In Search Of A Lost And Forgotten Song By Rafi
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
23 December
2023
"A voice that left a permanent void with
its departure....."
Filmmaker Satyajit Ray on Rafi's demise
on July 31, 1980
Muhammad Rafi (File Photo)
-----
Have you
come across the word serendipity? It means 'a chance discovery.' I had this
when I was looking for Muhammad Rafi's rarest of rare film songs and non-filmi Ghazals.
By the way, Rafi sang 231 non-filmi Ghazals, whereas you find only 40-odd Ghazals
sung by him on YouTube. In 2008, I was in Lahore in search of Rafi's lost
songs. I almost finished my task but was still not fully satisfied as I didn't
get a few film songs anywhere.
One day, I
was at a barber's shop in Lahore getting a haircut. The suave hair stylist
asked me in impeccable Urdu: Janaab, Aap Kuchh Samaat Farmayenge? (sir,
would you like to listen to some music?). I told him that I listened to only
Rafi and Mehdi Hasan and no other singer ever appealed to me. He then started
playing Rafi's film-songs on a gramophone (on LP records). All the songs were
not just rare but were tasteful to boot. Then came a song I was looking for: Tum
Poochhte Ho Ishq Bala Hai Ke Nahin (Film: Naqli Nawab, Lyricist:
Kaifi Azmi, Music: Babul not Bipin Dutta, wrongly mentioned on the YouTube
video/Babul teamed up with Bipin Dutta but they eventually split).
This film
hit the marquee in 1962 and bombed at the box office because of the very high
class Urdu. Picturised on Manoj Kumar, Rafi considered it as one of his best
film songs. I listened to it years ago on the BBC, Urdu Service aeons ago but
didn't find its details. I jotted down all the details and profusely thanked
the hair stylist. Then I wrote to Manoj Kumar in Urdu. Abbottabad (NWFP,
Pakistan) born Manoj Kumar cannot read and write Hindi. He was pleased as punch
when he got to know that someone found this rare song by Rafi which was
picturised on him (Manoj Kumar). He wrote to me to contact him when I'd be in
India. I met him after coming back to India.
Rafi and
Manoj Kumar were very close friends. Rafi called him Goswami Tulsidas because
Manoj Kumar's surname is Goswami. Before singing the song, Rafi met Manoj Kumar
and said, "Goswami Tulsidas Ji, Ekdum Heroine Ki Jaanib Dekh Ke
Gaiyega" (Goswami Tulsidas ji, please lip-sing the song looking
intently at the heroine, Shakeela) because Rafi was aware of Manoj Kumar's
habit of not looking at his heroines! The song was loved by the connoisseurs
but it didn't appeal to the masses. Manoj Kumar told me that All India Radio,
Urdu Service, Delhi, Vividh Bharati, Bombay and Radio Ceylon had the LP records
of this song but it was hardly ever played because listeners were simply not
aware of the existence of this song.
I wrote
about it in many magazines and approached the radio stations. Yet, it was
uploaded very late on YouTube (in 2014). It was Shakeela's favourite song along
with the hauntingly beautiful, 'Sau Baar Janam Lenge...' (Film: Ustadon
Ke Ustaad, Lyrics: Asad Bhopali and music by Ravishankar Sharma known as
Ravi, 1963). Some songs like Tum Poochhte Ho Ishq Bala just fade into
oblivion despite being so euphonic. Listen to it. You'll concur with me and let
me know whether you listened to it before?
Mohammad
Rafi's 99th Birth Anniversary falls on December 24
-----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/search-forgotten-song-rafi/d/131367
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