mujhe mat roko mujhe gaane do

8/8/2019 Mujhe Mat Roko Mujhe Gaane Do

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Mujhe Mat Roko Mujhe Gaane DoThis article is written by Mr. P. HaldarRafi pleaded Mujhe mat roko mujhe gaane do in frontof a 12,000-strong audience at the Netaji IndoorStadium, Calcutta, on a February night in 1980,

sending a strong signal to the producers and thepowers-that-be in the Bombay film industry. Almost40 years before that, Rafi had to persuade his fatherto let him go to Bombay so that he could sing infilms. When Rafis father came to see him off atthe railway station, he told Rafi, Be a good

man. Twenty seven years after Rafi left us, we still keep debatingwhether he was a greater singer or a greater human being. WhenLaxmikant and Pyarelal composed their first film song, Rafi handedover the fee that he received to them saying wapas mein bnaat

lo. Rafi performing live


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When Rafi sensed that debutante Usha Khanna was hesitant aboutexpressing her views on the way he had sung one part of a song, hetold her, Usha, tumne humse nahin seekhna, hamein tumsegaana seekhna hai. Bengals well-known composer and singerSatinath Mukhopadhyay was sent to Bombay to record a Puja album

with Rafi in 1979 with only Rs. 1,000 in his pocket. When Rafi came toknow that Satinath could not book any of the recording studios, he

reacted angrily, Yeh kya budtameezi hai, and asked hissecretary to book the studio in Mohammed Rafis name. Storiesof his kind-heartedness and humility abound. Probably, it was hispersona, along with his amazing talent as a singer, which used tobring tears to his fans eyes. As he stepped onto the elevatedpodium in the middle of the oval stadium waving to his cheering fans,

chants of Rofi, Rofi, Rofi rent the eveningyear. Their faces were happy with joy but their eyes were moist.Much before Independence, Rafi had to face a different audience in

the city of Lahore. That was when the microphone had failed during aSaigal concert and Rafi was summoned to sing a few songs toentertain the people in the audience. Barely in his teens, the ladregaled the audience to such an extent that Saigal later remarked,Rafi, the keys to the kingdom are yours. Kundan Lal Saigal,who came from Punjab to Calcutta to work as a typewriter salesmanand was discovered by Raichand Boral, one of the stalwarts of NewTheatres. The day after Rafi passed away, Boral recollected anepisode on AIR Calcutta. Boral was composing a song inthe kirtanstyle (a Bengali devotional form of singing) and he was alittle apprehensive about Rafi being able to do full justice. If Rafi was

not up to the mark, he thought, he would get Bengals ownDhananjoy Bhattacharyya to sing the kirtan. Anyway, Rafi wassummoned and after a few rehearsals, he requested Boral to give himsome time to himself. During that period, Boral recalled, Rafi went toone corner of the room, did his namaz, and then came back for thefinal take. Boral was simply floored when he heard the final version.K. C. Dey, the famous blind singer of Bengal and Manna Deysuncle, used to love Rafi. In his autobiography, Manna Dey recountshow K.C. Dey had once asked him to rehearse a song and then helpRafi render it perfectly. Manna Dey writes that he was shattered, butrealised years later that Rafi was really the right person for the song.S. D. Burman, a disciple of K. C. Deys, would also sometimesindulge in this ploy with Manna-Rafi.Calcutta, the city of Guru Dutt, would form the backdrop forPyaasa.This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pyaasa, for which SahirLudhianvi wrote some of the most creative poetry on celluloid. S. D.Burman would set this beautiful Urdu poetry to music. And Rafiwould deliver two of the most memorable songs in Hindi fi lmmusic: Yeh mahalon yeh takht-on yeh taaj-on ki duniyaYeh duniya


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agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai and Jinhe naaz hai hind par woh kahanhai.

Rafi with S.D.BurmanThe first expresses the protagonists disillusionment with thematerial world and the second his rebellious, anti-establishmentspirit. But, more than anything else, these two songs defined thestandards for playback singing. When you watch Guru Dutt renderingthose songs on screen, it is almost impossible to realise that theactual voice was someone elses. With those two songs, Rafi setthe bar for playback singing so high that no singer past or

present, male or female, North or South, East or West would dareto reach that level. In Guru Dutts next film, Kaagaz ke Phool, S.D. Burman composed another classic for Rafi, Dekhi zamane ki yaari,written by Kaifi Azmi. And with that song, Rafi demonstrated that itwas he and only he who was destined to scale such lofty heights indelivering poetry on celluloid.Amin Sayani, who was compering the Calcutta function, went forwardand welcomed Rafi to the stage. The song that Rafi started withwasMadhuban mein radhika nache re, written by Shakeel Badayuniand composed in Hamir by Naushad. That song, the kohinoor of filmmusic, still dazzles music lovers all across the country. There werepeople in Calcutta who did not know much about Hindi film music,but when asked about Rafi, they would say, Uni Madhuban meinradhika geyechhen na? (Didnt he sing Madhuban meinradhika?) as if that one song was enough to prove Rafisgreatness. Shankar-Jaikishan composed the beautiful Radhike tu nebansuri churayi, sung so well by Rafi, but could not diminish thelustre of the original kohinoor. S. D. Burman utilised Rafi for Nacheman mora magan dhik dha dhigi dhigi in Meri Surat Teri Aankhen.


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Rafi once again demonstrated his ustadi with this Bhairavicomposition set in kaharwa taal. His singing was complementedbeautifully on the tabla by Pandit Samta Prasad. In the same film,Rafi poured his heart into Tere bin sooni nayan hamare, one of thebest Rafi-Lata duets of all t ime. The tune was based on Dadas

famous Bengali song, Ami chhinu eka baashara jaagaaye, set inPiloo. But Madhuban mein radhika remains the epitome of theclassical song, without which a compilation of classical film songs isunthinkable. Gyan Prakash Ghosh, one of the pundits of Hindustaniclassical music and the guru of some of the most well-knownclassical vocalists and percussionists, considered Rafi to be the bestexponent of semi-classical songs.Before taking a break in the middle, Rafi sang another Naushadcomposition, O duniya ke rakwhale, from Baiju Bawra, the film thatdemonstrated beyond doubt his peerless quality as a singer. A voicethat was the perfect harmony of bhakti and shakti. For those of us

who have been fortunate to hear Rafi sing this live, it is anunforgettable experience. While singing this Darbari Kanadacomposition, Rafi would repeat the Mahal udaas aur galiyansoonialaap several times, elevating his voice to touch the highernotes with the slightest of efforts, and then pack so much emotioninto the word sooni that the crowd would erupt with tears.The voice that appealed to your head as well as your heart! And thenthe voice would fall from high to low in a few seconds. The voice thatruled the octaves! In the same film, Rafi also sang Man tadpat haridarshan ko in Malkauns, which remains the best exposition of thatraga in film music to this day. The bhajan that became a symbol of apluralistic, tolerant and newly-independent India. Shakeel, Naushadand Rafi three devout Muslims would produce the greatestbhajan ever in film music. And when you hear Rafi enunciating

Hari Om, two of the most sacred words in the Hindu lexicon,you will have to acknowledge that his was the most divine voice in

film music!Amin Sayani made a personal requestto Rafi to sing Naushads Suhaniraat dhal chuki, composed in misraPahadi. It has been 58 years since thatseminal song was recorded; no oneeven remembers the actor who sang iton screen. Yet the appeal of that songcontinues to grow. Rafi, yours is theeternal voice! This is what Manna Dey,Rafis longtime colleague andfriend, had to say after Naushadpassed away last year: Whenever I

get the time, I listen to Naushads songs sung by Mohammed


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Rafi. Over and over again. Every time I get the same feeling. The joyin realising that this is what is perhaps called the perfect jugalbandi,something that cannot be surpassed.Rafi took a break for around 15 minutes after singing Duniya kerakhwale. Just before that song, he had screamed Yahoo! Chahe koi

mujhe junglee kahe, the song that started a cult following for theRafi-Shammi combo. The junglees in the audience took off theirshirts and danced to Rafis vocal pyrotechnics. Rafi was playingto the gallery and enjoying it immensely. The voice that catered tothe layman and the connoisseur alike! During the break, even from adistance, we could see Rafi mopping his forehead with hishandkerchief. Amin Sayani later recalled that Rafi was not feelingwell and asked him if he would like to end the concert. Rafisanswer was that people had paid to watch and hear him sing, sothere was no question of doing that. Little did we realise that Rafimight have begun to feel the pangs within.

During the break, the fans were sharing notes with one another.Some of them wanted to hear songs from Guide, others wanted tohear songs from Dosti; the list was endless. And I was thinking tomyself, Which song from Guide and which song from Dosti are theytalking about? In the three Guide solos, Rafi demonstrated perhaps for the umpteenth time that when it comes to playbacksinging, there was no one even close. The voice that could workwonders for Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt, Bharat Bhushan,Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar,Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Biswajit, Johnny Walkerand Mehmood. The common thread that weaved its magic across alltypes of actors. The voice of stars! There were five solos that Rafisang in Dosti, each in a league of its own, for a pair of unknownactors. Laxmi-Pyare had made their first major breakthrough andthey would remain fiercely loyal to Rafi t ill his last day.


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Rafi Sahab on stage with Shankar-JaikishanIt was time for Rafi to croon the perennial favourite, Baharon phoolbarsao, the suraj that rose in 1966 and still keeps shining. No Raficoncert would be complete without this song. Composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and based on Hasrat Jaipuris lyrics, this has been oneof the greatest romantic songs of all time. Shankar-Jaikishan, theduo that composed the maximum number of hits for Rafi. How muchRafi must have missed Jai since he passed away in 1971! It was Jaiwho composed Yeh mera prem patra padh kar which, in these days ofemail and instant messaging, still inspires lovers to write love letters

the old-fashioned way. Hasrat may have written theprem patra inmemory of his unrequited love, Jai may have composed the tune withhis beloved in mind, but it is Rafi who takes this song to a level thatwould make any woman swoon when she hears the openinglines: Meherbaan likhoon, haseena likhoon, ya dilruba likhoon,hairaan hoon ki aap ko is khat mein kya likhoon. And the Hasrat-Jai-Rafi combo has produced so many other romantic songs Teripyari pyari soorat ko, Dil ke jharokhe mein tujhko bithakar, Ayephoolon ki raani baharon ki malika that it is simply mind-boggling. Rafi, yours is the most romantic voice! And we have talkedabout only S-J for Rafis romantic songs so far. How about S. D.

Burman? Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, Tere mere sapne ab ek ranghai, Mera man tera pyaasa. And Khoya khoya chand khulaaasman, which Shailendra wrote sitting on the terrace of DadasJet Bungalow with the moon playing hide and seek. And how aboutDadas son? Tum ne mujhe dekha, Deewana mujh sanahin, Maine poochha chand se. How about Hemant Kumar, anotherCalcuttan? What an experience it would have been to hear the


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sonorous Hemant rehearsing Rafi for Tera husn rahe mera ishq raheto yeh subah yeh shaam rahe na rahe in Do Dil!

Rafi Sahab with Manna and TalatThe year 1976 heralded the beginning of a new innings for Rafi withLaila Majnu. For that film, he lent his voice for the third generation of

Kapoors. The music was composed by Madan Mohan and, after hisdeath, completed by Jaidev. Most of the songs were major hits; Rafichose to sing Tere dar pe aaya hoon at the concert. Madan Mohan,the King of Ghazals, gave Rafi some of the best ghazals in filmhistory. He based Tujhe kya sunaoo main dilruba tere samne merahaal hai on Sajjads famous composition for Talat, Yeh hawa yehraat yeh chandni. Talat Mahmood, who stopped in Calcutta en routeto Bombay in the guise of Tapan Kumar and delivered major Bengalihits like Duti paakhi duti teere. In Jahanara, Madan Mohan composedone of his finest ghazals for Talat, Phir wohi shaam wohi gam wohitanhai hai, but for Kisi ki yaad mein duniya ko hai bhulaye huye he

turned to Rafi. What he has composed for Rafi is a collectorsdelight: Tumhari zulf ke saaye mein shaam kar loonga, Meri awaazsuno pyar ka raaz suno, Teri aankhon ke siva duniya mein, Mere pyarmein tujhe kya mila, Rang aur noor ki baraat kise pesh karoon, Mainnigahen tere chehere se hataun kaise, Main yeh soch kar, Tu meresamne hai teri zulfe hai khuli, Tumse kahoon ek baat paronse halkihalki, Tum jo mil gaye ho. Rafi, one of the best ghazal singers! Thatevening, after watching Rafi perform live, I was singing to myself, Ek


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haseen sham ko dil mera kho gaya. And who can forget how herendered Kaifis famous lines, Kar chale hum fida jaan-o-tansaathiyonZinda rehne ke mausam bahut hai magar, jaan dene kirut roz aati nahin baandh lo apne sar pe kafan saathiyon. The mostpatriotic voice! In his dying days, Madan Mohan would keep listening

to two of his compositions, Yeh duniya yeh mefil and, sadlyenough, Sochta hoon piyun, piyun na piyun sawan ke mahinemein! Rafi, yours is the best sharabi voice!Rafi then decided to sing a hit shaadi number composed by Ravi,Aajmere yaar ki shaadi hai, and the crowd loved it. Ravi, who scored adouble century with Rafi, has played some of the most beautifulstrokes with his favourite bat: Chaudhvin ka chand ho,Chhoo lene donazuk hnoto ko, Sau baar janam lenge, Door rahe kar na karobaat, Itni haseen itni jawan raat kya karen. And the other doublecenturion, Chitragupta, has always been the dark horse. Who canforget Mujhe dard-e-dil ka pata na tha and Jaag dil-e-deewana? And

this year marks the 50th anniversary of Chal ud ja re panchhi; afterlistening to the tune, Rafi had told Chitragupta that he also felt likeflying away. And, while on the subject of ghazals, let us not forgetKhayyams Jaane kya dhoondti and Kahin ek masoom nazuk siladki, and S. N. Tripathis Lagta nahin hai dil mera and Na kisi kiaankh ka noor hoon.Jaidev relayed a tune that he had heard somewhere to S. D. Burman,for whom he was working as an assistant. Sachin korta, one of themost intelligent composers, first adapted this tune for his Bengalisong, Ghum bhulechhi nijhum e nishithe jege thaki. Then Majroohwrote Hum bekhudi mein tum ko pukare chale gaye and Rafi renderedit to go on Dev in Kala Pani. At an earlier concert, Amin Sayani hadrequested Rafi to sing this timeless classic in Chhayanat, to whichRafi responded, Main koshish karoonga and followed up witha brilliant rendition. Jaidev waited for three more years to make hisfirst major breakthrough with Hum Dono. Rafis Main zindagi kasaath nibhata chala gaya, a gem written by Sahir, provided theleitmotif for Dev and, for the rest of us, the inspiration we need fromtime to time. Then there is the unforgettable Kabhi khud pe kabhihalat pe rona aaya. And, if you think that is more than enough for onefilm, theres the Rafi-Asha duet, Abhi na jao chhod kar, whichmany consider to be the best duet ever in film music. The way Rafialternates between throwing and retracting his voice still makes usfeel dil abhi bhara nahin. Rafi, you have sung the best duets withAsha, Lata, Geeta and Suman!The crowd was getting a little restless; his fans wanted him to singthe hit qawaali from Amar Akbar Anthony. And thus started Pardahhai pardah hai but with a slight twist. Instead of Akbar mera naamnahin it became Rafi mera naam nahin. All the qawaalis in the filmhad become major hits. In another film, released around the same


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time, Rafi announced Hum kisise kum nahin. And as far as qawaalisare concerned, let us not forget Roshan, who composed one of thegreatest qawaalis of all time, which starts with Na to karvan ki talashhai and then shifts to Yeh ishq ishq hai ishq ishq. Manna, Batish,Asha, Sudha, Rafi what a team! One can hear Rafis sufi

strains when he hits the high notes. The best qawaal in film music!And we also remember the other Roshan who illuminated our soulswith Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare, Caravaan guzar gaya gubaardekhte rahe,Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat, Jo baattujhme hai teri tasveer mein nahin, Ab kya misal doon main tumhareshabab ki.In an earlier concert, I had heard Rafi sing Yun to hum ne laakhhaseen dekhe hai composed by O. P. Nayyar, the King of Rhythm.The OP-Rafi combo symbolised lively and vibrant music. Pukartachala hoon main epitomised their combination. Then you

haveJawaniyan yeh mast

mast,Laakhon hain nigahon mein,Phirwohi dil laya hoon, Aap ke haseenrukh pe. And the Rafi-Asha duet thatmade every music loverdeewana:Deewana hua badal. Whatsuperb orchestration with sitar,sarangi, flute and drums! AndRafis special emphasis on dil

jhooma. No one could play withwords like he did! In Hai duniya usi kizamana usi ka, Rafi performed a duet

of a different kind, a duet with Manohari Singhs saxophone. Andwho can forget some of the most popular duets OP composed forRafi and Geeta in the fift ies? Tum jo huye mere humsafar, Sun sunsun zalima, Aankhon hi aanhkhon mein, Udhar tum haseen ho, Jaanekahan mera jigar gaya ji. Geeta, who had migrated from the other sideof Bengal to Bombay at a young age, used to accompany Rafi for hisearly concerts abroad. But in the wake of personal problems in herlife in the sixties, Geetas Chupke se mile pyase pyase momentswith Rafi were slowly came to an end. And, of course, when we talkabout OP, we must mention the wonderful Rafi-Asha team. Maang kesaath tumhara, Main pyar ka rahi hoon, Aap yunhi agar humse milterahe, Isharon isharon mein, Phir miloge kabhi, Mujhe mera pyar dede, Humdum mere khel na jaano; the list is practically endless. Butbefore leaving the OP-Rafi topic, let us also remember Aanchal meinsaja lena kaliyaan zulfon mein sitaare bhar lena, that pricelesscomposition by a man who did not have any formal training inclassical music.


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Rafi in JugnuThis year marks the 60th anniversary of Yahan badla wafa ka, thepopular duet that Rafi shared with Noorjehan in Jugnu. The partitionof the country that followed saw Noorjehan and Firoze Nizami, thecomposer of the song and one of Rafis earliest mentors, leavefor Pakistan. But Rafi, who himself told everyone Aye dil hai mushkil

jeena yahan, finally relented, exclaiming Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore three cities separated by over athousand miles, yet contributing significantly to the shared musical

legacy of the subcontinent. And this man has been such an integralpart of this glorious period in our history. But this is not the t ime tolook back, Rafi thought. All the big producers, music directors andstars were flocking back to him in such a manner that it was clearthat the eighties, just like the fifties and sixties, would also belong tohim. He thanked his diehard fans with Ehsaan mere dil pe tumharahai dosto. The king was back and was asking hischhota bhai anddevoted fan to vacate the throne by invoking Lord Ramasname: Ramji ki nikli sawari. Usha Timothy came on stage toaccompany Rafi for another hit song from the same film,Dafli-waledafli baja, in which he had a very small part. Sensing that the crowd

wanted to hear more of him, Rafi took a ghungroo out of his coatpocket and began singing Ghungroo-wali ghungroo baja.It was almost midnight and the crowd wanted more. Rafi bawledAajaaaja main hoon pyar tera and the crowd went wild. Marigolds werebeing thrown toward the stage. There was so much masti in hisvoice! Rafi motioned to his orchestra to stop playing and exclaimed,Aare wah, Kalkatta-walo ko kya ho gaya! and then resumedhis aajas and jaajas. R. D. Burman had created a sensation


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with Teesri Manzil and all its songs had Rafis signature. The filmushered in a very different kind of sound to the music of the sixties.This year marks the 50th anniversary of another rock n rollnumber, Laal laal gaal jaan ke hai laagu, composed by N. Datta forMr. X. As the current generation says, Rafi rocks! Like LP and RD,

Kalyanji Anandji had also made their big splash with Rafi in thesixties, in Jab Jab Phool Khile, where Rafi cautioned us,Pardesiyonse na ankhiyan milana. Those three were still around and Rafi wasyearning to create new waves with them in the eighties. Ravi,Chitragupta and Usha Khanna were also around, Junior Roshan and

junior Malik had already entered the scene, and the two juniorChitraguptas were waiting in the wings. All part of the same clan, theRafi clan. But a few months later, after rehearsing for a Bengali Pujaalbum with Basu-Manohari, the farishta left us.Uttam Kumar, Bengals matinee idol, had passed away exactly aweek ago. Rafi, with whom Uttam had a chhoti si mulaqat, was

apparently not happy with the way the Bombay film industry had paidits tribute to the star. Whether or not he instructed the lyricist orBasu-Manohari to do something about it, we dont know. Thealbum was never completed, but at the Calcutta concert, Rafi didsing Gul mohorer phool jhore jai, so beautifully composed by Basu-Manohari about a year and a half earlier. Basudev Chakraborty andManohari Singh, who like so many musicians before and after them,had left Calcutta for Bombay in the fift ies to pursue their musicaldreams.The voice that Manna, Talat, Mukesh and Kishore adored; Yesudas,S. P. Balasubramaniam, Suresh Wadkar and Udit Narayan idolised;and Mahendra Kapoor, Anwar, Mohd Aziz, Shabbir Kumar and SonuNigam emulated was no more. A singers singer! For Rafi is theultimate benchmark, the barometer for gauging the worth of theplayback singer of the day. A voice that reverberates every day,every hour, every minute, every second in our hearts. As he soprophetically said:Tum mujhe yun bhoola na paogeJab kabhi bhi sunoge geet mereSang sang tum bhi gun gunaoge

mujhe mat roko mujhe gaane do

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