Golden Era of Bollywood: A Tribute to Mohammed Rafi on his 92nd Birth Anniversary

Saturday 24 December 2016

A Tribute to Mohammed Rafi on his 92nd Birth Anniversary

Mohammed Rafi was born on December 24th, 1924 in the small Punjabi village of Kotla Sultan Singh. This is located not far from Amritsar. At the age of seven, Rafi learnt Hindustani Classical music under the renowned Ustaad Bade Gulam Ali Khan and Vahida Khan.
It was in 1944 at the age of 20, that Rafi sang for his first film. It was the songSoniye Hiriye, Teri Yaad Ne Bahut Sataya, for the Punjabi film "Gul Baloch".which was released on 28^th February, 1944.
When Rafi entered the Hindi Cinema that time K L Sehgal, who was his idol was in his peak every male singer used to sing in his style Rafi also did the same but at the later years he developed his own style.K L Sehgal used to praise Rafi.
Besides K. L. Saigal, Rafi was also influenced by G. M. Durrani. In the early phase of his career, he often followed Durrani's style of singing, but later evolved with his own, unique style. He sang with Durrani in some of the songs such as "Humko Hanste Dekh Zamana Jalta Hai" and "Khabar Kisi Ko Nahiin, Woh Kidhar Dekhte" (Beqasoor, 1950).

Rafi was offered acting roles also,those days playback singing was not popular,only those actor ere casted who can sing also,in 1945 he acted in Laila Manu he appeared on the screen for the song "Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha" and he also acted in Jugnu(1947).
A major milestone forRafi came in 1949 when Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki, became a great hit. This solidified Mohd. Rafi's position as a top ranking male playback singer.
With the start of the famous Binaca Geet Mala in 1952, the program aired the immortal songs of the film Baiju Bawra and this really launched Rafi as a popular singer for all ages
The Naushad / Rafi collaboration turned out to be a very successful one. In all Mohd Rafi sang 149 songs for Naushad.In the 1960 film Mughal-E-Azam, Mohammed Rafi sang "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad", composed by Naushad, with a chorus of 100 singers
Rafi Saab, is indeed the best singer of all times. Today, on his 92nd Birth Anniversary I present the magic of Mohammad Rafi and Naushad. His songs today are just as popular as they were during his lifetime