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

[Saurabh Marwaha]

Thanks for the info Venkat ji.

A few years back, Amin Sayani used to present a program on one of the FM channels and in one of the programs, he told an incredible thing.

B.R. Chopra had signed O.P. Nayar as Music Director for the movie Naya Daur and wanted Mahinder Kapoor to sing all the songs of the film. It was well known that Mr B.R. Chopra had a misunderstanding with Rafi Shaab as despite this fact O.P. Nayar had an argument with him.

Nayar told Chopra that "O.P. Nayar is incomplete without Rafi and if you want me to do the film, Rafi will be the lead singer" and even though Mahinder Kapoor also sang songs in that movie, it were Rafi's songs (Solo and Duet) which created the magic which is alive today as well.

Saurabh Marwaha

[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

[venkat]

There are many MDs who used Rafi Saab for Raj Kapoor in some Films.

1. Naushad in Film:Andaz (1949) in Rafi-Lata duet, "Yun To Aapas Mein Bigadte Hain, Khafa Hote Hain", and three Rafi-Suraiya duets in Film:Dastaan(1950), including the famous "Tarari Arari Tarari"

2. Lesser-known Music Director, Krishna Dayal, in Film:Baawra(1950), in solo, "Sahil Jo Dubo De Kashthi Ko"

3. Madan Mohan in Film:Dhun (1953) in solo, "Gori Ki Ankhiyan---Nazar Mila Le O Dilruba"

4.S.Mohinder in Film:Paapi (1953) in two solos and one famous Rafi-Asha duet, "Meri Zindagi Hai Tu, Mujh Ko Teri Justaju"

5. Ghulam Mohammed in Film:Amber (1952) in three Rafi-Lata duets, including the famous and peppy "Ham Tum Yeh Bahar, Dekho Rang Laaya Pyaar, Barsaat Ke Maheene Mein"

6.O.P.Nayyar in Film:Do Ustaad (1959) in one solo ("Worli Ka Naakaa") and five lovely Rafi-Asha duets, including "Ruk Ruk Ruk Kahan Chali Deewani".

But, Shankar Jaikishan have one unique speciality to their credit.

They not only used Rafi Saab in their very first Film:Barsaat (1949), but are also the first MDs to have used Rafi Saab even for Raj Kapoor in the very same Film:Barsat (1949), in a solo, "Main Zindagi Mein Hardam Rota Hi Raha Hoon".

Shankar Jaikishan then went on to use Rafi Saab for Raj Kapoor in two more Films, Ek Dil Sau Afsaane(1963) and Mera Naam Joker (1970).

In Ek Dil Sau Afsane, it was an ever-green Rafi-Lata duet, "Tum Hi Tum Ho Mere jeewan Mein".

In Mera Naam Joker, it was the soul-stirring solo, "Sadke Heer Tujh Pe Ham Fakir". Now, knowledgeable music fans who know this song would admit that only Rafi Saab could ever render it so effectively, no matter who was actually Raj Kapoor's voice. Sure enough, Shankar Jaikishan and even Raj Kapoor knew it and that is why all Raj Kapoor rules were waived and Rafi Saab was chartered for this great song.

Why I mentioned SJ's use of Rafi Saab for even Raj Kapoor is because it shows SJ's utmost bullishness on Rafi Saab.

I will present the part II on SJ in my next post.

Venkat

Part II on SJ:

Before we attempt to understand SJ's preference for Rafi Saab, we need to understand the career progression of SJ themselves.

SJ's career during the fifties was yet to take off. All that they had then were the captive RK films in addition to a handful of other Films, such as Pooja, Rajhat, Yahoodi, Seema, Basant Bahar, Halaku, Daag, Patita, etc. This was only to be expected as SJ during fifties was a regular for only RK, whereas the other two successful leading men of that time, Dilip and Dev used to have Naushad and S.D.Burman+others respectively as their regular MDs.

However, with Love Marriage(1959) ,Jab Pyar Kisse Se Hota Hai(1961) Asli Naqli(1962), etc., SJ have proved that their combo with Dev Anand could be a great hit too. Similarly, with the onset of sixties, newer leading men such as Shammi Kapoor (Junglee, College Girl, Dil Tera Deewana) and Rajendra Kumar (Sasural) have come into SJ fold.

Thus, it can be said that SJ's dominance in HFM was mainly a sixties phenomenon.

SJ' association with Rafi Saab dates back to SJ's association with Husnlal Bhagatram for whom they both were musicians/assistants for some time. And, HB themselves were committed Rafi-users for 90% of all their songs!

As we discussed earlier in another thread, SJ had made about 350 songs with Rafi Saab, of which about 225 (two thirds) were solos!! No other MD has such a large proportion of solos with Rafi Saab.

And most of these songs came in the sixties when Raj Kapoor Films were few and far between and when Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Joy Mukherjee, Biswajeet, Jeetendra were ruling Filmdom.

SJ probably made more songs only with Lata Mangeshkar, as Lata was a regular for SJ even for RK films, besides, of course, the Jaikishan factor!!

SJ seems to have made less than 200 songs with Mukesh, less than 75 with Manna Dey and less than 25 with Talat Mehmood. (subject to correction).

Further, SJ is one of the three or four MDs who made Rafi Saab sing for Kishore Kumar too. That was in Film:Shararat (1959) for one famous and great solo, "Ajab Hai Dastaan Teri Yeh Zindagi" and for one Rafi-Lata duet too.

In my earlier post above, we discussed how SJ made Rafi Saab sing for even Raj Kapoor in three Films, namely Barsaat (1949), Ek Dil Sau Afsaane(1963) and Mera Naam Joker (1970). But, additionally, in all RK Films, Rafi Saab was given by SJ a song or two for other actors. Some of these, such as "Ramaiya Vastavaya" from Shri 420 and "Yeh Mera Prempatr Padh kar" from Sangam (1964), have joined the ranks of all-time greats.

While on the subject, we cannot forget the excellent rapport SJ and Rafi Saab had shared and also the tens of live musical concerts that these three participated in, all clad in spot-less dark suits!!

Shankar had once said in an interview, "Rafi Saab's voice had Atma in it! There will never be another singer like him".

Venkat

This post has been edited by venkat: Oct 20 2008, 11:13 AM

[venkat]

Thanks for the info Venkat ji.

A few years back, Amin Sayani used to present a program on one of the FM channels and in one of the programs, he told an incredible thing.

B.R. Chopra had signed O.P. Nayar as Music Director for the movie Naya Daur and wanted Mahinder Kapoor to sing all the songs of the film. It was well known that Mr B.R. Chopra had a misunderstanding with Rafi Shaab as despite this fact O.P. Nayar had an argument with him.

Nayar told Chopra that "O.P. Nayar is incomplete without Rafi and if you want me to do the film, Rafi will be the lead singer" and even though Mahinder Kapoor also sang songs in that movie, it were Rafi's songs (Solo and Duet) which created the magic which is alive today as well.

Saurabh Marwaha

Thanks, Saurabh Ji, for this post. OPN is quite capable of taking on anyone, however big, on what he believes is correct.

But, to the best of my knowledge, Rafi Saab is the sole male voice in Naya Daur. No MK songs in that movie that I know of. Open to correction.

Venkat

[Pratul]

Take for example the best Alaap song ever composed in my view is Jane Kahan dekha hai from Biwi Aur makan.

SS ji, what a coincidence. I have just heard this song today, and got to read the story abt it. Many thanks for sharing this.

Pratul

[Pratul]

Thanks for the info Venkat ji.

A few years back, Amin Sayani used to present a program on one of the FM channels and in one of the programs, he told an incredible thing.

B.R. Chopra had signed O.P. Nayar as Music Director for the movie Naya Daur and wanted Mahinder Kapoor to sing all the songs of the film. It was well known that Mr B.R. Chopra had a misunderstanding with Rafi Shaab as despite this fact O.P. Nayar had an argument with him.

Nayar told Chopra that "O.P. Nayar is incomplete without Rafi and if you want me to do the film, Rafi will be the lead singer" and even though Mahinder Kapoor also sang songs in that movie, it were Rafi's songs (Solo and Duet) which created the magic which is alive today as well.

Saurabh Marwaha

Thanks, Saurabh Ji, for this post. OPN is quite capable of taking on anyone, however big, on what he believes is correct.

But, to the best of my knowledge, Rafi Saab is the sole male voice in Naya Daur. No MK songs in that movie that I know of. Open to correction.

Venkat

I agree with Venkat ji. IMO 1957 was too early to have MK in the picture.
And, to my knowledge, BR Chopra insisted for other singers starting from Dhool Ka Phool (the film which had one of the best patriotic songs of all time).

Pratul

[venkat]

Thanks for the info Venkat ji.

A few years back, Amin Sayani used to present a program on one of the FM channels and in one of the programs, he told an incredible thing.

B.R. Chopra had signed O.P. Nayar as Music Director for the movie Naya Daur and wanted Mahinder Kapoor to sing all the songs of the film. It was well known that Mr B.R. Chopra had a misunderstanding with Rafi Shaab as despite this fact O.P. Nayar had an argument with him.

Nayar told Chopra that "O.P. Nayar is incomplete without Rafi and if you want me to do the film, Rafi will be the lead singer" and even though Mahinder Kapoor also sang songs in that movie, it were Rafi's songs (Solo and Duet) which created the magic which is alive today as well.

Saurabh Marwaha

Thanks, Saurabh Ji, for this post. OPN is quite capable of taking on anyone, however big, on what he believes is correct.

But, to the best of my knowledge, Rafi Saab is the sole male voice in Naya Daur. No MK songs in that movie that I know of. Open to correction.

Venkat

I agree with Venkat ji. IMO 1957 was too early to have MK in the picture.
And, to my knowledge, BR Chopra insisted for other singers starting from Dhool Ka Phool (the film which had one of the best patriotic songs of all time).

Pratul

Actually, after Dhool Ka Phool (1959).

Venkat

[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.

[nasir]

Thus, it can be said that SJ's dominance in HFM was mainly a sixties phenomenon.

Thanks Venkatji. My guess was right then.

[princeali]

I do agree that S-J's dominance reached its absolute peak in the sixties but I also think they were on top in 50's as well, amidst the other greats like Naushad, SDB, CR etc. Right from Barsaat, this greatest musical duo totally ushered in a new era and grammar of film music. They arguably have the largest number of 'followers' of their music and are arguably the most complete school of music in the history of indian music.

The SJ/Rafi association was a once in a lifetime association, such awesome melody and variety in their songs. Their (SJ-Rafi) songs were modern, fresh, unique and masterpiece creations.

This post has been edited by princeali: Oct 20 2008, 11:16 PM

[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.

[nasir]

Thanks for the info Venkat ji.

A few years back, Amin Sayani used to present a program on one of the FM channels and in one of the programs, he told an incredible thing.

B.R. Chopra had signed O.P. Nayar as Music Director for the movie Naya Daur and wanted Mahinder Kapoor to sing all the songs of the film. It was well known that Mr B.R. Chopra had a misunderstanding with Rafi Shaab as despite this fact O.P. Nayar had an argument with him.

Nayar told Chopra that "O.P. Nayar is incomplete without Rafi and if you want me to do the film, Rafi will be the lead singer" and even though Mahinder Kapoor also sang songs in that movie, it were Rafi's songs (Solo and Duet) which created the magic which is alive today as well.

Saurabh Marwaha

Thanks, Saurabh Ji, for this post. OPN is quite capable of taking on anyone, however big, on what he believes is correct.

But, to the best of my knowledge, Rafi Saab is the sole male voice in Naya Daur. No MK songs in that movie that I know of. Open to correction.

Venkat

Here is where O.P scores over LP. In my opinion had LP stood their ground (as Madan Mohan was to do later in LAILA MAJNU in 1975) and used Rafi Sahaab in Bobby, then MAIN SHAAYAR TOH NAHIN would have been in Rafi Sahaab's voice.

Agree with you Venkatji that the sole male voice, including the so-called duet YEH DESH HAI VEER JAWAANON KA, in Naya Daur is that of Rafi Sahaab. We also know that Mahendra Kapoor first chance came with Naushad in SOHNI MAHIWAL (1958) and later NAV RANG (1959).

The question is: Was voice-over recording prevalent during that period?

[suhana_safar]

http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archives/...of-legends.html


a must read article.

Cheers
SS