It is almost 98 years since he was born and 42 years since he left us. A man who spoke very rarely and let only his art  speak for himself. You have to struggle to hear him whenever he spoke ( he gave just 2-3 interviews in his lifetime and that too so reluctantly!) but when he was in front of the microphone , he was a totally different person.  He would roar, whisper, elaborate the same  word or phrase in so many ways within a song, mould his voice according to the person on screen and the emotion of the song…one can go on describing  him. The very fact even after 42 years since he left us ,   he is still  remembered,  loved by millions across the globe and hundreds of programs are conducted across the country every 24^th Dec and 31^st July shows what a great legend he is . The one and only Mohammad Rafi-the man who defined play back singing & created such a unique space for himself in the Hindi film music world  which  no one could ever fill in since his departure .

If we have to write about him and his songs, there are so many topics and it is really difficult to choose as to what should be the best way to pay a tribute to him on his 42^nd anniversary. There are hundreds of articles or blogs about him in today’s Internet savvy world. Although it looks to be a difficult task to write something new about Rafi, the great legacy  that he has left behind  , always helps us to write something new as a tribute to him.

I started this blog on  his birth anniversary of Rafi on 24^th Dec 2021, writing about some of the extra-ordinary songs of Rafi . For this tribute on 31^st July, 2022 let me just recall few random  songs that come to my mind. Few of them might be very popular but most of them would be less-heard ones. This is just a spontaneous selection of whatever song came to my mind , without any particular theme.

1. Jab bhi yeh dil udaas hota hai ; Film- Seema(1971) ; Music- Shankar Jaikishan; Lyrics-Gulzar.

Gulzar and Shankar-Jaikishan—a very rare combination indeed…might be their only song together. But the lines seem so apt to start this blog . It is as if written for the Rafi fans to remember him and sing…

Jab bhi yeh dil udaas hota hai..

Jaane kaun aas paas hota hai….

Yes Rafi sahab-you are always so close to us! A melodious  tune by the evergreen  S-J with their typical orchestration.

2. Unke khayal aaye to aate chale gaye; Film-Lal Pathhar(1971); Music- Shankar Jaikishan ; Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri

Somehow this  lesser known song of Rafi always comes to my mind whenever I think of some of his exceptional songs. The way he has carried this song is simply superb, with only two main instruments to accompany– sarangi & tabla played so nicely. A lesser known trivia is that it is picturized on the yesteryear singer G M Durrani , who inspired to some extent on Rafi’s early singing  ( he charted his own path by not following K L Saigal’s style unlike many of his contemporaries). What a great tribute that he could play back for his own idol . It is said that Durrani sahab was in  difficult days financially and the producer of the film gave him this small role to help him.

3. Poch kar ashq apni aankhon se, muskurao to koi baat bane( 1970); Film-Naya Rasta ; Music-N Dutta; Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi

This is another rarely heard song . What meaningful lyrics by the great Sahir:
Rang aur nazl, zaat aur mazhab

Jo bhi ho aadmi se kam tar hai

Jo bhi ho aadmi se kam tar hai

Is haqeeqat ko tum bhi meri tarah

Maan jaao toh koi baat bane

Sar jhukaane se kuch nahin hota

Sar uthao , toh koi baat bane

N Dutta and Sahir were a fabulous team with Rafi giving full life to the immortal lines of Sahir.

4. Mujhe ishq hai tujhi se , meri jaan zindagani; Film-Ummeed (1971); Music- Ravi; Lyrics- Shakeel Badyuni

Ravi & Rafi-–just a letter different in the way their names are spelt-maybe that made them so close to each other and whenever they gave a song together , it was just sheer magic. A scintillating composition by Ravi and Rafi sings it in his inimitable style.

Tere husn ne dikhaayee

Mujhe bekhudi ki raahen

Yeh haseen lab nasheele

Yeh jhuki nigahen

The way he adds his special touch  in the word  “bekhudi”, and in the phrase  “haseen lab nasheele”…no one can match that. Sheer delight for Rafi fans.

5. Dil ka soona saaz tarana dhoondega; Film- Ek Nari Do Roop( 1973)            Music-Ganesh- Lyrics-Asad Bhopali

Ganesh , the talented but unrecognized & under-utilized younger brother of Pyarelal Sharma ( of the famous duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal) ,  composed some  evergreen melodies and this is surely one of them.

We should also thank the lyricist Asad Bhopali for the prophetic lines that seem to be  perfectly written  for Rafi sahab.

“ Mujhko mere baad, zamaana dhoondegaa”

“ Waqt mere geeton ka Khazana dhoondegaa”

One interesting point I observed is that the first 5 songs I had randomly selected are all from the post 1969 period which many say was Rafi’s lean time but personally I never subscribe to that theory. It is a fact that he had lesser number of songs after the Aradhana wave but the quality of his songs never ever went down. It is a well-known fact that he had a grand come-back ( very few artists had ever made such a comeback after having taken a dip in their career) and in the year,  he passed away – 1980, he was the busiest singer once again!

6. Apni to har aah ek toofan hai;  Film-Kala Bazaar ( 1960); Music-S D Burman; Lyrics-Shailendra

With a simple tune and just a guitar , saxophone & flute to accompany, Rafi takes this song to a different level with his masterly rendition. Shailendra gives that tongue-in-cheek twist with the lines “ Uparwaala jaankar , anjaan hai” conveying a literal and a figurative interpretation for the “uparwaala” ( the scene has the heroine Waheeda Rehman in the upper berth of train coach and Dev Anand sitting below and singing). In his typical style , Rafi elaborates the word “ uparwaala” so beautifully to convey this double interpretation. At the end , Rafi makes the hearts of millions of his admirers happy by that added punch in “ jaaaankar”. Even if you just close your eyes and listen to this song, it will sound as if Dev Anand himself is singing.

7. Tu bemisaal hai teri tareef kya karoon; Film -Bramhachari ( 1968)-deleted in the film ; Music -Shankar Jaikishan; Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri

Till the time of writing this blog, even a hard-core Rafi  & Shankar Jaikishan fan like me never knew this song was deleted from the film Bramhachari, although I had listened to this many times in radio. Couldn’t understand why this gem of a song was deleted from the movie! It has all the essential elements of a typical Shammi-Rafi-SJ-Hasrat combination.

8. Yeh mera prem patra padkar ; Film-Sangam ( 1964); Music-Shankar Jaikishan-Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri

This song will always be in any listing of top 10 songs of Rafi. The song unfortunately became a bone of contention between Shankar & Jaikishan when the latter unwittingly revealed that it was his composition and thus breaking their unwritten pact of years that they will never say which song was composed by whom. But let us forget that and keep enjoying this song a million times ; we will never get bored. The way Rafi does a breathtaking “ agar mar jaaaon rooh bhatkegi tere intezaar mein..intezaar mein is something every play back singer can only dream of.

9. Yaad na jaaye beete dinon ki; Film-Dil Ek Mandir (1963); Music-Shankar Jaikishan; Lyrics-Shailendra

One more masterpiece from the team of Rafi-SJ-Shailendra. Each and every line of this song sounds so good . One can understand why Rafi’s songs are so liked and listened to again and again from songs like this. They touch your  soul directly . Note the way he finishes the line” Dil kyun bulaye”.

10. Mein kab gaata , mere swar mein pyaar kisi ka gaata hai; Non-Film Song; Music- Shyam Sundar/ Shyam Sagar(??) ; Lyrics-???

I don’t think there can be any other song more apt than this simple , lesser-known , non- film song to end this blog. As the cliché goes, the greatest things in this world are the simplest. An obscure composer, an unknown lyricist ( I tried my best to search for the lyricist but couldn’t) but what a simple but great song! And then we have Rafi rendering this song which can be said to be a thumb-nail autobiographical sketch. I am giving the entire lyrics and I am sure everyone would agree why I say this song explains Rafi’s life as best as it can-especially the second antara.

Main kab gata
Mere swar mein
Pyaar kisi ka, gaata hai..
Pyaar kisi ka, gaata hai
Yaad kisi ki jab aati ek
Naya geet ban, jata hai..
Pyaar kisi ka gaata hai


Jab le thandi, saansen koi
Ye purwayya lehraye
Antar se jab, dhuaan uthe to
Ambar par Baadal chhaye
Aansoo ki boondon me koi
Chhand, naye barsata hai..
Pyar kisi ka gaata hai

Mere pass, nahi kuchh apna
Jo hai sabhi paraya hai
Mera tann mann
Mera jeevan
Kisi aur ki chhaya hai
Main to hoon ek taar, chhed Kar
Koi mujhe, bajaata hai..
Pyar kisi ka, gaata hai
Yaad kisi ki, jab aati ek
Nayaa geet ban, jata hai..
Pyaar kisi ka, gaata hai

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
The songs mentioned are from the popular , public domain and   have been  mentioned   only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners.