PART 5: MOHAMMED RAFI & THE NINETEEN FORTIES.

A Humble Tribute to the Greatest Playback Singer of All Times - by Nasir.







Looking outside of India, the use of atomic bombs by the USA in August 1945 over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan no doubt forced the surrender of the Imperial Japanese forces, but the devastating power of the bombs and the resulting annihilation and long-term suffering of the survivors also shocked the world, leading to the protests for abolition of nuclear weapons ever since. Many movies were produced on the subject and in recent memory one Indian movie Aman (1967) comes to my mind.

In India, by 1946, winds of change were blowing more and more with the coming years. The two-nation theory was gaining ground and there was a general unrest in the Indian populace at the prospect of the division of the country. Worst Communal riots broke out in Calcutta and this spilled over to other regions of Bengal and Bihar and to some extent in other provinces too.

Sometimes, when the law and order situations prevailed, the theatres had to be closed down. I remember my parents telling me that once they were in the midst of watching Mehboob Khan’s Anmol Ghadi at the Minerva Theatre in Mumbai when the Management stopped the screening and asked everyone in the hall to go home as communal riots had broken out in Mumbai. It was with great difficulty that my parents reached home alive at the nearby Nana Chowk and so must have others who stayed alive. It was not the kind of Calcutta communal riots fortunately. So such unfortunate things used to happen then.

The theatres or rather the “Talkies” which exhibited hundreds of movies were one place where all people irrespective of the castes, creeds, and communities could sit together as one family and enjoy the movie. The themes of the movie were such which portrayed the social problems that affected one and all, irrespective of the religion of the community. Just as the blood of all the communities is red, even of the so-called ‘blue-blood’ aristocracy and nobility. The filmy themes dealt with poverty, child marriage, widow re-marriage, women’s emancipation, patriotism, evils of usury, palace intrigues, chieftan’s revolts, some war movies, cruelty of step-mothers, family values and ideals - which were common to every one. It appears that Indian movies were the great catalyst in restoring normalcy and keeping the people together.


Before 1946 the cutting of records was in the hands of a single company, EMI Ltd. This Company was incorporated as the Gramophone Co. (India) Ltd., in 1946. There were subsequent name changes too, the last being in the year 2000 when the name was changed to Saregama India Ltd. But it is the brand name HMV (His Master’s Voice) that the old timers are nostalgic about. Anyway, during the early years when playback singing was beginning to make waves, the names of the playback singers were not mentioned but the names of the character of the movies were mentioned on the gramophone records. Still worse, while the names of the female singers were mentioned, Rafi’s name was not mentioned. Therefore, Rafi Sahaab never got the credit for many of his early songs. Since before then, all along, the actors had themselves been rendering their voice for the songs, the actors did not relish the idea of making the cine-goer believe that they were just lip-synching the song which had been playbacked by another person behind the screen. The old films did not list the playback singers even in their credit titles of the movie. Thus many songs of Rafi Sahaab were lost, especially during the conversion from the old 78RPM records to the newer versions, as and when they came into vogue. Generally, the original soundtrack of the movies and the masters of the 78RPM records were also destroyed to reuse for newer songs. Needless to say, the selection being subjective, many Gems of Rafi Sahaab’s songs were lost – some of which were found only in private collections. It is also known that disinterested members of family throw away the old records once the avid collector of the family ceases to exist. Akbar Shah, who came from the line of avid record collectors, during his collection spree came to the Kabaadi (Junk) Market of Hyderabad and found a record which he thought no longer existed. It was the song of Mohammed Rafi where he had soulfully rendered SABAK RAZA KA DE GAYE KARBALA WAALE which was from a 1954 flick, Shaan-e-Haatham. If such could be the state of the songs of the Fifties, what must have happened to those of the Forties?

On the positive note, the Hindi film production which had dropped to 74 in 1945, shot up to 156 in 1946.


It was in 1946 that Geeta Roy made her debut in Bhakta Prahlad under Hanuman Prasad and later became famous with Do Bhai (1947) under S.D. Burman who had made his Hindi musical debut with Shikari in 1946. Geeta Roy had the looks more of a film heroine than that of a playback singer. Her first song with Mohammed Rafi was recorded in 1946 and it was a patriotic song: JAI HIND, JAI HIND, JAI HIND, YEH HIND KI KAHAANIYAAN. Accompanying them was Beena Pani and chorus. Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar is exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival. Meena Kumar bagged her first role as an adult person after a score of baby roles. Kishore Kumar made his first appearance as an actor in Shikari. Meena Kapoor made her debut in Eight Days which had music by S.D. Burman. Music Director Sudhir Phadke, too, made his appearance in his first Hindi movie, Gokul. Chitragupt came out as an independent music director in Lady Robinhood. Ram Ganguli, an assistant of R.C. Boral, made his musical debut with Maharana Pratap. Hansraj Behl too came into his own after assisting Khemchand Prakash, Rashid Atre, and Pandit Gobindram. He made his musical debut in Pujari in which Baby Madhubala had a song to sing. Lata Mangeshkar appeared in Jeevan Yatra and also sang a solo under the baton of Vasant Desai. As far as actors were concerned, Dev Anand, Rehman, and Rehana made their debut appearances in Hum Ek Hain which was directed by the debutant P.L. Santoshi. Abhi Bhattacharya acted in a Hindi film for the first time. This movie was Milan which starred Dilip Kumar. Neecha Nagar lauched the careers of Chetan Anand, Kamini Kaushal and others. Dharti Ke Lal, directed by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, won critical acclaim at home and abroad. K.L. Saigal’s Umar Khayam was released. This was his second film with Suraiya. His third film with Suraiya, Parwana(1947) would be his last.



The visually-challenged musician and singer, K.C. Dey was an unparalleled singer who after earning great fame as actor, singer and composer in the Thirties, had shifted to Mumbai in 1942 till his final return to Calcutta in 1946. Once, aided by his protégé, Manna Dey, K.C. Dey had composed a song for a movie called Justice. When the composition was ready, K.C. Dey instructed Manna Dey to let Rafi know that the tune was ready for him to sing. Manna Dey was flabbergasted. Rafi had worked as a chorus singer under him when he was the Assistant Music Director. How could this be? Manna Dey frankly recounts in his interview with Kavita Chibber that he felt very hurt at that time.

He asked his uncle: “’Why can’t I sing it?’

My uncle said ‘No you can’t! Only he can sing this.’

I swallowed my pride and fetched him and then after he finished recording, I realised that indeed, I couldn’t have sung it as well as he did.” (Italics mine).

This great singer has always been a frank admirer of Rafi Sahaab as many of his interviews show. As late as his interview in the Kolkata's Times of India of October 4, 2009 he stated that he trusted his uncle's judgment, and knew that Rafi deserved those songs. "Rafi was a better singer than me. He gave birth to a unique style," he said categorically.

First it was K.L. Saigal, and now here was another great singer, K.C. Dey of MANN KEE ANKHEN KHOL BABA (Dhoop Chhaon) fame who, on the strength of his inner eye, put a stamp of approval on the tremendous potentials of Rafi Sahaab! Many years later, the illustrious S.D. Burman, who was a chela of K.C. Dey, would use the same ploy with Manna Dey and pass on the song to Rafi Sahaab.  As Manna Da himself  revealed: "Often after rehearsing a song for days with me, Dada would tell me 'Now that you know the song well guide Rafi to sing the song!"

Similarly, there is an incident which does not belong to the Forties but mentioning it here is a must in order to complete the links of the Bengali chain. That link in the chain is R.C. Boral. He was a stalwart of the New Theatres, and the one who discovered and shaped the voice of K.L. Saigal and the one who had introduced the playback singing in 1935. To state it briefly, this Dada Saheb Phalke Award Winner, would come face to face with Mohammed Rafi many years later for recording of a Bengali Kirtan which the former had composed. He thought that if he were not satisfied with Rafi, he could always have any of the well-known Bengal singers sing the Kirtan for him. Rafi Sahaab had always been conscientious about his work. He asked R.C. Boral’s permission for a short prayer. After offering his ‘Namaaz’ in one corner of the recording-room, he came to the mike to render the Kirtan. The result of the rendition of the Kirtan was so perfect that R.C. Boral was wonder-struck at the genius of this non-Bengali singer.


It was after Rafi Sahaab had passed away in 1980 that R.C. Boral paid a glowing tribute to him in an AIR programme at Calcutta, narrating that wonderful experience. If he had not told us of this amazing contribution of Rafi Sahaab at that time, we would never have known, for the very next year (1981) R.C. Boral, the Father of Indian Music, too passed away. For the records, R.C. Boral had utilized Rafi Sahaab in the three movies of the early Fifties: Mahaprabhu Chaitanya and Dard-e-Dil (1953) and in Swami Vivekanand in 1955 which is not our subject-matter here.

NASIR

Continued...6

MOHAMMED RAFI - THE LAST DECADE...8...

TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT INDIAN SINGER MOHAMMED RAFI.
The Last Decade- Rising of the Phoenix.

A Humble Tribute by Nasir Ali: 

Continued...8...


Coming back to our main discourse, the mid-seventies saw some changes in the equation of the playback scene in Bollywood which also had its hand in indirectly affecting Rafi Sahaab and the repercussions of which can be heard even today. One such factor was the rift between Asha Bhonsle and O.P. Nayyar. It was O.P. Nayyar who had really launched Asha Bhonsle to the exclusion of Lata Mangeshkar whose clout was tremendous during all that period. Asha left OP and hitched on to the bandwagon of R.D. Burman. Later, OP and Asha Bhonsle parted company for good. How bitter that parting was can be seen from the fact that some two years later she even refused to accept the Filmfare Award for her CHAYN SE HAMM KO KABHI AAP NE JEENE NA DIYA which OP had composed for her in Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye (1974). Though O.P. accepted that award, so much heart-broken was he that on his way home he threw it out of his car. This beautiful composition had been picturized on Rekha but it appears that Asha and Lata used their clout behind-the scene to have it dropped from the film altogether. That bitterness was never forgotten by her even as she married R.D. Burman in 1980.

The saddest thing about the fall-out of the Asha-OP relationship was that even those beautiful Rafi-Asha duets that she sang earlier in the Fifties and the Sixties under the baton of the music director seems to have been forgotten by her:

Phagun, (MAIN SOYA ANKHIYAAN MEECHE and EK PARDESI MERA DIL LE GAYA),
C.I.D. (LEKE PEHLA PEHLA PYAAR),
Tumsa Nahin Dekha (SAR PAR TOPI LAL and DEKH QASAM SE),
Naya Daur (MAANG KE SAATH TUMHAARA MAINE, UDEN JAB JAB ZULFEIN TERI and SAATHI HAATH BADHAANA),
Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (AAP YUNHI AGAR HAMM SE MILTE RAHEIN and BAHUT SHUKRIYA),
Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (NAZNEEN BADA RANGEEN HAI WAADA TERA),
Kashmir Ki Kali (ISHAARON ISHAARON MEIN DIL LENE WAALE and DEEWAANA HUA BAADAL),
Mere Sanam (ROKA KAI BAAR MAINE),
Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi (PHIR MILOGE KABHI and AAP SE MAINE MERI JAAN MUHABBAT KI HAI),
Bahaaren Phir Bhi Aayengi (DIL TOH PEHL SE HI MADHOSH) among others.

And all along we thought that Asha Bhonsle cherished her duet songs with Rafi Sahaab.....

Though both Rafi Sahaab and Asha Bhonsle carried on singing duets for the remaining part of the Seventies right up to 1980, (according to some estimate they sang about 800 songs together), yet it appears that Asha Bhonsle has negated the excellence of Rafi Sahaab as the greatest male playback singer in Bollywood by certain utterances. Of course every one has the right to one's opinion. So the other day in the Eighties at a concert at Chicago when Asha Bhonsle stated that Suresh Wadkar was as good as Rafi, this was not taken kindly by the knowledgeable audience some of whom were totally shocked. We need to hear what Suresh Wadkar himself stated about Rafi Sahaab:
"I think that no other singer could bring out the sweetness and 'Masti' of every word, incredibly fitting his voice to every hero and yet be in such perfect 'Sur' that every note was well-rounded and a complete experience in itself."

It is otherwise too abundantly clear that Asha Bhonsle preferred Kishore Kumar to Rafi Sahaab. In a recent live telecast of the RKB show in August 2007 she expresedly stated that Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar were "gods" for her. Clarifying that she might even be resented for saying so she went on to say that she listened to only Lata and Kishore Kumar and none else when it came to filmy music.

It must be remembered that Rafi Sahaab came to the dominate the playback scene at the time when Talat Mehmood, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, C. Ramchandra, Kishore Kumar and even his protégé, Mahendra Kapoor were at the peak of their singing voice. But those singers got type-cast in their own genre whereas Rafi Sahaab could sing in all their genres and more: Talat's ghazals, Manna Deys's classical, Mukesh's sad songs, Kishore's light compositions, Hemant's philosophical songs and so on. The Mangeshkar sisters had no competiton. Also, the maximum beneficiary of Rafi-Lata feud was none other than Asha Bhonsle though some like Suman Kalyanpur, did get the crumbs that fell from the table of the said feud.
Next, the Seventies saw commercial interests of the music industry coming to the fore and making promotions of their best bet at that time which happened to be the axis of RDB-KK-RK. As we know, with the rise of R.D. Burman and his preference for Kishore Kumar over Rafi in the early Seventies and with Asha Bhonsle already joining the team right from early seventies after ditching O.P. Nayyar, and with the "Phenomenon" Rajesh Khanna to boot, the way for eliminating Rafi Sahaab was all the more clear - though it just didn't happen. Giving winds to the fire was the role of the media and the sudden emergence of an unknown small town called Jhumri Talaiya into public memory. This town gained notoriety for the maximum number of "questionable" requests for the non-Rafi songs in programmes such as Man Chaahe Geet: "Jhumjri Talaiyya se chunnu munnu aur unke mummy papa likhte hain ki..." The requests were in such profusion that it looked that the said town might have had the population of the cities such as Bombay and Calcutta. Yes, the age of manipulation had started. Formerely the AAP KI FARMAISH or such other requests used to be genuine. The Binaca Geet Mala too had lost it lustre at least for some of their listeners who could never under why some songs were given a step-motherly treatment despite their huge popularity and appeal. The less said - the better. We would not be looking to the emerging political scene as the matter is too sensitive but would be touching only on the "Emergency" of 1975 later.

Here we have to rewind to the old case of Anil Biswas who haughtily believed that any singer could sing what Rafi Sahaab sang. In other words, he had turned a blind eye to the sterling qualities of Rafi Sahaab as an unparalleled singer. When this was brought up before Manna Dey he admitted that there was no one to touch Rafi Sahaab. In fact he recalled an incident where his uncle K.C. Dey who was a visually-challenged musician and singer of the Thirties-Forties actually preferred Rafi Sahaab to Manna Dey for a song in a movie called Justice. Admitting that he had accepted the superiority of Rafi Sahaab over himself, Manna Dey stated that the way Rafi Sahaab gave expressions to his songs was simply outstanding. In his memoirs ("Memories Come Alive") he says of Mohammad Rafi Sahaab:

"Rafi's renditions were like an early spring morning with its varied hues and shades and appealed to me immensely."

The pertinence of the above paragraph is that even in the late Nineties when Anil Biswas presided as a Judge in a musical competition called SA RE GA MA which is still telecast on TV channels but with an addition of the note “PA” now, the competitors used to be apprehensive about singing Rafi Sahaab’s numbers lest that would rub Anil Da on the wrong side. In other words, in one form or the other conspiracy against Rafi Sahaab existed even after more than a decade of his passing away. How we wished that Anil Biswas had heard the song of K.C. Dey: "BABA MANN KI AANKHEN KHOL."

Someone of the lot of the new playback singers has asserted that Rafi Sahaab had adapted the style of method of G.M. Durrani. Another back-stabbing Rafi Sahaab, this! Now it is common knowledge that Mukesh as well as Kishore Kumar were inspired by Kundan Lal Saigal in their earlier days of playback singing. Mukesh's DIL JALTAHAI TAU JALNE DE is a classic example in point. (But it was the young Rafi who had had the honour and pleasure of singing with the former legend, K.L. Saigal, in the chorus - the last two lines : RUHI RUHI RUHI MERE SAPNON KI RANI where he can also be spotted in the group.) This affords a ground to those who imitate Kishore Kumar or Mukesh to justify their cloning. It is also very well known that those who imitated Rafi Sahaab were able to carve a niche for themselves in the film industry as well. Not that G.M. Durrani was not a good singer but then there is a difference between the word “good” and “excellent.” So whoever came out with that comparison had done so as self-aggrandizement in order to assert his own importance and justification of imitation - but at the cost of Rafi Sahaab’s original style.

When we look at the songs of Rafi Sahaab and G.M. Durrani especially the one that sounds somewhat similar in tune for better appreciation, such as G.M. Durrani’s (sung with Lata) GAYE CHALA JAA (Humlog) Rafi Sahaab’s QADAM BADHAAYE JAA NA DAR (Bada Bhai), we easily realise that Rafi Sahaab’s is a powerhouse of rendition. Or in their duet together…. HAMM KO HANSTE DEKH ZAMAANA JALTA HAI (Hum Sab Chor Hain) the styles are distinctly different. In fact as early as early as the mid-forties the Queen of Melody, Noor Jahan, had rightly sensed the superiority of Rafi Sahaab over G.M. Durrani and got the latter replaced for the evergreen Jugnu (1946) duet: YAHAAN BADLA WAFA KA. If someone were to point out the numbers almost rendered in bass by Rafi Sahaab such as HAAY RE DUNIYA (Zeenat -1945) or TERA KHILONA TOOTA BAALAK (Anmol Ghadi – 1946) the answer is that those were the days of low octave and music directors hardly bothered to break that fetter (This is discussed in our first post on Fifties. It was only when Rafi Sahaab was available that the music directors were assured that they could come up with any type of compositions. Then, even in the 1951 golden jubilee hit, Deedar, G.M. Durrani’s number: HAMARA NAAM BHI LIKH DO MOHABBAT KARNE WAALON MEIN.. sounds so different in rendition, style, voice and timbre from Rafi Sahaab’s songs in the same movie (MERI KAHAANI BHOOLNE WAALE or HUWE HAMM JINKE LIYE BARBAAD, etc). So the difference is stark. The similarity? As between the chalk and the cheese! In fact, G.M. Durrani "never really was a front runner as a playback singer except for a brief while before his more gifted colleagues made their presence felt," says Manna Dey. Consequently, it can be very safely and uncontrovertibly asserted that Rafi Sahaab copied no one even in his salad days but forged the stamp of his own individual style of singing.

Even in the 21st Century Rafi Sahaab is being avoided by the new composers who have invented their own fusion style of music. Oh! Pausing here for a moment, this sentence makes it appear as if Rafi Sahaab is still living. But he does seem very much alive! Otherwise, why did Sonu Nigam admit that Rafi Sahaab's name is a taboo in the recording studios. Why? It appears that the standards set up by Rafi Sahaab is beyond the reach of many aspiring singers today even after his 26th death anniversary. Some, like Abhijeet, are waiting for an R.D. Burman and a suitable voice on the screen. Therefore, one can imagine how it must have been in the early Seventies for Rafi Sahaab when seeds of conspiracy were sown for ignoring him. It has to be remembered that even when a diamond falls to the ground it still remains a diamond and that even when the dust rises to the sky it is still the dust. In short, Rafi Sahaab survived the decade with all the glory of the rising phoenix.


Let's now turn to the so-called "Emergency," that was clamped on India by the Indira Gandhi Government, suspending the Fundamental Rights of the citizens. 


To continue...


NASIR.