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]

Once I heard another interview of Ravi on Vividhabharati.

One senior female interviewer was doing the interview. She was asking many general questions on his beginning, first film, his training, etc. Ravi was replying to all in some detail and there was no context at all for discussing individual singers.

Then, after about 10 minutes of the interview, the interviewer had just asked one question, "Ravi Saab, Aap Ke Career Mein Kabhi Aise Mehsoos Kiye, Jaise Aap Ne Kisi Cheez Ko Kho Diye Thhe?". As far as the interviewer was concerned, it must have been a very general, time-filling question!!

But, Ravi immediately replied in Hindi something to mean this. "Yes, I have indeed lost something very very precious. And that is Rafi Saab. After his passing away, I have lost interest in composing. Ab Kya Gaana Bana Sakte Hain Ham?"

For the next 10 minutes, he went on narating the special relationship he always had wih Rafi Saab, how Ravi used to visit Rafi Saab's house and have delicious food, how Rafi Saab used to narrate to Ravi about his recent and highly successful concerts abroad, etc.

Ravi also mentioned that there are two songs of his with Rafi Saab that are heard on Band or Shehnai in almost every marriage till this day. One is "Aaj Mere Yaar Ki Shadi Hai" fom Film:Aadmi Sadak Ka (1977) and the other is "Babul Ki Duaen Leti Jaa" from Film:Neel Kamal (1968).

He also narrated one moving incident. When Ravi first showed Rafi Saab the lyrics of 'Babul Ki Duaen Leti Jaa", Rafi Saab was in tears. Ravi gently enquired with Rafi Saab's brother-in-law why Rafi Saab was getting so emotional and got the reply that Rafi Saab had just fixed up the date for the marriage of his daughter too!!

Ravi loved Rafi Saab just as all the other great MDs did.


Venkat