To me he is the greatest singer India has ever produced. The first time I listened to one of Rafi sahab’s songs on the television, I was blown away completely. While my classmates used to love the music of the 80s era, I felt myself gravitate toward the songs from the 50s and 60s. Md. Rafi could sing any song effortlessly. His voice felt divine and would tug at one’s heartstrings. Whatever be the mood of the song, Rafi sahab would ensure that the final result would be pure gold and played millions of times by the Indian radio stations.
The song could be romantic, sad, patriotic, devotional – the music directors knew that if they could have Rafi (playback) sing , it would become popular. He was the first choice of almost all the music directors and actors. I cannot imagine another voice singing ‘Ehsaan tere hoga mujhpar’ or ‘Aapke haseen rukh pe’. Only Rafi could do justice to ‘Suhani raat dhal chuki’ and ‘Chaudvin ka chaand’. Then there is ‘Madhuban mein Radhika’, ‘Jab dil se dil takrata hai’, ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’, ‘Main yeh soch kar’, ‘Insaaf ka mandir hai’, ‘Tu kahan yeh bata’, ‘Kaun hai jo sapnon mein aaya’, ‘O duniya ke Rakhwaale’, ‘Dil ke jharokhe mein’, ‘Aaja re aa zara’, ‘Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare’ .. the list goes on and I have not mentioned a single duet yet!
The genius of Rafi sahab also lies in the fact that besides his incredible range, he was also a ‘singing mimicry artist’. Some of the songs mentioned are incredibly difficult to sing and to add to the complexity, Rafi could modulate his voice to suit any style. There would be an immediate connection with the audience. One could immediately picture the song just by listening to it once. One could figure out the mood and in most cases even the actor lip syncing the song on the silver screen. His voice would work for Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Guru Dutt, Bharat Bhushan, Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Biswajeet, Johnny Walker, Pradeep Kumar and Rishi Kapoor to name a few. Some of these names are the biggest stars of Indian cinema. In India, the movie’s music and songs play a huge part in the success. One can perhaps say that by lending his voice to the most influential actors Rafi sahab increased their individual appeal to the masses!
Everyone knows what a decent human being Rafi sahab was. He would always say that his ability was a gift of God in all humility. He worked with the great music directors Shankar-Jaikishan, O.P. Nayyar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, S.D. Burman, Ravi, Madan Mohan and sang duets with Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Suman Kalyanpur, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar. He sang songs penned by the greatest lyricists in the history of Indian cinema. However, his contribution to a song would raise it several notches above. Even the great Manna Dey has said that no one could even come close to Rafi sahab. Almost 40 years after his death, Rafi sahab is immortalized by all his fans and continues to live in our hearts!