Rafi was the voice of first love. He was the voice of heartbreak. He was the voice of a nation. When he hummed, we swooned. Be it the gentle Zindagi Bhar Nahi or the magical Ehsaan Tera. He was the voice of heartache, and then that same voice could assuage you like a gentle balm or a gentle breeze in Suhani Raat or Manre Tu Kaahe. He was the glee behind the impish Jo Waada Kiya or the joie of Kya Hua Tera Waada. He left us too soon at 56.
