All Great Mds' Preference For Rafi Saab!, Some Widely-reported Stories On This Options

[venkat]

Friends,

That all great MDs during the Platinum-era of HFM from 1947 to 1972 had a distinct preference for Rafi Saab is crystal-clear, well-known and needs no debate, as the historical facts and statistics speak for themselves.

But, there were some instances of extreme display of this tendency by some of the great MDs of olden days.

In this thread, let us narrate and discuss some of such instances.

To start with, I recall one radio interview that I heard very long back, which gave me the following information.

In early, mid and late fifties, it was fashionable to listen to Talat Mehmood songs and somewhat over-rate him. Many Industry bigwigs, such as Anil Biswas, Bimal Roy, etc., too were not immune to this tendency.

So, when Bimal Roy was making Sujata (1959), he had advised S.D.Burman to use Talat Mehmood for the great SDB composition, "Jalte Hain Jis Ke Liye".

But, S.D.Burman was far from enamoured by Talat Mehmood's style of singing. He wanted to utilise only Rafi Saab for this sublime composition and tried to reason out with Bimal Roy. But, as Bimal Roy wouldn't listen, he had to finally use Talat Mehmood.

But, what is really amusing was that during the rehearsals and recording, S.D.Burman made no secret of his displeasure to poor Talat Ji. He even used to say, "Yeh Boda Achha Composition Hoy. Is Ko Khorab Mot Koro".

Such was SDB's bullishness on Rafi Saab.

More later.

Venkat

PS. It is a different matter that the song, "Jalte Hain Jis Ke liye", from Sujata happened to have been sung by Talat Mehmood extremely well and it is a great favorite of mine. But, the above was just to illustrate great MDs' stubborn preference for Rafi Saab.

This post has been edited by venkat: Sep 27 2008, 04:12 PM

[venkat]

If there was ever one MD who could genuinely be termed a Rafi Loyalist, it was Naushad Ali.

It was a noble reltionship that started with the Film:Pehle Aap(1944) for the song, "Hindustan Ke Ham Hain". Since then, there was never any looking back and there were never any misunderstandings that are quite possible in that field.

They were so close and intimate that Naushad would address Rafi Saab in singular number as Tum, Miya, etc.

This combination of two greatests had resulted in the ever-green, all-time great hits from Films such as Mela(1948); Chandni Raat, Dillagi, Dulari (1949); Dastaan(1950); Deedar, Jadoo (1951); Aan, Baiju Bawra, Deewana (1952); Amar, Shabab (1954); Udan Khatola (1955); Mother India(1957); Sohni Mahiwal(1958); Kohinoor, Mughal-e-Azam (1960); Son Of India (1962); Mere Mehboob (1963); Leader(1964); Dil Diya Dard Liya, Saaz Aur Aawaz (1966); Palkhi, Ram Aur Shyam (1967); Aadmi, Sangharsh (1968); Ganwar (1970); Tangewali(1972); My Firend(1974); Sunehra Sansar (1975); Love and God (1986).

Naushad not only always preferred Rafi Saab for his own compositions, but also strongly believed and wished that Rafi Saab should always be and should continue to be the No.1 in the field!!

He used to frequently caution Rafi Saab from the late 60's to take extra care of the voice. He would say to Rafi Saab, "Doodh Ghee Shakkar Thhoda Qam Khaya Karo, Miyan".

Not surprising because Rafi Saab was reportedly a connoisseur of food, as confirmed by Khayyam Saab too in an interview. Kahyyam Saab had mentioned in that interview that Rafi Saab's Ghar is the place if one was looking for heavenly food!

Naushad Saab himself mentioned in an interview that there was a time when Rafi Saab used to be very upset and disheartened at certain events that took place at the onset of 70's. During those times, Naushad Saab used to always advise and counsel Rafi Saab and used to uphold the great soul's morale. He would say to him, "You are the monarch of HFM, who are all these others?"

I had the good fortune of listening to many an interview of Naushad Saab on Radio. Whenever I heard Naushad Saab's soft, but articulate sentences on Rafi Saab with so much of passion, I used to get highly emotional.

I am sure Naushad Saab would have taken his rightful place beside his friend in the Heavens!!

Venkat

This post has been edited by venkat: Oct 1 2008, 05:34 PM