Chaar Dil Chaar Raahein (1959)

The idea of seeing the Kapoor brothers share the same screen space was what first prompted me to buy this movie. But inspite of it having my Shammi darling, I somehow kept postponing watching it for a long time. The picture on the cd cover always managed to demotivate me from watching it – the trio of Meena Kumari, Raj Kapoor and Nimmi give such a depressing look, that every time I took the cd, I just ended up keeping it aside, till now.

As always, it was a song that finally made me watch the movie. I had heard Stella o stella from Return of  Mr. Superman, and I sort of liked it for the humour in it. One fine day, somebody had posted this song on facebook and one of my friends had commented on it saying that this song was first picturized on Shammi Kapoor and Kumkum in Char Dil Char Rahen in 1959 and then was used again in Return of Mr. Superman in 1960!

The movie opens very beautifully, with Raj Kapoor making quite  an entry into the village and a conversation that leaves one wondering….

Chavli (Meena Kumari) recognizes Govinda (Raj Kapoor), and though he finds her familiar he can’t exactly place her. So he heads home. Govinda is Chaudhary’s son. And he had been sent to the town to study when he was a little boy. Now he has finished his schooling and has come back home.

When he inquires about the girl he had met on his way, he finds out that she’s Chavli –  who is an achhoot and a bal-vidhwa (an untouchable and a child widow).

As soon as he finds out who she is, he goes to meet her. He finds her sitting beside a stream.

Govinda : Pehchana mujhe? (Did you recognize me?)

Chavli : Hmmm

Govinda : Pata hai kitne baras ke baad mile hai? (Do you have an idea after how long we have met today?)

Chavli : Hazaron baras (Thousands of years)

Govinda : Bas? (Just thousands of years?)

Chavli : Isse aaghe ki ginti mohe naa aave (I can’t count beyond that) – I love the way she says this…it’s just so cute!

Next, we are taken to a flashback where two little kids are playing. And the entire village gossiping about an Ahir guy playing with a Chamar girl which is not acceptable in the society.  (The Ahir are a caste of cowherds, milkers, and cattle breeders. Chamar (“tanner”; from the Sanskrit Charmakara) is a prominent occupational caste in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Chamar is a Dalit sub-caste. Traditionally, their social status was low in the Indian caste system because of the association with tanning and thus were considered as untouchables, but in modern days they are one of the progressive castes in India – Courtesy wikipedia). It happens that little Chavli (Baby Naaz) has been expelled from the local school. When Govinda comes to know of this he voluntarily drops off saying that he wont go to a school that doesn’t let his Chavli study. So they spend their day playing and running around the village together.

When Choudhary comes to know about it, he sends his son to the town to study, as a punishment. And now, he has finally returned after so many years. He tells Chavli that he will stay back now, he wont go back to the town.

Chavli : Yahan rehke kya karega? Sheher jaayega toh baabu banega,  coat patloon pehnega, bungla mein rahega, motor gaadi mein pon-pon karta phirega. (But what will you do here? If you go to the town, you’ll become a gentleman – wear coat and pant, live in a bunglow, roam around in a car)

Govinda : I will look after my father’s cattles and will teach in the school here. But I am not going back.

He goes back home and tells his father of his decision to stay back. Choudhary is very happy to hear that and says his mother will be happier than him. He reveals that his wife has gone to Choudhary Malkan Singh to ask his daughter, Lajjo’s hands for Govinda.

Govind :  Baat meri karne gaye hai aur mujhse poocha tak nahih. (She’s gone with a proposal and she didn’t even ask me about it?)

Choudhary : Arey bhala..Ladka-ladki se poochkar koi unka biha kare hai?  Aur phir ladki ka baap koi mamooli aadmi nahin…60-70 bhains hai unke paas. (Does anybody ask the guy and the girl and get them married? And Choudhary Malkan Singh is not an ordinary man…he has 60-70 buffaloes.)

Govind : Uski beti bhi toh koi bhains se kum nahin hai baba! (His daughter is not less than a buffalo herself!)

Chodhary : Beta, shareef ladke aisi baat nahin karte (That’s not how a gentleman talks, son)

Govinda tells his father that he won’t marry Lajjo but will marry Chavli instead. He doesn’t believe in caste and religion. And he cares a damn about what the others would think of his decision.

He takes Chavli and goes to the temple and asks the Pujari (Nana Plasikar) to get them married.

But the Pujari suggests that if he’s rebelling against everybody and getting married to an achhoot, then why do it quietly in the temple without any witness. He should go to Chavli’s house dressed as a proper groom with proper band and baaja, marry her and bring her home. Govinda sees sense in this and goes to all his friends in the village inviting them for his wedding. But all of them refuse to be a part of such a disgraceful alliance except for one. So the two of them set out for Chavli’s place.

This causes agitation among the Ahirs and Chamars in the village. But as both groups are against the marriage, they unite and decide to stop the wedding. Choudhary goes to meet Chavli and offers everything he has to her –

Choudhary : Mere paas 14 bigha zameen, 14-15 bhains, 100-200 nagad hai…maang, kya chahye? (I have land, buffaloes, cash…what do you want. You name it and you’ll have it)

Chavli : Aapka aashirwaad (I only need your blessings)

When Govinda arrives, he sees that Chavli’s hut is on fire. He runs to save her, but all he can find there is an anklet of hers. He sees all the Ahirs and Chamars there and reaches a conclusion that they have burned his Chavli to death.

He announces – Aaj se mera koi baap nahin, ghar nahin, gaon nahin, jaat-biradari nahin, koi dharam nahin…yeh sab is aag mein jal gayi. Aaj se main akela hoon.  And he sets off. He walks for days together mourning and finally reaches a crossroad. He finds an anklet there, which is exactly the same as the one he had found at Chavli’s house. The thought that Chavli might be alive brightens him up but he doesn’t know which way to go from there. He sees a car coming and he asks the driver, Dilawar Khan (Ajit) if he has seen a girl passing by. When Dilawar says no, he decides to sit right there and wait for Chavli.

Dilawar is Nawaab Saab’s (Anwar Hussain) driver. His Munshi (Rashid Khan) tells Nawaab about Pyaari (Nimmi), a new tawaif in town who sings very well. Nawaab sends for Pyaari and she sings for him. He’s very pleased with her and is ready to bestow her with all his wealth but she refuses.

Dilawar hates her because he thinks she’s of the kind who would rob his master of all his wealth. But when he learns that she refused to take any of it, he develops a soft corner for her. And before long Pyari and Dilawar are in love. One fine day Nawaab loses all his power and riches and decides to go to Bombay to start a new life. He offers to take Pyari and her mother with him and promises to look after them lifelong. But Pyari chooses Dilawar over  Nawaab.

Dilawar and Pyari soon have a misunderstanding between them because Dilawar, though is in love with Pyari and wants to marry her, he doesn’t want the extra responsibility of looking after her mother. And Pyari refuses to leave her mother alone. She says, other women have  families, so the daughters can leave them when they get married, but a prostitute doesn’t have a family, all that she has is her daughter. And now that she has found love, she cannot be so selfish and leave her mother all alone. At the same crossroads, they part ways and go in different directions.

Johnny (Shammi Kapoor) makes an entry next (finally).  Rastogis – Mr. and Mrs. Rastogi, their little kid along with their aaya, Stella (Kumkum) are on their way to  Hotel Parbat on a vacation when their car breaks down right at the crossroads. Johnny offers to fix their car and in return they give him a lift till Hotel Parbat.

Johnny is in search of a job. So he goes to meet Mr. Ferreira (David), the Manager. He doesn’t have to work too hard to impress Mr. Ferreira and he soon gets the job of a waiter cum dishwasher at the Hotel.

Johnny being Johnny, is smitten by Stella at first sight and he doesn’t waste much time in getting his feelings across to her. And with all his cute ways of trying to impress her, Stella cant resist his charm for long either. Before long, the two are madly in love with each other.

One day Johnny asks Stella –

Johnny : Tumhara bachcha kaisa hai? (not to be confused…she’s an aaya after all)

Stella : Na toh eat-ta hai, drinkta hai saara din weepta weepta hai. Usko daant aa rahe hai.

Stella gets a letter from her mother one day saying that her father has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and will have to be sent to the sanitarium immediately, which would cost them Rs. 500. Johnny takes up the responsibility of earning that amount required for his would-be father-in-laws treatment.
There’s this sweet sequence where Johnny and Stella talk about their dreams, their future.

Johnny goes and asks Ferreira for extra work. He confides in him that Stella’s father is not well and he needs to earn extra money for his treatment.

In our films no love story can go smooth, unless it’s a Rajshri film, without a third person forming a traingle and plotting cunning ways to create misunderstandings between the two lovebirds. And this one’s no different. Ferreira, who also has an eye for Stella sees this as an opportunity and comes up with a plan to land Johnny in trouble.  He gives Johnny the charge of supplying the guests at the hotel with alcohol, which is legally prohibited in the premises of Hotel Parbat. Johnny blind in love doesn’t see the danger this task imposes, he sees it as an opportunity to make quick money and promises to himself that he’ll quit the job once he earns 500 bucks.

Stella is quite disappointed when she learns what Johnny is upto. She catches him red-handed when he goes to deliver Rastogi’s order of  Whiskey. He somehow manages to convince her that he’ll avoid trouble and he won’t do it for long. Just when he manages to manaofy her and all’s well between them, Ferreira gets Jhonny arrested!

He gets released after three months and unaware that Ferriera was behind all this, he first goes to Ferreira to collect his money. He asks him if he knows where Stella is. That’s when Ferriera introduces Stella as Mrs. Ferriera. Poor Johnny is heart broken. Angry and murderous, he tries to kill Ferriera.

He wanders around for sometime and then starts up a garage at the same crossroads to keep himself occupied. At one point of time, Johnny sings one line of the sad version of my song, Stella o stella o stella, tera johnny ab tak hai akela…

At this point, Nirmal (P Jairaj) makes an appearance. He is a well-educated man and reaches just in time to help all the protagonists of the story. He himself being a socialist, spreads awareness among people on what socialism can do. He makes speeches on exploitation of the poor by rich, lower castes by higher castes in the society etc…these are things that ordinary people can relate to. Thus, he manages to attract lots of people with his socialist theory. He comes up with a proposal of  building a proper road that would connect all the 4 destinations that the crossroads leads to.

There are lots of Contractors fighting for that contract, including Nawaab saab and Ferriera. But it’s Nirmal and his battalion of ordinary people who win it and start building the road.

Will they be successful in achieving their goal and proving the the so-called-rakhwales of the society that given a chance nothing’s impossible for them? With people like Nawwab and Ferriera in the opposition what are the challenges they will face? How is this mission connected to the earlier love stories? Will any of those 3 stories have a happy ending? Are any of these stories interconnected?

Frankly speaking, I don’t know how to rate this movie. It ended so abruptly, in fact the ending itself was missing from the cd. I could kill eagle videos for this! As though deleting the song, and lots of other parts of the movie was not enough, they had to compromise with the ending as well 😦
It was as if I was watching the movie on tv and kept having frequent power cuts. There were so many missing links that I had to use my own imagination to put all the pieces of the story together.

But having said that, I did enjoy watching this movie. To start with, it had been so long since I saw one that it was nice to see such a power packed performance. Everybody was fabulous! K Abbas has done a good job as a director. There were so many social issues addressed in the movie – caste system, religions (the 3 couples in the movie belonged to 3 different religions), power, money, corruption etc.  And the best part was, none of the stories were dragged for too long. Though there was a little bit of  rona-dhona, it was just for sometime and the story quickly moved to the next couple. Except for Nirmal’s speeches, which were a little preachy at times, must say it was quite fast-paced. I guess, I must give a little bit of credit to Eagle videos as well for wiping away so many scenes 😛

I don’t know how many songs were there originally in the movie, the only ones that I got to see were few Lata Numbers that Pyaari sings for Nawaab saab (Koi maane na maane, Intezaar aur abhi , Jab main kehti hoon), one Meena Kapoor (Anil Biswas’s wife)  song picturized on Chavli (Kachchi hai umariya) and the last song, which the entire crew sings as they build the road (Saathi re bhai re). I won’t say I loved the music of this movie, I found it pretty average. Anil Biswas was the Composer and Sahir Ludhyanvi the lyricist. Except for Saathi re bhai re, I dont even remember having heard the rest of the songs. And I was too disappointed that there were no songs picturized on Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor to be able to appreciate the rest 😦

My tribute to Rafi Saab – The A to Z of Mohammed Rafi

I started this post on 31st, as I was listening to Rafi marathon on Vividh Bharati but with such lovely songs playing I couldn’t concentrate on the post. I had listed the songs even before that, but still it took me so long to complete it. I kept getting lost in the songs in between that I forgot I had to come back here and finish this 🙂

After an extremely hectic week, the best thing I could ask for is a day full of Rafi saab’s songs. Not that I didn’t listen to his songs the rest of the week. Not even a single day of mine passes without listening to him. Thanks to Vividh Bharati for that. The first thing I do every morning after I get up is to put the radio on. And they play a minimum of one Rafi song in every program of theirs. Then my collection of hundreds of his songs in my cell phone which I listen to everyday on my way to work. Other people get frustrated with the traffic and I feel good about it. The longer it takes me to reach office, the more number of songs I get to listen to and I reach office more refreshed. And when I am not in meetings and am not reading something, I continue listening to music in office as well. A big thank you to Nasir and Venkat for sharing all those rare gems…you guys have introduced me to so many songs that I had never thought even existed. And a big big thank you to entire team of Vividh Bharati – Kamal Sharma, Renu Bansal, Mamta Singh, Nimmi Mishra, Yunus Khan, Amarkant Dubey, Rajendra Tripathi, Shehnaz Akhtari and to everybody else. Had it not been for you all I wouldn’t have known even half of these songs! I owe my filmi and musical knowledge to you all!

I missed out the programs on Vividh Bharti in the morning on 31st as I got up late. But ever since I got up I was been hooked to it. They played non-stop Rafi songs. And do I even need to say that each song of his is songs is a masterpiece!

So much is written about Rafi (1924-1980) that I don’t quite know where to begin and what new to say really.  Rafi was one of the most versatile singers…From the doleful Jugnu  to the patriotic Shaheed  to the classical Baiju Bawra to the effervescent Mr. and Mrs. 55  to the regal Raj Hath to the poetic Pyaasa  to the meltingly romantic Barsaat Ki Raat – phew! the list is endless—Rafi sang them all. And more.

The whole week I’ve been thinking of something special to post as a tribute to this legend. It’s just impossible to list out my 10 favourite Rafi songs. I’m in love with every song that he has sung. But at the same time I couldn’t even sit without doing a post. After sifting through numerous options like – listing down some songs of Rafi alphabetically, listing out human emotions and associating a song against each emotion, defining the 7 stages of human life through his songs….but I realized that I just couldn’t move beyond the first letter.

I started thinking of his songs that start with ‘A’ and the list was so long that I could break it into 2-3 separate posts. Then I tried with the emotions. Within no time I realized that there were too many of them for instance Anger, Anxiety, Anguish, Astonishment, Attraction, Amusement, Affection, Agony. And this is just the beginning. Next I shifted to the stages of human life. I opened Shakespear’s poem and started mapping Rafi’s songs against each of the stages. But 7 were too few and then realized that I would end up counting almost everyday as a different stage! So that wasn’t much help either.

So I came up with this rule for this post…I would include –
1. Not very popular songs of Rafi as in, not the songs that would feature in every top 10 or top 20. I’m promoting some rare gems of this mastreo.
2. One song per actor and preferrably picturised on a lesser known actor (at least I’ll try avoiding the supserstars as much as possible). There are bound to be few exceptions though. But don’t be surprised if you don’t see even a single Shammi kapoor song here! (As I am doing a series of Rafi sings for Shammi, I’m trying to leave out Shammi Kapoor songs so that other songs would get a chance).
3. For a change I’m including songs from movies that I haven’t seen as well.

A : Abhi na jao chhod kar (Hum Dono, 1961) – Absolutely awesome romantic duet, superbly rendered by Rafi & Asha and so convincingly picturised on Dev Anand and Sadhna.  The charming couple, the excellent rendition, Jaidev’s superb music, Sahir Ludhyanvi’s  thoughtful and yet so simple lyrics  and the beautiful depiction of two lovers unwilling to separate leave you wanting to fall in love – this is without doubt one of the best romantic song ever recorded.   When I  hear this song I feel like I am in another world, the feeling of the song is simply awesome. What a treat this is!  And for once I wished ‘A’ was the last letter of English Alphabet. Putting this song at the end would have made much more sense.

A : Ankhinyan milake zara baat karo ji (Pardes, 1950) : Striking the earlier song as I couldn’t think of any other song starting from ‘F’ other than Falsafa pyaar ka tum kya jano, picturised on Dev Anand. In his earlier years, before he had fully come into his own, Rafi sang for Ghulam Mohammed (Naushad’s protégé) a lovely duet with Lata. This one is picturised on Rehman and Madhubala and I love this  for lots of reasons: Madhubala’s striking beauty, Rafi’s deep, powerful rendition, peppy music and young and dashing Rehman!

 B : Bahut haseen hai tumhari aankhen (Aadhi Raat Ke Baad, 1965) : Very cute song…not very popular but sweet and very romantic nevertheless. Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur come together in this lovely track picturised on Sailesh Kumar and Ragini who playfully flirt and tease each other. Chitragupt’s music is soothing and pleasant.

C : Chhupa kar meri aankhon ko (Bhabhi, 1957) : My initial choice was Chal ud jaa re panchhi but couldn’t find the Balraj Sahni version of it  on youtube. I had once heard in an interview that Balraj was so sad after shooting the song. He felt he could have done it much better! It’s such a divine song. But guess I’ll go with the flow – romance and move ahead with this infectiously romantic duet featuring Jawahar Kaul and Shyama. Rafi teams up with Lata here and the rendition is magical. This is one of my all time favourite Lata-Rafi duets. I had first heard this song on Vividh Bharati years ago and always felt that it must be picturised on Meena Kumari. I somehow related the feel of the song and the name of the movie itself to Meena Kumari. But was pleasantly surprised to discover Shyama in it. I saw this film just because of it’s songs. Not a movie I am very fond of, but give me its music anyday and I would be more than happy. It has a variety of songs – Chal ud ja re panchhi, Chali chali  re patang meri chali re, Chhupa kar meri aankhon ko, Jawaan ho ya budiya, Kaa re kaa re baajra…Coming back to this song, Chitragupt’s music, Rajender Krishan’s lyrics, Lata and Rafi’s rendition is truly amazing. And check out Shyama’s expressions, esp when she lip-synchs “tumhari is adaa par bhi hamare dil ko pyaar aaye“. Haye…I just love this song!

D : Dil ki tamanna (Ghyarah Hazar Ladkiyan, 1962) : It’s Vividh Bharati again where I first heard this song. And the first thing I did after the song was over is to rush to search for it on google/youtube. Initially, I could just find the audio version of it, Rafi’s solo. And I have listened to it continuously for days, non-stop. What an intoxicating voice and there’s so much feel to it. I didn’t even know who it was picturised on then but just wished whoever it was – may his dil ki  tamanna come true! I’ve been looking for the cd/dvd of this movie ever since but with no luck. Rafi and Asha sing  Majrooh Sultanpoori’s lyrics for Bharat Bhushan and Mala Sinha, under the music direction of N. Dutta. It’s a classic composition.

D :  Dil mein chhupa ke pyaar ka ( Aan, 1952) : Striking Dil ki tamanna because I just confirmed that Ghar se toh cut chuka patta is picturised on Bharat Bhushan, though it doesn’t have a video, I don’t want to break my rule.. Here’s another lovely Rafi number featuring two actors whom I like a lot – Dilip Kumar and Nadira. Shakil Badayuni penned the lyrics for this lovely song and Naushad Ali composed the music. Rafi is heavenly and so is Dilip Kumar. There’s a color version of this video. But I find the B&W version more enchanting.  

 E : Ek tera saath hum ko (Waapas, 1969) :  Exteremely romantic song. Music is by Laxmikant Pyarelal and  lyrics  by Majrooh Sultanpuri. It is a duet sung by Rafi and Lata picturised on a newly married couple (Alka and Shekhar Purohit? Ajay?) pledging undying love and devotion to each other. I feel the essence is somehow missing in the picturisation, but just listen to it and it’s magical, such a treat to the ears!

F : Falsafaa pyaar ka tum kya jano (Duniya, 1968) : A terrific song by Rafi, composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and picturised on Dev Anand and Vyjayanthimala. “How would you grasp the philosophy of loving when you have never fallen in love before” – for once I kind of like the translation of the mukhda. I almost played around with Phoolon se dosti kaanton se yaari (Foolon se) but when I had a song starting with ‘F’, I thought I would rather go with it. Though Dev Anand looks wierd with that hair-cut and this song has the flavours of Badan pe sitare lapete hue, I  still love this number…it’s so intoxicating. This is what I call a quintessential Rafi song!

G : Ghar se toh cut chuka apna patta (Kal Hamara Hai, 1959) : I heard this song on radio last week and instantly fell in love with it. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the video.  Though imdb lists Bharat Bhushan as the lead in this film, I somehow don’t feel this song is  picturised on him. It sounds so much like a Johnny Walker kind of a song and I sincerely hope that it is. Something very catchy and lively about this song. Music is once again by Chitragupt. (P.S : I just confirmed that it is indeed picturised on Bharat Bhushan, so much for my guess work).

H : Hum toh hai tum par (Bewaqoof, 1960) – This is one very cute song rendered superbly by Rafi for I.S Johar. This movie was written and directed by I.S Johar himself. Majrooh’s lyrics and S.D Burman’s composition is beautiful. And it was R.D Burman on the Mouth Organ. The modulations in Rafi’s voice match I.S Johar’s antics so perfectly. There’s something very Shammi-sque quality to this song.

I : Itni badi duniya jahan itna bada mela (Toofan Mein Pyar Kahan ,1966) : Rafi sings this for Ashok Kumar. It’s so tender and so beautiful. There’s a softness to Rafi’s voice here which is just brilliant. “Versatile Rafi commendably modulates his voice to suit the great natural actor, Ashok Kumar, while singing on the pangs of loneliness” (Thanks Nasir for describing the song so beautifully).  Check out the picturisation for Guzre dino ka dhundla nishaan hai baanki, dil toh bujha kab se hai abh dhuaan baanki – the smoky effect is so amazing. Prem Dhawan’s melancholy lyrics, Chitragupt’s excellent music, Rafi’s magical rendition and Ashok Kumar’s brilliant performance – this couldn’t have got any better. My initial choice for a song beginning with ‘I’ was Itna haseen saathi itni haseen manzil from Aatma Aur Parmatma but couldn’t find a video to it. So settled for this one – another favourite of mine. Though not as romantic as I would have liked it to be, it’s a very beautiful song.

J : Jo baat tujh mein hai (Taj Mahal, 1963) : A timeless gem…one of my favourite songs. This one’s picturised on Pradeep Kumar. The lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, music by Roshan and Rafi’s velvety voice is beyond this world – truly sublime!  I so very badly wanted to post Jab se hum tum baharon mein from Main Shadi Karne Chala but it’s such an irony that we don’t have videos of such lovely melodies on youtube yet. And since the basic filter criteria here is one song per actor, I don’t want to go on posting just the audios. Hopefully, somebody will upload the video soon.

K : Kahin ek masoom nazuk si ladki (Shankar Hussain, 1977) : For once, I am not relating a song to Vividh Bharati. I first heard this bollywoodondemand.com, an online radio station couple of years ago. Back then AIR, Vividh Bharati didn’t have online sites. I accidentally came across bollywoodondemand.com and I used to listen to it very regularly at work. One fine day, I heard this song and googled for it but couldn’t find it. Then, I came across the audio version of it after few months and finally found the video last year. I was rather surprised to discover Kanwaljit in it. Used to watch him in serials during my school days, Family No. 1 on Sony used to be quite popular then. Kamal Amrohi’s lyrics, Khhayyam’s music and Rafi’s rendition – it’s all so heavenly. Something very dreamy, fairy-tale like about this song. But the video somehow spoilt this for me. I love the song, can’t help not loving such a magnificient number but the picturisation is a spoiler. Chalo khat likhe jee mein aata toh hoga, magar ungliyan kap kapati toh hongi, kalam haath se chhut jaata toh hoga, umange kalam phir uthathi toh hongi, mera naam apni kitaabon pe likh kar, woh daanton mein ungli dabati toh hogi….kabhi subah ko shaam kehti toh hogi, kabhi raat ko din batati toh hogi…what an imagination! It’s so beautifully written!! I used to imagine this scene while listening to this song, but the video didn’t have any of it! Audio version didn’t have the last antarra. I heard it for the first time when I saw the video on youtube. And it took me some time to figure out what Palate is …Palate kabhi toot jaati toh hogi….

L : Le chala jidhar yeh dil chal pade (Miss Bombay, 1957) : This is Rafi singing for Ajit. in the good old days before he turned into a villian on screen. Bombay—that teeming metropolis, teeming then in the 1950s just as it is teeming today—the land of opportunities, sapno ka shehar—was masterfully captured by lyricist Prem Dhawan to composer Hansraj Behl’s tune. I had only heard this song on Bhoole Bisre geet on Vividh Bharati. Saw the video for the first time today. Half the time I kept imagining Ajit saying “Mona Darling” in between the song. 🙂 Ajit was quite a handsome man and smart too…he realized early in his career that it’s more fun being the villian than a hero!

M : Main toh tere haseen khayalon mein kho gaya (Sangram, 1965) :  My my my dear from Nagina was my first choice. I didn’t want to list Mujhe dard-e-dil ka pata na tha and Madhuban mein radhika nache re. Though I love both these songs, they have already featured many times in this blog.  And thanks to Richard for including all these songs in his list. I’m not feeling guilty about skipping them. So here I come with this lovely track from Sangram picturized on Randhawa (Dara Singh’s brother) and Swarna Kumari. I am so glad I decided to do songs from the movies that I haven’t watched. I had heard this song so many times on radio but it’s for the first time I am seeing it’s video and am so happy to discover Randhawa in it! Lala Asar Sattar music is very melodious and Rafi is fantastic in it!

N : Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon (Laal Quila, 1960) : I almost included Nu tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega but realized I had this song in one of my earlier posts. And this divine composition by S.N Tripathi in Laal Quila came to my mind. It’s a timeless classic, a stunning nazm. Such deeply moving lyrics! Rafi’s booming voice magnificiently amplifies the poignancy and grief expressed by Bahadurshah Zafar. Truly unforgettable!

O : O phirki wali (Raja Aur Runk, 1968) : This song takes me back to my school days. We had a cassette, Best of Mohd. Rafi volume 2 which had this song. And there was a time when I was in 9-10th when I used to listen to this song at least 2-3 times a day. It’s such a masti-bhara song that it fills my heart with happiness when I listen to it. I somehow had always imagined it to be picturised on Shammi Kapoor or Dharmendra, mainly due to the fun quotient. I was pleasantly surprised to see Sanjeev Kumar singing it to Nazima. I was listening to this after so long today and I still remember each and every word of it. I’m so pleased with myself. That’s Rafi’s magic! Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s foot-tapping music, Anand Bakshi’s fun-filled lyrics and Rafi’s flirtatious rendition topped with Sanjeev Kumar’s awesome performance makes this song immortal. I love the way Rafi sings Jubaan se and Jarra beimaan si”

P : Phir milogi kabhi (Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi, 1966) : Biswajeet was one lucky actor when it came to songs. He got to feature in some of the best songs ever. I am not fond of him as an actor, but his songs, each one is a masterpiece! Rafi and Asha are singing for Biswajeet and Sharmila in this 1966 thriller. O.P Nayyar’s music, S.H Bihari’s lyrics and Asha-Rafi rendition, it’s picturization…everything about this song  is mesmerizing. I feel captivated everytime I listen to this and never want it to end. 

Q : Quismat ke likhe ko hum mita na sake (Duniya, 1949) : This is a lovely Rafi-Surraiya duet composed by C. Ramachandra. It has Surraiya, Karan Dewan, Yakum, Shakeela in the leading role. I don’t know who it’s actually picturised on. I have only heard this song on Radio and couldn’t find a video as well. Listen to Rafi’s young voice…it’s so gentle and soft. Amazing song!!!

R : Roshan tumhi se duniya (Parasmani, 1963) : This time it’s Rafi singing for Mahipal in Parasmani, which marks the debut of Laxmikant-Pyarelal as Music Directors. Rafi at one of his romantic bests, extremely melodious number penned by Ashad Bhopali. Such an apt song in praise of a princess! What awesome lyrics, equally amazing music and Rafi’s voice is subhan-allah!!! One can feel the emotion and depth in his voice…the way he sings “Haye”, the aalap in between and the accompanying tabla and sitar is just mindblowing. Even Mahipal and Geetanjali have expressed well. One more speciality about this film is that it’s partially color. The first half is in Black&White and the second half (if you remember, Hansta hua noorani chehra) is in color. Movie is total bakwaas but it has lovely songs.

S : Sau baar banakar maalik ne (Ek Raat, 1967) : I don’t know who this song is picturized on. Spent quite sometime searching for the video but couldn’t find. There’s hardly anything about this movie available. But I love this song so much that I just couldn’t leave it out. I was addicted to it when I heard it for the first time. Have been searching for the video for quite sometime now. It usually happens that the songs that I so desparately want to see are not as good as expected. So for the time being I am content just listening to it. Yogesh’s lyrics, Usha Khanna’s music and Rafi’s divine rendition…I get so lost in this song. Till I heard this song, I thought Chaudhvai ka chaand, Roshan tumhi se duniya, Tareef karun kya uski etc were the ultimatum when it came to praising the girl’s beauty. But now, there’s one more to the list.

T : Tum toh pyar ho (Sehra, 1963) : Ideal song on Rafi’s death anniversary would have been Tum mujhe yun bhoola na paaoge but that’s too popular and has already been discussed in this blog before. Then I thought of Tum akele toh kabhi baag mein jaaya na karo from Aao Pyaar Karein.  But again, even that doesn’t have a video available. So the next I could think of was this lovely duet by Lata and Rafi picturised on Sandhya and Prashanth. Hasrat jaipuri’s lyrics tuned beautifully by Ramlal, this is a gem of a song. And the depth in Rafi’s and Lata’s voice has taken it to a different level altogether! What a romantic duet it is!

U : Unse rippy tippy ho gayi (Agra Road, 1957) :  I discovered this song few months ago and fell in love it it. It’s such a cute and fun filled number sung by Rafi and Geeta Dutt. I was actually planning to include this is Geeta Dutt special post but I reached 10 before this could come up then. So here it goes! Picturised on Vijay Anand (this is his debut film as a hero) and Shakeela. He does resemble Dev Anand a bit, esp when he’s sulking. Yoddling is a quality that we generally associate with Kishore da. Felt good to hear Rafi yoddling for a change! There are few lines in Gujarati and few in Punjabi in between. Geeta and Rafi yoddling away to Roshan’s music and Prem Dhawan’s lyrics is very delightful.

V : Vo jo chahane wale hain tere (Duniya Rang Rangili, 1957) : I couldn’t figure out who was singing this song on screen…but who cares, as long as it’s sung by Rafi in real. It’s  sweet number written by Jan Nisar Akhtar and composed by O.P Nayyar. Check out Rajendra Kumar, he looks so young and handsome.  Is the girl Chaand Usmaani?

W : Woh hum na the woh tum na the (Cha Cha Cha, 1964)  : Rafi here sings for Chandrashekhar. He is so dull,  doughy and expresssionless. I don’t like him, every time I see him I keep wondering how he became an actor. Hence I am putting Helen’s picture below. Lets forget about the movie and the actor…coming to the song, it’s an excellent track. Penned by Neeraj and composed by Iqbal Quereshi, this is a touching song brilliantly rendered by Rafi.  

X : Phir aane laga yaad wohi (Yeh Dil Kisko Doon, 1963) : Ok, so this song doesnt begin with “X” – but then, how many songs do? I will just use this letter to insert another lovely song. And this song is specially dedicated to Nasir and Richard. We had a long discussion about this song sometime back. But due to my usual restriction of not including songs from the movies that I haven’t seen, I had left this one out in Shashi Kapoor special post. But since that’s not the case this time, here it goes to you both for reminding me of this song. Shashi Kapoor’s image below is for bollyviewer. This is one of the most melodious song, beautifully picturised. Ragini’s moves are so graceful and elegant. Shashi is a darling. Rafi is magical, Qamar Jalalabadi’s lyrics and  Iqbal Qureshi’s composition is so mystical with Usha Khanna chanting those simple syllables Pyaar ka aalam, it infuses so much feel to the song.

 
Y : Yeh teri saadgi yeh tera baankpan (Shabnam, 1964) : This post has been one hell of a revelation to me! I never knew Rafi had sung this song for Mehmood! Usha Khanna’s composition and Javed Anwar’s lyrics are simple and sweet. And Rafi as usual is outstanding! He could convincingly slip under the skin of characters that were poles apart: he sang for the brooding Dilip Kumar in Deedar with the same ease with which he lent his voice to a frolicking Johnny Walker in C.I.D.  And it is so difficult for the listener to decide where Rafi excels more and who his voice suits the best!

Z : Zara ruk jaa (Sitaron Se Aaghe, 1958) : I was feeling sad that I couldn’t include a song picturised on Johnny Walker so far. So am more than happy now for being able to do so. Apart from Rafi, I remember this song for Johnny Bhai’s cycle stunt and his friends going around puncturing everybody else’s cycle tyres. Rafi and Johnny share an amazing chemistry. Each song of this combo is special and tailor-made for them – the sync between Rafi’s voice and Johnny’s acting is always so perfect! I have a broad smile on my face everytime I see Johnny perched on a tree (he looks so comfortable there) and jumping down singing Zara ruk ja…

Rafi saab was the most versatile and probably had the most mellifluous voice. His voice reflected the great energy and smartness of youth and exuded great skill and craftiness. He could sing slow, fast , semi classical, Bhajans, Qawalis, taranas, Geet, romantic numbers, sad songs – just about anything with equal zest and gusto.

Also, when I began listening to  songs of Rafi, I realized one thing – he enriched the compoistions that he sang for. Now this is quite  exceptional and rare because he did not require a great composition to create a a great song.

I feel like Kahin bekhayal hokar choo liya kisi ne when I listen to his songs. This is one song that I really missed putting up here along with Jo unki tamanna ho, Woh din yaad karo, Yeh jhuke jhuke naina and many more!!! Be it any song of his, even if I am listening to it for the very first time, I feel a sense of familiarity towards it.

I came across this blog while searching for few songs and since what was written there exactly described the songs and how I felt about them, I couldn’t help copying them. And I must admit that it did save a lot of time. Writing up about these songs do take a lot of time. And it gets quite distracting as well – I search for one song on youtube, see some other song on related link section and that leads to another song and so on (as it’s too much of a temptation to resist). So when I find few lines already written up about the song, it’s god-sent! 🙂 A big thank you to Cinema Corridor and all other fellow bloggers for all your contributions and wikipedia for providing me with so much of information always! I had acknowledged everybody in my earlier post on Shammi Kapoor but somehow I forgot about this one. Could be because it took me couple of days to finish this post and by the time I reached the end, I was just happy that I had completed the post and was in a hurry to publish it.

Love you Rafi saab!!! May your soul rest in peace.

Kishore Da’s songs coming up next. I should have done that today, but first things first. And that reminds me I still have my Mukesh special post pending!