Muhammad Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. One of the most popular singers of the Hindi film industry, Rafi was notable for his versatility; his songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India
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Even when we were married, Rafi saab didn’t encourage me to listen to his songs. He’d always smilingly look at me and joke, ‘If you only paid attention to my singing, who will do the house work?’ We would share a good laugh about it." Mohammed Rafi’s wife Bilquis Rafi revealed in an interview. For Bilquis, his wife, Rafi was just a husband, his music did not matter to her at all. She never listened to songs. But for all that, it was apparently a very happy marriage.
After Rafi's death, in its 1984 edition, the Guinness Book of World Records gave Lata Mangeshkar's name for the "Most Recordings" and stated, "Mohammad Rafi (d 1 August 1980) [sic] claimed to have recorded 28,000 songs in 11 Indian languages between 1944 and April 1980."According to the available figures, Rafi has sung 4,516 Hindi film songs, 112 non-Hindi film songs, and 328 private (non-film) songs from 1945 to 1980. The Guinness Book entries for Rafi and Lata were removed in 1991.
In 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the team of Husanlal Bhagatram-Rajendra Krishan-Rafi had overnight created the song "Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon, Bapuji Ki Amar Kahani".[8] He was invited by the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to sing at his house. In 1948, Rafi received a silver medal from Jawaharlal Nehru on Indian Independence Day.
Besides K. L. Saigal, whom he considered his idol, 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).
Mohammed Rafi cheerfully smiling along with his wife Bilquis Rafi. "Rafi saab had been singing from the age of 10 So when we got married, he was well into singing ghazals (which were a rage at that time), and film songs. But since I came from a very conservative upbringing, I didn’t switch on the radio to hear the music. l was told about his singing, but since I didn’t quite like music, it didn’t matter so much to me. Even when we were married, Rafi saab didn’t encourage me to listen to his…
Rafi's partnership with Shankar Jaikishan was among the most famous and successful in the Hindi film industry. Under Shankar-Jaikishan, Rafi produced some of his songs for actors like Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar. Out of six Filmfare awards, Rafi won three for S-J songs — "Teri Pyari Pyari Surat Ko", "Baharon Phool Barsao", and "Dil Ke Jharokhe Mein". The song "Yahoo! Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe" was sung by Rafi, only to be matched a fast-paced orchestra and a composition by Shankar…
Rafi's association with Naushad helped the former establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Hindi cinema.[7] Songs from Baiju Bawra (1952) like "O duniya ke rakhwale" and "Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj" furthered Rafi's credentials.[6] Rafi ended up singing a total of 149 songs (81 of them solo) for Naushad.[11] In the 1960 film Mughal-E-Azam, Mohammed Rafi sang "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad", composed by Naushad, with a chorus of 100 singers
Jaikishan. S-J made Rafi give playback for Kishore Kumar in the film Shararat ("Ajab hai daastan teri yeh zindagi"). Rafi sang a total of 341 numbers (216 solo) for Shankar-Jaikishan.[11] Among the films of this combination are Basant Bahar, Professor, Junglee, Suraj, Brahmachari, An Evening in Paris, Dil Tera Deewana, Yakeen, Prince, Love in Tokyo, Beti Bete, Dil Ek Mandir, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, Gaban and Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
As per Naushad, Rafi came to him with a letter of recommendation from Naushad's father.[10] Rafi’s first song for Naushad was "Hindustan Ke Hum Hain" ("We belong to Hindustan") for the film Pehle Aap in 1944. The first song for the duo was the soundtrack of the movie Anmol Ghadi (1946). Before Rafi, Naushad’s favorite singer was Talat Mahmood. Once Naushad found Talat smoking during a recording. He was annoyed and hired Rafi to sing all the songs of the movie Baiju Bawra.[9] Rafi's…
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