The last song recorded by Rafi was for the film Aas Paas on July 26, 1980 just five days before his death. It was a duet with Lata Mangeshkar.
New Delhi:
Differences over royalty payment on their duets led to Lata Mangeshkar falling out with Mohammed Rafi and they stopped singing together for nearly three years, a biography of the late singer says.
In Mohammed Rafi: My Abba - A Memoir, daughter-in-law Yasmin Khalid Rafi brings out many unknown facets of the man who came to be regarded by many as the greatest playbacksinger the Hindi film industry has ever known.
"In the beginning of 1960, there came a phase when LataMangeshkar fell out with Mohammed Rafi and stopped singingduets with him. They did not work together for two-threeyears. Lata sang with Mahendra Kapoor and Suman Kalyanpur sangwith Rafi during this period," writes Yasmin.
"Their differences arose over the issue of royaltypayments on the songs sung by them. Lata wanted to be paidroyalty and raised the issue with the producers; she expectedRafi to support her point of view, which was in factjustified.
"But contrary to her expectations, Rafi took a differentstand. He opined, 'When the producer pays the fee the singerdemands for a song, thereafter the singer should not have ashare in the royalty.' This was probably a hasty decision,taken without careful consideration," the book, published byTranquebar Press, says.
Late music director Jaikishen finally effectedreconciliation between the two. The first duet Rafi and Lata Mangeshkarrecorded together after this episode was for the film PalkonKi Chhaaon Mein.
In a singing career spanning 35 years, Rafi worked withall the well-known music directors of his time, including S DBurman, Shankar-Jaikishen, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and O P Nayyar.Musician Naushad Ali once described him as India's new Tansen.
One of his hallmarks was his ability to sing in a varietyof styles, ranging from classical and patriotic songs toqawwalis, ghazals and bhajans, though he is best known for hisromantic songs and duets.
He became the voice of most of the actors across thedecades, including Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand,Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.
When Rafi entered the field of playback singing, filmsongs were mostly restricted to one saptak or single scale.
"But Rafi started the trend of singing to one and a halfscales (dedh saptak), thus bringing about a radical changein film music," the book says.
At the start of his career, Rafi was paid between Rs 50and Rs 70 per song.
"This amount increased, until towards the end of hiscareer he was being paid anything from Rs 18000 to Rs 20000.Nevertheless, he worked in small-budget films also, and forproducers who could only make meagre payments. Sometimes hewould not take money at all. When he sang for his colleagueKishore Kumar's film Shabaas Daddy, he accepted only Re 1 asa token fee," Yasmin writes.
The last song recorded by Rafi was for the film AasPaas on July 26, 1980 just five days before his death. It wasa duet with Lata Mangeshkar. Anand Bakshi's lyrics were set to music byLaxmikant Pyarelal. The song goes like this: Shehr meincharcha hai, Yeh duniya kehti hai, Gali mein meri ek ladkikunwari rehti hai.
Yasmin mentions an episode of 1937 which she describes asthe "first turning point" in Rafi's life at the age of 13.
"A pan-India exhibition was held in Lahore. It featured amusical programme where popular singers of that time KundanLal Saigal and Zohra Bai Ambalewali were performing along withsome new talents. Thousands of music lovers had turned up tolisten to their favourites. Rafi too was a fan of K L Saigaland wanted to hear him sing, so he accompanied his elderbrother to the event."
"During the programme, the electricity went off. Withoutthe loudspeaker, Saigal's fans were unable to hear him singand grew restive. It was then that somebody sent the youngRafi up on stage. He had been waiting for such an opportunity,and he grabbed it with both hands.
"In his powerful voice, without the microphone, he sang aPunjabi folk song. As he began to sing the noisy crowd waswonderstruck, and moments later it was listening in pin-dropsilence. Nobody stirred. The unknown Rafi became the man ofthe moment. The auditorium echoed with the crowd's applause.Saigal too was impressed. Patting young Rafi's headappreciatively, he said, 'One day you'll be a great singer',"the author writes.
Rafi also did small roles in films like Laila Majnu andSamaak Ko Badal Daalo. Jugnu was the last film in whichRafi was seen on screen.
His daughter-in-law, however, says he never had anyambition as an actor, nor did he enjoy this work but did cameoroles only "because it was the need of the hour".
The book also says that O P Nayyar was the only one inthe entire industry with whom Rafi was really friendly. Theyboth hailed from Lahore and enjoyed each other's company verymuch, so much so that their conversation even tended to belaced with invectives.
Nayyar and Rafi worked together continuously till 1979.Nayyar was of the opinion that anyone other than Rafi wouldfind it difficult to adjust to his particular style.
In Mohammed Rafi: My Abba - A Memoir, daughter-in-law Yasmin Khalid Rafi brings out many unknown facets of the man who came to be regarded by many as the greatest playbacksinger the Hindi film industry has ever known.
"In the beginning of 1960, there came a phase when LataMangeshkar fell out with Mohammed Rafi and stopped singingduets with him. They did not work together for two-threeyears. Lata sang with Mahendra Kapoor and Suman Kalyanpur sangwith Rafi during this period," writes Yasmin.
"Their differences arose over the issue of royaltypayments on the songs sung by them. Lata wanted to be paidroyalty and raised the issue with the producers; she expectedRafi to support her point of view, which was in factjustified.
"But contrary to her expectations, Rafi took a differentstand. He opined, 'When the producer pays the fee the singerdemands for a song, thereafter the singer should not have ashare in the royalty.' This was probably a hasty decision,taken without careful consideration," the book, published byTranquebar Press, says.
Late music director Jaikishen finally effectedreconciliation between the two. The first duet Rafi and Lata Mangeshkarrecorded together after this episode was for the film PalkonKi Chhaaon Mein.
In a singing career spanning 35 years, Rafi worked withall the well-known music directors of his time, including S DBurman, Shankar-Jaikishen, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and O P Nayyar.Musician Naushad Ali once described him as India's new Tansen.
One of his hallmarks was his ability to sing in a varietyof styles, ranging from classical and patriotic songs toqawwalis, ghazals and bhajans, though he is best known for hisromantic songs and duets.
He became the voice of most of the actors across thedecades, including Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand,Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.
When Rafi entered the field of playback singing, filmsongs were mostly restricted to one saptak or single scale.
"But Rafi started the trend of singing to one and a halfscales (dedh saptak), thus bringing about a radical changein film music," the book says.
At the start of his career, Rafi was paid between Rs 50and Rs 70 per song.
"This amount increased, until towards the end of hiscareer he was being paid anything from Rs 18000 to Rs 20000.Nevertheless, he worked in small-budget films also, and forproducers who could only make meagre payments. Sometimes hewould not take money at all. When he sang for his colleagueKishore Kumar's film Shabaas Daddy, he accepted only Re 1 asa token fee," Yasmin writes.
The last song recorded by Rafi was for the film AasPaas on July 26, 1980 just five days before his death. It wasa duet with Lata Mangeshkar. Anand Bakshi's lyrics were set to music byLaxmikant Pyarelal. The song goes like this: Shehr meincharcha hai, Yeh duniya kehti hai, Gali mein meri ek ladkikunwari rehti hai.
Yasmin mentions an episode of 1937 which she describes asthe "first turning point" in Rafi's life at the age of 13.
"A pan-India exhibition was held in Lahore. It featured amusical programme where popular singers of that time KundanLal Saigal and Zohra Bai Ambalewali were performing along withsome new talents. Thousands of music lovers had turned up tolisten to their favourites. Rafi too was a fan of K L Saigaland wanted to hear him sing, so he accompanied his elderbrother to the event."
"During the programme, the electricity went off. Withoutthe loudspeaker, Saigal's fans were unable to hear him singand grew restive. It was then that somebody sent the youngRafi up on stage. He had been waiting for such an opportunity,and he grabbed it with both hands.
"In his powerful voice, without the microphone, he sang aPunjabi folk song. As he began to sing the noisy crowd waswonderstruck, and moments later it was listening in pin-dropsilence. Nobody stirred. The unknown Rafi became the man ofthe moment. The auditorium echoed with the crowd's applause.Saigal too was impressed. Patting young Rafi's headappreciatively, he said, 'One day you'll be a great singer',"the author writes.
Rafi also did small roles in films like Laila Majnu andSamaak Ko Badal Daalo. Jugnu was the last film in whichRafi was seen on screen.
His daughter-in-law, however, says he never had anyambition as an actor, nor did he enjoy this work but did cameoroles only "because it was the need of the hour".
The book also says that O P Nayyar was the only one inthe entire industry with whom Rafi was really friendly. Theyboth hailed from Lahore and enjoyed each other's company verymuch, so much so that their conversation even tended to belaced with invectives.
Nayyar and Rafi worked together continuously till 1979.Nayyar was of the opinion that anyone other than Rafi wouldfind it difficult to adjust to his particular style.
