By: M. Ismeth
Renowned singer Mohamed Rafi’s 86th birth anniversary fell on December 24.

Though he was from Amristar, his father Haji Ali Mohamed shifted to Lahore in 1935-36 and the rest of the family followed later. His family owned a men’s salon in Lahore. It was his brother – in- law Mohamed Hameed who spotted the talent in Rafi and encouraged him. Rafi learnt classical music from maestro Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jinwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami. In 1944 Rafi moved to Bombay (Mumbai) when poet Tanvir Naqui introduced him to some of the leading film producers of the time in the calibre of Abdul Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan and actor – director Nazeer. Rafi later contacted famous music director Naushad, who initially used him as part of a chorus. Rafi’s first song with Naushad was in the film “Pehle AAP’ in 1944. He recorded another song for the film “Gaonki Gori’ in 1945 which he considered as his first hindi song.

He married his cousin Bashira in 1945 and had four sons Saeed, Khalid, Hamid, Shahid and three daughters Parveen, Nasreen and Yasmin and 18 grand children.

In 1945 Rafi appeared on screen in the film “Laila Majnu”. In 1946 he sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus with K.L. Saigal in the film ‘Shah Jehan”.

However, he was first noted for his song “Tera Khilona toota Balak” for mehboob Khan’s “Anmol Ghadi” which has some melodious songs sung by late Noor jehan as well. His duet with Noor Jehan in the film “Jugnu” Yahan Badla Wafa Ka” became a hit. Following the partition Rafi had his family flown to Mumbai.

Many leading heroes of Bollywood apart from their acting prowess became popular as a result of Rafi singing for them. He has sung for Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutte, Dev Anand, Rejendra Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rishi and Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachan and several others.

But the most unforgettable moment in Rafi’s life was when he received a silver medal in 1948 from no lesser a person than Independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on Independence Day. His singing made Nehru to invited Rafi to his residence to sing for the Nehru family ghazals. This practice was followed even by late Indira Gandhi. In 1949 Rafi was given solo songs by the music directors Naushad in films (Chandini Raat, Dillagi and Dulari), the song “Suhani Raat” in Dulari is todate a hit. Shyam Sunder and Husnalal Bhagatram are the others.

Rafi’s association with Naushad helped him to establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singer in Bollywood. The song in “Baiju Bawra” (1952) “O Duniya Rakhwale” became an instant hit. Naushad hitherto who had bee using Talat Mahmood for his songs began favouring Rafi as the male voice in almost every song he composed.

Rafi had sung 149 songs for Naushad 81 of them solo. The songs composed by Naushad and sung by Rafi are melodious to listen to even today.
It was in the 1950’s and 1960’s Rafi found favour with other music composers in the calibre of O.P. Nayyar, Shankar – Jaikishan, and S.D. Burman.
It was Burman who patronized Rafi as the singing voice of Dev Anand He worked with Burman in movies like “Pyaasa” (1957). “kaagaz ke Phool” (1959), TereGhar ke Saamne” (1962) “Guide” (1965) “Aradhana” (1969) and “Abhiman” (1973).