TRIBUTE TO SHANKAR JAIKISHAN-50-MOHD RAFI

As versatile were S-J, so was the great singer Mohd Rafi, in hindi film music….he wud adapt to any type of song, serious, lori, light or other boisterous songs to be filmed on different heroes….therefore the image remains in mind of the hero who lip-synchronised his voice….he was God gifted singer and Shankar Jaikishan fully utilised his potential to the extent, that for them it was Rafi all around, besides Mukesh and Mannada.

I remember his lori in ‘beti bete’, ”aaj kak mein dhal gaya”, which he sang in so soft a voice that it was difficult for any singer to copy him….he excels Lata in voice, as she also sang the same lori in that film….how beautiful that time was when a song heavenly made was repeated in the male or female voice and that were Rafi and Lata. Rafi saab made many heroes immortal and when that song comes on radio, the hero’s image comes to mind….may be they are raj kapoor, dilip kumar, dev anand, rajendra kumar, bharat bhushan, pradeep kumar, mehmood, shammi kapoor, rajesh khanna, dharmendra, amitabh bachhan, rishi kapoor  and many more.  His tuning with S-J was great as recalls Shammi Kapoor….”so distinct was his style when he sang for me….there were a number of songs which were not sung for me but i liked them very much…in fact i wud have loved to sing them! one of these is TERI PYARI PYARI SURAT KO. When Jaikishan composed the song, I said, ‘stupid! u are giving that song to rajendra kumar to sing! next he is to sing it to B Saroja Devi! my god!”…”Then there was ‘baharon phool barsao mera mehboob aaya hai’. I wud say, my god, what are you doing, these are my songs! And there were other songs that were not made for me but came to me finally. For the film Suraj, there was a duet. Rafi sahab sang it, but Rajendra Kumar said, ‘nahin, it doesn’t go with this picture, I don’t like it’. Jaikishan was sitting at my place and we were having a drink. Jai said to me, ‘for the first time in my life, a song of mine was rejected’, ‘i said i would like to hear it’. It was lying in his car. he brought the song and i heard it and said ‘it’s mine! i have taken over’ I put it in Brahmchari. the song was -aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har zabaan par- that was the song i took from Suraj. it was a superhit song! and Rafi sahab hadn’t sung that for me.” Generally Shammi Kapoor was present at the recording of his songs by Rafi Sahab, but when he was busy in shooting, he wud phone to Jaikishan to request Rafi sahab to sing the song ”like this…and like that” and when he heard it later, it was hundred percent of his imagination that Rafi sahab turned it to his style………to continue