My Meeting With Muhammad Rafi
By Mr. Zahir Amhed (pesystem@earthlink.net)
I was perhaps 10 years old when I first heard Rafi's voice…..it was a song from the film JUGNU [1948] ……YAHAN BADLA WAFA KA……. This was a duet with Noor Jehan. It was a famous song at that time. Next I heard him in ANMOL GHADI … TERA KHILONA TOOTA…. I began to hum his songs and also sing them. His voice was a magic voice full of emotions and feelings. In this song, Rafi exactly depicted the feelings of the poor boy whose toy broke when his playmate girl was leaving for Bombay.
Soon after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Rafi sang a great song about the Mahatma…. SUNO SUNO AIY DUNIYA WALON, BAPU JI KI AMAR KAHANI. This song swept the entire nation and Rafi became the household name in India.
Then came another great song about the Holy month of RAMADAN….the story of a young boy who fasted during the month of Ramadan. This song was played over the radio every day during the month of Ramadan for decades and once again Rafi became the most beloved singer. While I was in High School, I heard his songs in DEEDAR.. MERI KAHANI BHOOLNE WALE….. NASEEB DAR PE TERE… These songs gave a new dimension to his talent ….they were high pitch songs and no other singer could match his voice. His song in BARSAAT MAIN ZINDAGI ME HUR DAM ROTA HI … was a remarkable song. Rafi became the SUPERMAN to all the music directors of the Bombay Film Industry. He could solve their problems by singing any type of song…..happy, sad, high pitch, tragedy, children's songs, comedy, religious, and so on. It was impossible to find any other singer who had such multiple singing talents.
In my opinion some of his best songs were done with music directors Hasan Lal Bhaghat Ram, O.P. Nayyar, Shanker Jaikishan [Basant Bahar]. Of course his classical based songs of Shabaab and Baiju Bawra are also quite remarkable. Who could forget his song EK DIL KE TUKDE HAZAR HUWAY… with the beat of Hasan Lal Bhagathram??? Who could forget his song CHOUDWEEN KA CHAND HO… All through my college, I sang his songs in the college functions and won awards. When I moved to the United States for higher studies during the 60s, I presented the music of India in an international student gathering at YALE University. I played the SITAR album of Ravi Shanker and then I sang a song of Muhammad Rafi…..AYE NA BALAM WADA KAR KE. Later on when I moved to Los Angeles, California it became a tradition among the India-Pakistani community here to have my songs in every evening party for a few years.
Most of my songs were RAFI's songs. A great event happened during the 70s here in Los Angeles. Rafi saheb used to come to Los Angeles almost every year for live stage performances. I went to the airport along with a few friends just to meet him. When I shook hands with him, I invited him to come to my home and bless us with his visit. After a few moments of thinking, he accepted to come to my home with his wife.
It was truly a great day for me……the person who had greatly influenced me since my childhood was coming to my home. I took him and his wife in my car and drove to my home. At home we had TEA and we talked for a long time. I told him my story of singing his songs in Los Angeles. He was very impressed. He then asked me if I could show him HOLLYWOOD. After dinner, I and my wife took him and his wife in our car and drove him around the entire Los Angeles area…..Disneyland, Movieland Wax Museum, Beverly Hills. We then finally came to Chinese Grumman Theater in Hollywood. There I showed Rafi saheb the footprints of numerous great stars of Hollywood ……Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Gary Cooper, Cecil B. DeMille and so on. He looked extremely happy and he thanked me and my wife for showing him the Hollywood area. He was a very humble man, down to earth, with extreme politeness.
Next year I was in Bombay in Naushad's home when I was told that Muhammad Rafi was coming to see me. I was very surprised. I said Rafi saheb, the great name of India is coming to see me !!!!!. When he came, he sat across from me and told Naushad that I and my wife showed hospitality to him in our home and then took him around Los Angeles and showed him Hollywood. He had come to thank me for this. I was very much moved by this great treatment. When I visited Filmcenter Studios with Majrooh Sultanpuri, the people in the studio already knew me through Rafi saheb ….the person who showed him Hollywood !!!!!!
When he passed away, I was in Los Angeles and sang many of his songs in his memory. Then I met a lady, Nalini Ramji, who has founded the RAFI FAN club. We had a function in Rafi's memory. Next year I visited my hometown, Bangalore.
One of my relatives told me BHAIJAN, do you know Muhammad Rafi spoke about you in an interview here in Bangalore?? I was stunned and I told him Show me the proof. After a few days he brought a clip he had saved from a Urdu newspaper in which Rafi saheb had mentioned my name as the person who showed him Hollywood.
When I read this I cried. I said to myself O, RAFI SAHEB, WHAT A GREAT REWARD YOU GAVE ME FOR A LITTLE GOOD I DID FOR YOU. YOU ARE TRULY A MAN OF GREAT CHARACTER. MAY ALLAH BLESS YOUR SOUL.
Muhammad Rafi is truly a great singer whose songs will NOT die. Through his songs he gave us a variety of life patterns like sadness, happiness, religiousness, romance and love. Most of all his humbleness and sense of gratitude will remain in my heart forever. I will always pray for him.
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