Dev Anand- the hero with 2 golden voices

When we visualise a typical Amitabh song, the voice of Kishorda echoes through our ears. Think of Shammi Kapoor and Rafi saab comes to mind instantly. Talk about Raj Kapoor and Mukeshji starts singing in the background. Talk about Dilip Kumar and you hear Rafi saab overshadowing the fading voices of Talat and Mukesh , until it is Rafi's voice alone that you hear.

Now, talk about DEV ANAND: Is that Rafi or Kishore ? Who comes to your mind?

Dev Anand seems to be the only hero who had both Rafi and KK singing for him with equal amount of success. Of course there have been instances where both Rafi and KK have sung for other heros, but only one of them seemed to have suited as the hero's voice. For example, Dharmendar had both Rafi and KK singfor him, but Rafi's voice suited him better. On the other hand, while Rafi sang for Rajesh Khanna, KK was by far the better choice for him.

But what was in Dev Anand that both Rafi's and KK's voice suited him equally ? Rafi and KK have sung for Dev in the same movie on many occasions. And its not that Rafi was the original voice and then KK took over (well that did happen , but it was quite later). We had Rafi as the major singer in oldies like Tere Ghar ke Saamne, Bombai ka Babu, Kala Bazar, but KK had quite a few old songs in movies like Nau do Gyara, Teen Devian, Paying guest etc. I suppose it depended on the music director, who, in most of the cases, was SD Burman. As an example let's take Teen Devian. It had the following songs:

1)Aise to na dekho (Rafi)
2)Kahin bequayal hoke (Rafi)
3)Likha hai teri ankhon me (KK)
4)Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat (KK)
5)Are yaar mere tum bhi ho ghazab (KK)
6)Oof kitni thandi hai ye rut (KK)


Wow ! What a list! Anyway if the singers for 2 and 5 were interchanged I think we'd have 2 not so pleasing songson our hands. So SD did have the knack of picking the right singer for a particular song, but the point I want to make is that whether it was Rafi or KK, the voice suited Dev Anand perfectly!

Movies like Guide had all Rafi songs and just one KK song, while Jewel Thief
had all KK songs and just one Rafi song, but again all songs sounded as if it
was Dev Anand himself who was singing the songs. And finally why was this so ?
Why only with Dev Anand? Rafi and KK sang all sorts of songs for Dev Anand: Sad, fast, romantic, duets........ They did so for some other heroes as well, but it was only in Dev saab's case that they suited equally well!!

What's your take on this...!

Excellent topic Adi. Thanks!!!

Do add his songs from You tube.

His songs have too many SDBurman numbers. Never liked the hero as such but watched too many movies of his. The reason being simple. The songs picturised on him...

Here is the U tube link to Rafisaab's last song sung for Dev Anand:

Song name: Logon ka dil agar jitna hain toh

Film : Man Pasand (1980) starring Dev Anand & Tina Munim

RAFI LAST SONG FOR DEV ANAND

Some songs picturized on Dev saab sung by Kishorda & Rafi saab

1. Hum bekhudi mein tumko pukare chale gaye (Film : Kaala Paani)- great song sung by Rafisaab .

hum bekhudi main tum ko pukare

2. Hum hain raahi pyar ke - a great song by Kishorda for the film : Nau do gyarah

Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke

3. Dekho rootha na karo - a Rafisaab -Lataji duet from the film : Tere ghar ke saamne .

Dekho Rootha Na Karo

4. Chod do aanchal zamana kya kahega - A kishorda-Asaji duest from the film ,Paying Guest..

chod do aanchal

5. Tere ghar ke saamne - the title song from the film Tere ghar ke saamne sung by Rafi saab and Lataji.

tere ghar ke samne

6.Gaata rahe mera dil : A fantastic duet by Kishorda and Lataji for the film Guide.. In fact it is believed that this song was created just so Kishorda could sing one song in the film.

Gata rahe mera dil - Guide

7. Tere mere sapne : A masterpiece of a song, sung by Rafisaab in the fdilm: guide.

tere mere sapne

8.Maana janaab nei pukara nahi...a great Kishorda number from Paying guest

Mana janab ne pukara nahi

9.Aise na dekho - a very romantic number by rafisaab sung for the film teen Deviyaan

aise to na dekho

10. Yaar meri tum bhi ho gazab - from Teen deviyaan sung by Kishorda

Teen Deviyan - Yaar meri Tum bhi ho Gazab

SD Burman saab created some of the best songs with Kishorda & Rafisaab picturised on Dev Anand.👏👏👏

Great topic Adi.. and a great observation too...


I think more of the passionate, intense and melancholy songs of Dev saab were sung by Rafi saab.. while Kishore'da excelled more in the lighter, happier songs..Of course, there were exceptions in both cases.. like 'Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya' by Rafi saab, or 'Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se' by Kishore'da....


But what I am talking I think is very evident in the way the songs were partitioned in say Guide... 'Gaata rahe mera dil' went to Kishore'da, while the more intense 'Din dhal jaaye', 'Tere mere sapne' and 'Kya se kya ho gaya' were rendered by Rafi saab..


I think S D Burman had a very fine ear for which voice suits which circumstance of the song.. and he did perfect justice to it...

Originally posted by: *Jaya*

I think S D Burman had a very fine ear for which voice suits which circumstance of the song.. and he did perfect justice to it...

I think the magic lay with Burmanda...first of all the compositions were awesome, and it seems he scored the songs keeping the singer in mind. Thats how I guess Dev Saab landed up with some of the best Romantic songs of all times.

Originally posted by: adi_0112

I think the magic lay with Burmanda...first of all the compositions were awesome, and it seems he scored the songs keeping the singer in mind. Thats how I guess Dev Saab landed up with some of the best Romantic songs of all times.

Oh certainly - I think not just Romantic - Dev Saab I think will lead the race of having some of the best songs of all genre being picturised on him... And he did carry them very very well... Full credits to Dev saab for that tooo

oooo gr8 topic adi... 👏
kishore da and dev anand but i think i like him because of kishore da 🤔 🤔
Will post few you tube songs later if thats ok with you 😳

Originally posted by: wite_rainbow

oooo gr8 topic adi... 👏
kishore da and dev anand but i think i like him because of kishore da 🤔 🤔
Will post few you tube songs later if thats ok with you 😳

Please go ahead..Dev Anand reminded me of Gregory Peck...They look so alike. But he difinitely had a style..its a different thing that i hardly used to understand his dialogs, since he kind of mumbled them. But the songs on him....oooo la.la.la.....😆

Originally posted by: adi_0112

Please go ahead..Dev Anand reminded me of Gregory Peck...They look so alike. But he difinitely had a style..its a different thing that i hardly used to understand his dialogs, since he kind of mumbled them. But the songs on him....oooo la.la.la.....😆

gregory peck really? hmm may be but he was good in to kill a mocking bird to tell u the truth. I agree with the mumbling bit was never really a fan of him until i recognised kishore da's voice in the songs😳 other than that i think rajesh khanna and big b all the way!😳😆