The man who found divinity— Md. Rafi

Rafi was born on Dec.24, 1924, in a conservative Punjabi Jat Muslim family in Kotla Sultan Singh village near Amritsar. / istock

Every year, on Guru Purnima, Shammi Kapoor, and his wife Neila Devi, would travel to Vrindavan to take the blessings of his guru who would come down from his ashram in the Himalayas on the occasion. 

In 1980, at around 4 am, the couple was on their way to visit his guru when a boy on a bicycle flagged their rickshaw to a stop and morosely told the veteran actor, "Shammi sahab aapki awaaz chali gayi (Shammi sahab, your voice is gone)." Befuddled, he shook his head, pointing out that he had sung bhajans only the previous night, and the boy clarified that he was referring to Mohammad Rafi, who had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away on Jul.31, reiterating, "Aap ki awaz chali gayi." A heartbroken Shammi Kapoor immediately burst into tears. 

Recalling the incident on the singer's third anniversary while unveiling the Mohd. Rafi Academy, he admitted that it would be his lifelong regret that since he was away from Mumbai, he couldn't even say goodbye to the man who had given him so much.

Their association dates back to 1953 and the actor's first film, Jeevan Jyoti, for which Rafi sang two SD Burman compositions, "Aankhon mein hai tu..." and "Lag gayi akhiyan...". It continued over two decades, the singer turning around his career which was on a downspin with Nasir Hussain's 1957 musical romance, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, which had six peppy tracks, including three Rafi solos "Jawaniyan yeh mast mast..." "Chhupne wale saamne aa...", "Yun to humne lakh haseen dekhe hai, tum sa nahin dekha...".

OP Nayyar then passed on the baton to Usha Khanna, who collaborated with Rafi and Asha Bhosle on 10 songs, including popular hits like "Dil deke dekho, dil deke dekho...", "Bolo bolo kuch to bolo...", "Hum aur tum aur yeh...", "Yaar chulbula hai..." and "Bade hai dil ke kale..., to give Shammi a second blockbuster, the 1959 romcom Dil Deke Dekho.

After that there was no looking back for the nayak-gayak jodi who waltzed through the '60s. From Junglee's "Yahoo...", Professor's "Aye gulbadan..." and Kashmir Ki Kali's "Tarif karoon kya uski..." to "Aajaaaja..." from Teesri Manzil, An Evening in Paris's "Raat ke humsafar..." and "Dil ke jharoke mein tujko bithakar..." from Brahmachari, their songs remain unforgettable. Out of the 7,000 odd films that Rafi sang, over 4,000 for Hindi films, 190 were for Shammi Kapoor alone. What amazed everyone, including the actor, was that he managed to capture his wild impetuosity in his velvet voice.

Rafi was born on Dec.24, 1924, in a conservative Punjabi Jat Muslim family in Kotla Sultan Singh village near Amritsar. He was schooled at home, but academics didn't interest him, music did. This led to frequent scoldings and beatings from his abbajaan, but the boy continued to trail behind the fakir who visited their village early every morning, chanting after him, and earning the nickname Pheeko.

In 1935, his father, Haji Ali Mohammad, moved to Lahore and opened a barber's shop there. Finally, acknowledging his son's talent, he sent Rafi to Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan from the Kirana Gharana to be trained in classical music. The boy soon became a popular singer locally and when KL Saigal came to Lahore for the Pan-India Exhibition and the mic failed, Rafi was pushed on stage to entertain the audience with a couple of songs till the power returned. In an interview to Star & Style magazine in 1980, Rafi admitted that after listening to him, Saigal blessed him, predicting that one day he would become a much sought after singer.

Soon after, actor-producer Nasir Khan heard him sing at a friend's place and asked his father if he could groom the boy to give playback for films. It took a lot of convincing before Haji Ali Mohammad agreed to let Rafi go to Bombay. But his son's wife, Basheera Bibi, whom he married the previous year at the age of 14, and with whom he already had a son, Saeed Rafi, refused to relocate and the couple split.

On Feb.8, 1941, Rafi sang a duet with Zeenat Begum, "Soniye nee heeriye nee...", for the Punjabi film Gul Baloch. In 1945, he rendered his first Hindi song, "Aji dil ho kaabu mein..." for Gaon Ki Gori. The same year he found a life partner in Bilquis Bano, who accepted Saeed as her own, and bore him six more children, with whom he flew kites, played carrom and badminton, and was a most doting father.

In 1947, Feroz Nizami used his voice for Dilip Kumar for Jugnu. Rafi sang 77 songs for the actor. He also gave hits with Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Johnny Walker.

A simple man with a heart-melting smile and a big heart, Rafi rarely got angry, but there was an infamous war of words with Lata Mangeshkar in the sixties when she, along with Talat Mehmood, Mukesh, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar, demanded royalty for all singers who were only getting a one-time payment. The recording companies passed the onus on to the producers and vice versa and the matter escalated.

This upset Rafi for whom music had always been a divine pursuit and money never a priority. He believed that once a song was recorded and the singer paid, there should be no further discussion on a subject. At a meeting in 1963, he hit out at Lata, saying huffily, "I will never sing with you again." She retaliated by calling all the music directors and informing them she would not record with Rafi. Eventually, he sent her a letter admitting he had spoken in haste and at an SD Burman Nite at Mumbai's Shan mukhananda Hall in 1967, they sang the Jewel Thief duet, "Dil pukare aare aaare...", and all was well.

In his centenary year, it's hard to pick a Rafi favourite because he left behind so many priceless gems. One of them is "O duniya ke rukhwale..." from Baiju Bawru. According to industry lore, Naushad made him extend his range to such an extent, that despite rehearsing for over a fortnight, Rafi was coughing blood during the recording and could not sing for many days afterwards. One does not know if there is any truth to these rumours, but the composer did share that when they re-recorded the song a few years later, Rafi took it two surs up.
Also, Naushad read in the newspapers that when a man on the death row was asked his last wish, he requested that they play "O duniya ke rakhwale..." for him before he was hanged. And that sums up the magic of Mohd. Rafi's God-gifted talent.