Thank You Rafi saab. Review on Twenty Best Songs of Mohd. Rafi

Md.Rafi - 56 years - * lives forever. *

He has sung all types of song – playful, romantic, sad, sheer poetry, ghazals – solo and duets – to a vast range of heroes on the screen.

I tried to pick up my twenty best – one for each of the actors to whom he had lent his voice.

# 1. Joy Mukherji

Lakhon hain nigah mein, zindagi ki raah mein, sanam haseen . from “Phir wohi dil laya hoon”. Beautifully shot in the Dal Lake with Joy in his tight white pants and a red sweater. So many good Md.Rafi songs seem to have been wasted on a “chimpanzee” like Joy. This was a very playful song with a lilting melody.

# 2. Biswajeet

Pukarta chala hoon main, gali gali . from “Mere Sanam”. Visualize, Biswajeet in an open car and chasing Asha Parekh and her friends, who are on bicycles. Biswajeet like Joy was lucky to have so many excellent songs by Md Rafi picturised on him.

# 3. Dev Anand

Tere, mere, sapne, ab ek rang hain . from “Guide”. You could feel the chemistry between Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman.  Md.Rafi has sung so many songs for Dev Anand that the combination of Rafi and Dev is sheer magic to listen and also to watch.

# 4. Guru Dutt

Chaudavi ka chand ho, ya, aftaab ho . from “Chaudavi ka chand”. Guru Dutt describes the beauty of a women personified by Waheeda Rehman. Guys memorize this song and sing it to your beloved at the appropriate time – but not on the first date - she is bound to run away.

# 5. Dilip Kumar

Aaj purani raaho se . from “Aadmi”. Dilip Kumar was the uncrowned tragedy king and songs like this kept on adding feathers to that crown.

# 6. Rajendra Kumar

Yeh mera prem patra pad kar . from “Sangam” – the jubilee Kumar owed his success to Rafi and his songs. Imagine Rajendra Kumar writing love letters to Vyjantimala.

# 7. Shammi Kapoor

Badan pe sitare lapete hue . from “Prince”. Rafi was the * voice * of Shammi and there are so many memorable songs between the two. I picked this one for its pure simplicity.

# 8. Raaj Kumar

Choo lene do nazook hoton ko . from “Kaajal”. Sheer romance and meaningful poetry. Guys try this one out, but be careful.

# 9. Sunil Dutt

Rang aur noor ki baarat kisse pesh karoo . from “Ghazal”. No list of Rafi’s songs is complete without a ghazal. The lyrics are by the maestro Sahir Ludhianvi and music by Madan Mohan.

# 10. Shashi Kapoor

Likhe jo khat tujhe . from “Kanyadaan”. Imagine Shashi Kapoor singing playfully to Asha Parekh -. Shashi blossomed into an actor, with the voice of Rafi and then went on to mature with Kishore.

# 11. Sanjay Khan

Hum tumse juda hoke, mar jayenge ro roke . from “Ek sapera ek lootera” – if ever you get jilted in love(God forbid!), you can listen to this song and cry to your hearts content – girls listen – guys do cry, but only in private.

# 12. Manoj Kumar

Bhari duniya mein aakhir . from “Do Badan”. Manoj himself portrays sadness and add to it, if he sings this sad number by Md Rafi – the result will be a deluge of tears. Do not call in the army, as yet.

# 13. Jeetendre

Mast baharon ka main aashiq . from “Farz”. I picked this song to show the variations in Rafi’s voice – he keeps up with ‘Jumping Jack” Jeetendre, who runs after Aruna Irani around bushes and trees.

# 14. Dharmendra

Aaj mausam, bada beimaan hain . from “Loafer”. Dharmendra flirting with Mumtaz in picturesque hills, a beautiful song and a beautiful background – the end result - sheer magic.

# 15. Rajesh Khanna

Nafrat ki duniya ko chod ke, pyaar ki duniya mein . This is a song that is bound to stir up all those animal lovers. It was difficult to pick a song on Rajesh Khanna, because with Rajesh’s meteoric rise, Kishore also rose(as Rajesh preferred Kishore) and that signaled the beginning of the end for Rafi.

# 16. Amitabh Bachchan

Teri bindiya re . from “Abhimaan” – a subtle romantic song between Amitabh and Jaya – but by the early seventies Rafi’s magic was no longer appreciated

# 17. Sanjeev Kumar

Chadi re chadi . from “Mausam” – the playfulness between Sanjeev Kumar  and Sharmila Tagore form a good background to this song.

# 18. Vijay Arora

Chura liya hain tumne jo dil ko . from “Yaadon Ki Baraat” – another romantic song picturised on Vijay Arora and Zeenat Aman

# 19. Rishi Kapoor

Dafli waale, dafli bajaa .from “Sargam”. Even for younger heroes like Rishi, Rafi used to add that magic touch and create memorable songs

And finally, my all time favorite Rafi song.

#20.

Caravan gujar gaya, gubar dekhte rahe from “Nayi umar ki nayi fasal”. Penned by Neeraj and melodious music by Roshan. “Umra ki chadav ka, utaar dekhte rahen, caravan …”.

Md.Rafi – you are better than the best. Thank You very much.