Rafi-Naushad Era

Rafi Naushad combination is the best thing that happened in the world of Hindi film Music.Rafi as the best playback singer ever and Naushad as the the best ever Music Director(sorry, if some1 has objection in acceptin him as best MD) , and the combination of both resulting some of the best ever songs of HFM.

This combination started their magic in 1944 with the song Hindustan ke hum hai..for the film Pahle Aap and climax was with the song "Jis raat ke khwab aaye" in 1980 for the ever incomplete film Habba khatoon.
It is ironical to note that the magic of Naushad saab came to an end after the departure of Rafi Saab..It does not means that Naushad saab 's ability to compose marvellous songs came to an end after 1980 but actually nobody was there to sing his composition in the perfect way as Rafi Saab usually does.

The torturous song!

During his struggle period someone introduce Rafi saab to the father of Naushad Ali . Impressed by his singing, Naushad' father send Rafi to his son with a letter mentioning that he is a meritorious boy.
Naushad saab did not turn down the request and allow him singing a chorus type song with Durrani, Shyam kumar, Allauddin, motiram etc for the film Pehle Aap(1944).

The song "hindostan ke hum hai hindostan humara, hindu muslim dono ki ankhoN ka tara"was to be picturised on Soldiers .As there was lacking technical facilities those days, it was decided that sound of the boots of the soldiers will be created originally.

Therefore all the singers was made to wear heavy army boots in their foot and they are asked to sing the song as well as to tap their foot as soldiers at the same time!
Rafi Saab was only 19 years old at that time and his leg was badly damaged.

The song was recorded and Rafi Saab get Fifty rupees as his first earning.But this was just the begining of the journey!

Most happy moment for Rafi Saab!

Rafi , Mukesh , Kishore , Lata all were great admirer of Sehgal and all of them have a dream of singing with him. However only Rafi Saab get this golden opportunity.
Rafi always asked Naushad to allow him to sing a song with Sehgal.This dream of singing with Sehgal came into reality at the time of recording of the song "Ruhi ruhi ruhi mere sapno ki rani"(Lyric by Majrooh sultanpuri) for the film SHAHJEHAN(1946) when two line of the song is sung by him.
It is interesting to note that these two lines was picturised on Rafi Himself!
Naushad always mentioned that he never sees Rafi saab so much happy as he was at the time of recording of this song with Sehgal .

"BEGINING OF ACTUAL PLAYBACK."

Playback singing is just not about singing like ghazal. Actually ADAYAGI-TO MOULD YOUR VOICE ACCORDING TO THE MOOD OF THE SONG AND ALSO ACORDING TO THE STYLE OF THE CHARACTER ON WHICH THE SONG IS TO BE PICTURISED- is most important part of it.
Sehgal saab was a master of it but he was not a playback singer as all the song sung by him was picturised on himself. Therefore it was not tough for him to catch the mood of the song.
Actually Rafi saab invented it-mixing the song with Adayagi........and the song was "TERA KHILAUNA TOOTA BALAK TERA KHILAUNA TOOTA (Anmol Ghadi, 1946 , Mehboob Production, Naushad ,Tanvir Naqvi).
After using many a times Rafi Saab's voice as a chorus Naushad saab came to the conclusion that his voice need something more than it. Tera khilauna toota...... was first solo sung by him for Naushad Ali.
This song was not picturised on the hero of the film but on a Toy-seller but one can find all the characteristic of a toy seller in the Voice of Rafi Saab.
This was the actual begining of the PLAYBACK SINGING!

Ye Zindgi Ke Mele

from Mela(1948) was another milestone....
Rafi saab was already a stablished singer in 1948 but Naushad Ali did not yet switch over completely to the Rafi Saab. Actually there was 12 songs in this film (sung by Rafi , Shamshad ,Zohrabai and Mukesh) and only one song was sung by Rafi.
But this one song was enough for him to show his range, his height,his aalap,his taan.
This song was something different from Naushad's earlier compositions and it seems that he composed this song just to test and taste Rafi's range!

And HE pass this test with distinction! Ye zindgi ke mele(lyric:Shakeel) along with Ek dil ke tukde hazar hue(Pyar ki jeet;1948;husnalal bhagatram;Qamar jalalabadi) grasp the entire nation with Rafimania in 1948 and then forever!

In 1949 four films,:Andaz , Chandani Raat, Dillagi and dulari, was released in which music scored by Naushad sahab.
In Dillagi, Rafi Saab sung two solo.Actually this was the first time when Nuashad uses his voice for the main lead.
The song was:1)Is dunia me ai dilwalo dil ka lagana khel nahi
Ulfat karna khel hai lekin karke nibhana khel nahi
2)Tere kuche mein armano ki dunia leke aaya hoon
Tujhi par jaan dene ki tamanna leke aya hoon
both songs were filmed on Shyam kumar. These two song have somethin special for myself. These are the songs whhich made me A Rafian forever.

In Chandani Raat Rafi sings at least three song, again filmed on Shyam.

However in Andaz, Naushad uses rafi's voice for just one song(yu to aapas me bigadte hai khafa hote hai/milne wale kabhi ulfat me juda hote hai) and this was a duet with Lata.
This was the first duet of Rafi n lata under Naushad Ali. Unique thing of this film was that mukesh's voice was used for dilip kumar and Rafi playbacked for Rajkapoor!
In later year this arrangement was reversed, Mukesh became a regular playback for Rajkapoor and Rafi for Dilip kumar!

SUHANI RAAT DHAL CHUKI-

This song is easily the first international hit from HFM.This song was became so much popular outside India that a number of myth became associated with this song.

It was believed to be the national song of a west indian country(trinidad n tobago/ surinaam) because of its immense poplarity untill recently.Even some the journalist make a research work to find the reality.Can one imagine any other song so much popular even outside India?Surely not.
This song was Rafi 's all time favourite.
This song was filmed on Suresh.
There were some other popular songs in this film , sung by Rafi Saab with Lata:Raat rangili mast nazare ...n mil mil ke gayenge..but the popularity of Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki is unparellal.

BABUL

is indeed first and last film in which Naushad uses the voice of Talat Mehmood prominently.Actually after this film Naushad uses voice of Talat only on two occassion:one for the duet KAISI HASEEN AAJ...........(AADMI)with Rafi Sahab and another for multisinger song Rahega jaha me tera naam(Rafi,Talat, Mukesh,Hemant, manna,Balbir for the film Love and God).
However for Kaisi Haseen Aaj...Talat 's voice was replaced by Mahendra kapoor in filmi version!
No doubt ,Talat Saab was a great singer ...But it is said that once Naushad once saw him smoking in the studio and so he decided to cut of his relation with him.

However the measure reason for not choosing him was clearly that Naushad sahab at last found a singer who can singing any any type of song with full masterly: from 'Tara ri tara ri yara ri 'type to 'man tadpat' to 'na mai bhagwan hoon' to mere mehboob' to 'nain lad jayeehen' to ye gotedaar lehanga!

Anyway there are 12 songs in this film, sung by Rafi, Talat, shamshad and lata.
Rafi Saab's voice is used in one song, NADIA ME UTHA HAI SHOR CHHAI HAI GHATA GHANGHOR(co sung by talat, shamshad and chorus).
One of the reason for using the voice of Talat in this film was the Hero of this film Dilip Kumar was associated with his voice till some years.
The reason of using the voice of Rafi for that one song was that it was the stablished fact at that time that "every film must contain a song in the high pitch sung by MOHAMMED RAFI" .
Naushad Sahab once told that every producer started directing their music Directors to put a high pitch song in the voice of Rafi as a must!

JAADU(1951)

Another film directed by A R Kardar and music by Naushad Ali : one of the 14 films, from Sharda to DDDL, of the pair: another superhit.
main cast of the film was again Suresh, Shyam kumar. the main charm among the artiste of the film was charming lady Nalini Jaywant...
There was 9 songs in the film. with the unforgettable "ik jhooth hai jiska duniya ne..." sung by Rafi Saab..

DEEDAR(1951) & DEEWANA(1952)

And at last RAFI-DILIP-NAUSHAD magic get started which continues till 1968 venture AADMI...
This was the first film in which naushad saab uses the voice of Rafi saab for Dilip saab for all the songs AND EVERY SONG WAS NOTHING ELSE THAN THE BEST! Three immortal solos HUE HUM JINKE LIYE BARBAAD, NASEEB DAR PE TERE and MERI KAHANI BHULNEWALE, one duet with lata, DEKH LIYA MAINE and also the short one BACHPAN KE DIN BHULA NA DENA.
G M Durrani , who was among the top singers in 1944, and a naushad favourite, get the second fiddle with the only song, a duet with shamshad NAZAR PHERO NA HUMSE.

IN DEEWANA, Rafi saab sung one song TASVEER BANATA HOON ,picturised on chandrasekher, for whom rafi saab sung a number of great songs.

At this time, rafi saab was already the most sought after singer, however he was still not satisfied with his songs, as naushad saab said, “Rafi those days used to feel concerned that, though singing extensively, he had not been able to create the same impact as Talat Mehmood or Mukesh. ‘Well, here’s your chance”, I said. ‘This Baiju Bawra theme offers you the kind of vocal challenge which, if you meet, you will find yourself made for life.’
“Of course in saying that, I could not know, at the time, that the film would become an all-time musical classic.
AND HE WAS CERTAINLY REFFERING TO THE FILM 'BAIJU BAWRA'.

Baiju Bawra(1952)

This film is naushad sahab's only filmfare award movie!
not for mughal-e-azam.
not for kohinoor!
not for mother India!
Not for mere mehboob!
hats' off to these so called award giver companies.
and also hats' off to all award purchasers!
Coming on Baiju Bawra, this film was real trend setter.A lot of films like basant bahar, sangeet samrat tansen follows in which classical music is used prominently.
This film was directed by Vijay bhatt and this was his best film and also his only film in which naushad was the music director.I always wonder why vijay bhatt never work with him again.
In this film, Rafi saab's voice is used by naushad sahab marvellously. Whether it is the love song 'jhoole me pawan ke aayee bahar' or high scale song 'O dunia ke rakhwale' or 'Raaga parichaya' or just the pronouncing the word OHM! everyting is great.
naushad saahab rightly said that :"Of course in saying that, I could not know, at the time, that the film would become an all-time musical classic. But about one thing I could be sure - that the theme offered me scope to create the kind of music that Rafi alone could articulate. And the scale of effor that Rafi put in during our elaborate rehearsals was something to commend in this singer, even if he was young, strong and tireless.
I can't ever forget, for instance, the vocally meticulous manner in which Rafi explored the dfferent stages in which O duniya ke rakhwale is picturised. My diary shows that we rehearsed O duniya ke rakhwale for 21 days, Insaan bano for 17 days and Man tarpat for 14 days. "

songs of baiju bawra

1.jhoole me pawan ke aayee bahar (Rafi, Lata):young baiju grown up(bharat bhushan) and started to sing the melody of love with gauri (meena kumari)

2.aaaaa....akeli mat jaiyyo radhe jamuna ke teer(Rafi, Lata):Another love song tu ganga ki mauj mai jamuna ki dhara...

3.ho ji ho...door koi gaye dhun ye sunaye(Rafi,Shamshad,lata ,chorus):baiju calls Ho ji Ho..only this line is sung by Rafi Saab but it surely creates the magic.

4.nirdhan ka ghar lootne wale loot lo dil ka pyar
pyar wo dhan hai jiske aage sab dhan hai bekar
insaan ban(Rafi):Dacoits attack on the village.started destructions and lootpaat. then baiju started singing only to mesmerize all of the dacoits! Really Rafi saab has the ability to create such effect with his voice.

5.Ohm..(Rafi,chorus):first step by Baiju towards learning the classical lesson of music.first sound of the universe...

6.ho ji ho..tu ganga ki mauj(Rafi): slow version of tu ganga ki mauj(only one line)

7.lesson of raaga..(Rafi):raaga lalit(piu piu re karat hai papiha/ab kaho kaise rakhu jiya); raga gaur malhar(jhum jhum badariya barse/tum bin mora jiya tarase); raaga puria(ajab tori prabhu aan baan/baag me ban me neel gagan me dekhat hu teri shaan shaan tori);raaga bageshwari(he ri he mai kaise ghar aaoon mitwa /baat chalat mohe roke tharo gharwa)

8.hari ohm hari ohm (Rafi, chorus):baiju's guru swami haridas is ill, unable to walk. here baiju sings MAN TADPAT in the eternal raaga MALKAUNS.And again the miracle..Swami haridas comes out of his hut, walikng on his foot.this is really uncomparable song. One of the person present at the recording of this song goes into trance and cant stop repeating HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA even after recording is over!This song is emotionally and religiously best!
9. ho ji ho..hari ohm...(Rafi, lata):gauri sings ho ji ho.baiju sings hari om...

10.O dunia ke rakhwale(Rafi):the most popular song. many legends is associated with this song. It is said that blood came out of his throat . But this is just a story.

continued........