Mohammed Rafi, one of India\u2019s greatest playback singers, was born on December 24, 1924, at Kotla Sultan Singh, a village in Punjab near present-day Amritsar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His father, Hajji Ali Mohammad, moved to Lahore in the 1920s. A family friend recognized Rafi\u2019s singing talent and supported him. Eventually Rafi went to Bombay in 1944.<\/p>\n
Rafi, who learnt classical music from stalwarts such as Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, sang in public for the first time in Lahore when he was 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He made his debut as a playback singer in the Punjabi film \u2018Gul Baloch\u2019. He was also invited by All India Radio to sing. \u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview to Star & Style<\/em> magazine in 1980, said to be his last before he died, Rafi recalled how he had moved to Bombay: \u201cNasir Khan, one of the top producer-actors at that time, spotted me and offered to take me to Bombay and groom me as a singer in films. Khan saab<\/em> had asked my father for his permission. My father had refused the offer point blank since he frowned upon the very idea of my taking up singing in films as a career\u2026When Nasir Khan persisted with the offer my elder brother convinced my Abaajaan to let me go to Bombay. With great reluctance my dad agreed to my pursuing a career as a singer in films.\u201d<\/p>\n In Bombay the poet Tanvir Naqvi introduced the young Rafi to film producers such as Mehboob Khan. Rafi made his Hindi film debut with the song \u201cAji Dil Ho Aaabu Mein\u2026\u201d in the film \u2018Gaon Ki Gori\u2019. His songs of the 1940s included \u201cTera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha\u201d, \u201cMere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi\u201d, \u201cTera Khilona Toota Balak\u201d and \u201cYahan Badla Wafa Ka\u201d, most of them duets. After Partition Rafi decided to stay in India and brought his family to Bombay.<\/p>\n Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru awarded Rafi a silver medal in 1948.<\/p>\n In the next decade the talents of Dilip Kumar, Naushad, Rafi and Shakil Badayuni became \u201ca rare kind of musical combination\u201d, according to N. Divakar. \u201cThe \u201950s saw great movies such as \u2026\u2018Uran Katola\u2019, \u2018Dulari\u2019, \u2018Son of India,\u2019, \u2018Kohinoor\u2019, \u2018Dil Diya Dard Liya\u2019, \u2018Mother India\u2019 and so on,\u201d Divakar wrote in The Hindu<\/em> in 2007. \u201cApart from being great hits, these movies had some of the best songs that the Indian film industry has produced. Rafi had a role to play in all of them. The devotional songs of \u2018Baiju Bawra\u2019 were not only melodies, but were the symbol of India\u2019s pluralistic culture, with the combination of Rafi-Naushad-Shakil behind those evergreen hits.\u201d<\/p>\n Rafi was influenced by the legendary singers K.L Saigal and G.M. Durrani. In the 1980 interview he said: \u201cWhen I entered the line, there were, of course, popular singers like Saigal Saab<\/em>, G.M. Durrani and Khan Mastan…Instead of considering me as yet another competitor they encouraged me to give my best. In fact I remember the first time I met Saigal Saab<\/em> at Lahore where he had come to give a concert on the stage. The mike had failed at the last minute. While it was being set right, I was asked to keep the audience engaged by singing a couple of songs. I was only 15 then\u2026Saigal Saab<\/em> blessed me that day and predicted that a day would come when I would be a sought-after singer.\u201d<\/p>\n Rafi worked with all the leading music directors of his time.<\/p>\n He sang 149 songs for Naushad including songs from the 1952 film \u2018Baiju Bawra\u2019 (such as \u201cO duniya ke rakhwale\u201d). With S.D. Burman he worked in movies like \u2018Pyaasa\u2019 (1957), \u2018Kaagaz Ke Phool\u2019 (1959), \u2018Guide\u2019 (1965), \u2018Aradhana\u2019 (1969) and \u2018Abhimaan\u2019 (1973).\u00a0<\/p>\n One of Rafi\u2019s most successful partnerships was with Shankar Jaikishan, with the pair coming up with hit numbers like \u201cTeri Pyari Pyari Soorat Ko\u201d and \u201cBaharon Phool Barsao\u201d. Together they produced hits like \u201cYahoo! Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe\u201d and worked in many films such as \u2018Junglee\u2019, \u2018Suraj\u2019, \u2018Brahmachari\u2019, \u2018An Evening in Paris\u2019, \u2018Love in Tokyo\u2019 and \u2018Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai\u2019. Music directors O.P. Nayyar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal also teamed up with Rafi in several films in the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n In the early 1970s, Kishore Kumar overshadowed Rafi but not for long. Rafi won the Filmfare Award and National Award in 1977 for the song \u201cKya Hua Tera Wada\u201d. He died on July 31 1980 after suffering a heart attack. It was the end of an era in more ways than one. As a profile on Rafi in Outlook<\/em> magazine noted: \u201cAlong with Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi was one of the most popular male playback singers from the \u201950s to the \u201970s. He was regarded as the most proficient and versatile of the three, equally at ease with a purely classical song (\u201cMan Tadpat Hari Darshan\u201d) as with light numbers (\u201cChakke Pe Chakka, Chakke Pe Gadi\u201d). In between, he could also perfectly render a romantic song like \u201cHum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukare Chale Gaye\u201d.<\/p>\n Also on this day:<\/p>\n 1923 \u2014 Satyananda Saraswati, yoga teacher and spiritual guru, was born<\/p>\n 1956 \u2014 Anil Kapoor, Bollywood actor and producer, was born<\/p>\n 1973 \u2014 Periyar, leader of Dravidian Movement, passed away<\/p>\n 1988 \u2014 Piyush Chawla, Indian cricketer, was born\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mohammed Rafi, one of India\u2019s greatest playback singers, was born on December 24, 1924, at Kotla Sultan Singh, a village in Punjab near present-day Amritsar.\u00a0 His father, Hajji Ali Mohammad, moved to Lahore in the 1920s. A family friend recognized Rafi\u2019s singing talent and supported him. Eventually Rafi went to Bombay in 1944. Rafi, who learnt classical music from stalwarts… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n