Mumbai: Indian cinema’s evergreen singer Mohammad Rafi was born today. In your life you must have heard Rafi’s famous songs, but there are some stories related to his life that you may not be aware of.
Rafi is not present among us today, but his beautiful songs are still fresh in the collective memory of her fans. Rafi moved to Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra in 1944. He and Hameed Sahab rented a ten-by-ten-foot room in the crowded downtown Bhendi Bazar area.
In 1941, Rafi, under Shyam Sundar, made his debut as a playback singer in Lahore. He started with a duet — Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee — with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch (released in 1944) under music director Shyam Sunder.
Poet Tanvir Naqvi introduced him to several film producers including Abdur Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan and actor-director Nazeer.
At that time Shyam Sunder was in Bombay and provided an opportunity to Rafi to sing a duet with GM Durrani, Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi…,” for Gaon Ki Gori, which became Rafi’s first recorded song in a Hindi film.
Rafi’s first song with Naushad was Hindustan Ke Hum Hain with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin and others, from AR Kardar’s Pehle Aap (1944). Around the same time, Rafi recorded another song for the 1945 film Gaon Ki Gori, Aji Dil Ho Kaaboo Mein. The legendary singer considered this song to be his first Hindi language song.
Famous singer of yesteryears, KL Sehgal refused to sing due to power cut, which paved way for 13-year-old Rafi. He took over the stage and an illustrious career took off.
Probably you would not know that Mohammad Rafi had practised song O duniya ke rakhwale song from the film Baiju Bawra. After recording his voice, he broke down to such an extent that some people started saying Rafi might never be able to get his voice back. Not only that, while singing the song blood came out of Rafi’s throat.