Rafi fest – Birthday Special (I)

Dharmendra (8th), Dilip Kumar (11th), Raj Kapoor (15th, 14th), Biswajeet (15th), Naushad (24th, 25th), Rafi (24th), Rajesh Khanna (29th) – This post and the ones that will follow are dedicated to all these birthday boys.

My initial plan was to do one song with lyrics per day, whole of this month. But work demanded more of me, so couldn’t stick to the original plan.

I wont say all the songs that I’m posting here today are the ones that I have come across recently. They are just relatively less heard of. And some of them are songs which I’ve heard pretty often but noticed only now.

1. Na jaane kyun hamare dil ko tumne dil nahin samjha (Mohabbat Zindagi Hai, 1966) : I had first heard this song long long ago (dont remember where exactly, either we had a cassette/LP record at home or had heard it on radio) but had first seen it’s video when I had read the review of this movie on memsaab’s blog. And then had completely forgotten about it until I heard it on radio couple of weeks back. And now all of a sudden it’s pouring in everywhere! I dont know how I could forget such a great song in the first place! Though I wouldn’t call the video great, the song itself is amazing -with all chhed-chhad, haseen gile-shikwe wala lyrics and music. S.H Bihari is the lyricist and O.P Nayyar the music director. And all the songs featuring here this month are sung by Rafi! So that doesn’t even need to be explicitly mentioned.
Totally love  Tumhi ne jaan le li aur tumhe qaatil nahin samjha – the way it’s sung and picturized!

2. Tumhari mulaquat se (Mohabbat Zindagi Hai, 1966) : A more subdued one but so highly romantic!  If Dharam was trying to force himself too much on her in the previous song, in this he appears to have fallen for her at the very first sight. It’s such a beautifully written song – The way it describes the realization of one’s own emotions on meeting someone is so sweet. And it has more of happiness and acceptance to it than awe, making not just Dharmendra but even the one watching the song feel so good about him finding his love. He’s following her everywhere, holding her handbag and even sandals! His antics are really cute and adorable 🙂
Dharam looks even more garam in his shorts! Love Rafi’s restrained rendition inspite of all the paagalpan that goes on in the song, even the ‘hoye’ is sung with so much of control.

3. Yakeen karlo mujhe mohabbat hai tumse (Yakeen, 1969) : Sounds more like a Shammi Kapoor/Joy Mukherjee type song. This time around it’s our glam queen in shorts and uff her adas and nakhras! It’s as though Dharam is on patao-the-heroine spree. Watching the video makes me feel like they are playing catch-me-if-you-can!  But he does get lucky in this one towards the end. Like harvey mentioned, Dharmila jodi is so awesome! They share such a cute chemistry! Apart from being fun,  it’s such a catchy song. The magic of Rafi, Shankar-Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri! I love the rise and fall of notes especially in ‘Tumhari tasveer hai nazar mein, charag jaise ho rehguzar mein‘…the way mein part suddenly drops down.

4. Baharon ki baarat aa gayi (Yakeen, 1969) : No, I wasn’t actually planning to do Ek Hi Film se, but it just sort of happened. Though I had heard both these songs before, I had never paid much attention to them. I heard Gar tum bhoola na doge from this movie on radio sometime back and then checked it out on youtube. I had no idea it was picturized on Dharmila. And I found these in the related links section. Surprisingly these two songs didnt gain the popularity of Gar tum bhoola na doge. This song does remind me of Kaun hai jo sapno mein aaya (Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan) and Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhoon mein (Mere Jeevan Saathi). Must be the picturization but am wondering if Dharam too meets with an accident after the song. I didnt quite like this song when I saw  it the first time but it has grown on me. I really like the way ‘Suno toh mere dil, suno toh meri jaan, hothon pe dil ki baaaaaat aa gayi‘ is sung. The type puncture sequence is funny. The last antara is different in video and audio. Audio version has –
Honge muthi mein dono jahaan, jis ghadi main unhe paunga
Chaand suraj ke dole mein phir, apne ghar par unhe launga

5. Dil kahe ruk ja re ruk ja (Mann Ki Aankhen, 1970) : I heard this on radio few days ago and instantly fell in love with it. It wasn’t the first time I had heard it. I find it so strange that there are some songs which I have  heard all my life but never noticed. And one fine day, I hear it on radio and suddenly realize how good it is and get addicted to it. Wonder if the mood that I’m in has anything to do with it. But I saw the video for the first time last week. It reminded me a little of Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen and a little of Yeh kaun chitrakaar hai. This lovely song is written by Sahir and composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Ruk ja re ruk ja makes me want to stop doing whatever I’m doing and just let the song take over.

Songs picturized on other actors (birthday boys) will come up in a day or two, as and when time permits.

Tags: Baharon ki baaraat aa gayi, Dharmendra, Dil kahe ruk jaa re ruk jaa, Hasrat Jaipuri, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Mann Ki Aankhen, Mann Ki Aankhen 1970, Mohabbat Zindagi Hai (1966), Na jaane kyun hamare dil ko tumne dil nahin samjhe, OP Nayyar, Rafi, Rajshree, Sahir Ludhianvi, SH BIhari, Shankar Jaikishan, Sharmila, Tuhari mulaqat se, Yakeen (1969), Yakeen karlo mujhe mohabbat hai tumse tumse