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

[nasir]

Thank you very much Venkatji for continuing those interesting pieces of information about Music Directors' preference of Rafi Sahaab.

Regarding SJ, can we safely say that they always went for Rafi Sahaab despite the impression that they belonged to the RK Camp? Can we safely say that the era of Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar was more responsible for SJ - Rafi Sahaab combine?

What about Hemant Kumar? Since he was himself a singer can we say that he utilized Rafi Sahaab to a minimum? Ditto for C. Ramchandra. Of course, he used him in INSANIYAT for Dilip Kumar. A year before he didn't for that famous duet KITNA HASEEN HAI MAUSAM in AZAAD, while five years earlier he used him in that famous duet: JAB SHAMMA NE PUKAARA ....

Is it true that V.Shantaram (producer-director) too hardly utilized Rafi Sahaab though in SEHRA we have that masterpiece of Rafi Sahaab: TAQDEER KA FASAANA...


These were just some thoughts passing in my mind on this subject.

[suhana_safar]

What about Hemant Kumar? Since he was himself a singer can we say that he utilized Rafi Sahaab to a minimum?

Nasir

I read an inteview of hemant kumar's son when he was asked about his father and whom he thought was the best playback singer ever. I thought the answer from him should have being his dad, Hemant Kumar but to my surprise he said, " my fav singer is my dad but obviously there is no going pass by Rafisaab as the best" and he went ahead to state that hemant da felt the same about rafisaab.
I admire and respect him for his views and his knowledge about music.

One has to see that because Hemant da was a MD , he had the control to produce tunes that suited hiw own voice and hence he has sung maximum of his songs and to be honest I love many Hemant da songs...in my opinion a first rate MD and singer.

Also hemant da was very broad minded and knew when to approach Rafisaab. Take for example the best Alaap song ever composed in my view is Jane Kahan dekha hai from Biwi Aur makan. hemant da knew only Rafisaab could do justice to the song and the rendition of this song in simply monumental and something that shines alone in the category of Alaap based song with every possible range and a very high degree of difficulty, and Rafisaab as usual as nailed this song.. This song is about how playback singing should be and another example of unmatched and lofty standards Rafisaab has set in HFM.

This song should have being given a national award for the singing and composition.

Cheers
SS

This post has been edited by suhana_safar: Oct 20 2008, 01:26 PM

[nasir]

What about Hemant Kumar? Since he was himself a singer can we say that he utilized Rafi Sahaab to a minimum?

Nasir

I read an inteview of hemant kumar's son when he was asked about his father and whom he thought was the best playback singer ever. I thought the answer from him should have being his dad, Hemant Kumar but to my surprise he said, " my fav singer is my dad but obviously there is no going pass by Rafisaab as the best" and he went ahead to state that hemant da felt the same about rafisaab.
I admire and respect him for his views and his knowledge about music.

One has to see that because Hemant da was a MD , he had the control to produce tunes that suited hiw own voice and hence he has sung maximum of his songs and to be honest I love many Hemant da songs...in my opinion a first rate MD and singer.

Also hemant da was very broad minded and knew when to approach Rafisaab. Take for example the best Alaap song ever composed in my view is Jane Kahan dekha hai from Biwi Aur makan. hemant da knew only Rafisaab could do justice to the song and the rendition of this song in simply monumental and something that shines alone in the category of Alaap based song with every possible range and a very high degree of difficulty, and Rafisaab as usual as nailed this song.. This song is about how playback singing should be and another example of unmatched and lofty standards Rafisaab has set in HFM.

This song should have being given a national award for the singing and composition.

Cheers
SS

Thank you SS for that rare piece of info on Hemant Kumar's view on Rafi Sahaab as a playback singer.

And of course we all like Hemant Kumar's songs too and those of others. The main reason is that during the Golden era of Fifties and the Sixties, in my opinion, all the singers had their respective places and were a part of mosaic pattern in the larger scheme of things. Only from the Seventies, this serenity was disturbed when petty politics entered the film industry.

By the way, Hemant Kumar's song that first attracted me as a child was his MAIN GHAREEBON KA DIL HOON WATAN KI ZUBAN from Aabe Hayaat.

[suhana_safar]

[The main reason is that during the Golden era of Fifties and the Sixties, in my opinion, all the singers had their respective places and were a part of mosaic pattern in the larger scheme of things. Only from the Seventies, this serenity was disturbed when petty politics entered the film industry.

By the way, Hemant Kumar's song that first attracted me as a child was his MAIN GHAREEBON KA DIL HOON WATAN KI ZUBAN from Aabe Hayaat.

Nasir

The funny part is that all these politics and adultertaion of the system could not stop Rafisaab and his monumental presence. Dont forget that mahendra kappor, mukesh, Shailendra Singh, Yesudas, Chanchal and Rafisaab all got major singing awards in this era. Hence the mosaic pattern was very much there it was just that some issues were hyped and are still being hyped and over exagerated.

I love this Hemant da song, infact I have not heard it for quite some time. Someone plz uplaod in the appropriate thread.

REgards
SS

[nasir]

[The main reason is that during the Golden era of Fifties and the Sixties, in my opinion, all the singers had their respective places and were a part of mosaic pattern in the larger scheme of things. Only from the Seventies, this serenity was disturbed when petty politics entered the film industry.

By the way, Hemant Kumar's song that first attracted me as a child was his MAIN GHAREEBON KA DIL HOON WATAN KI ZUBAN from Aabe Hayaat.

Nasir

The funny part is that all these politics and adultertaion of the system could not stop Rafisaab and his monumental presence. Dont forget that mahendra kappor, mukesh, Shailendra Singh, Yesudas, Chanchal and Rafisaab all got major singing awards in this era. Hence the mosaic pattern was very much there it was just that some issues were hyped and are still being hyped and over exagerated.

I love this Hemant da song, infact I have not heard it for quite some time. Someone plz uplaod in the appropriate thread.

REgards
SS

That's a very important point you have indicated SS, about other singers also getting award during that era.
About the songs I may mention that those have stuck with me as I heard them for the first time decades ago. I never had the opportunity to hear them again. I sorely miss hearing those songs especially of Rafi Sahaab pertaining to the period between 1950-59.