An endless feud between the fans of Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar..
Mohammed Rafi was born at Kotla Sultan Singh, near Amritsar . Rafi displayed his talent for singing at the tender age of 13. The lure of movies beckoned him to Bombay in 1944. His first hit was the Tera Khilona Toota Balak from Anmol Ghadi in 1946. India lost this jewel on July 31, 1980.
Abhas Kumar Ganguly, better known as Kishore Kumar was born on August 4, 1929 in Kandwa. Following the footsteps of his elder brother Ashok Kumar he too ventured into movies. But he soon realised that his heart was in singing. Under the patronage of RD Burman he soon flourished. He would at times compose and write songs himself. Sadly he passed away in October,1987.
The debate as to who was the greater singer carries on even today, even decades after their death. Both of them left an indelible mark in the world of Indian film music, a void that still cannot be filled today. No wonder that their fans are at constant feud with one another trying to prove that their hero was better.
It is a no secret that Mohammed Rafi was a trained classical singer and that Kishore Kumar had a natural talent. Hence Rafi’s fans feel that he was the more accomplished and skilful of the two. Kishoreda’s fans are of the opinion that though he may not have been trained, he had purity and sheer quality of voice. The fact that he wasn’t trained, and could still sing anything, both classical and non classical songs with equal magic rendered him more superior than Rafi.
Fans claim that Rafi was the most favoured singer for many veteran composers while Kishore Kumar was preferred by few and was a playback mainly for Dev Anand and later for Rajesh Khanna. Rafi on the other hand balanced his melodious voice for diverse stars like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Shammi Kapoor.
In support of Rafi’s greatness, many of his fans say Rafi sang for Kishore Kumar in films that Kishore himself acted. They also draw the attention to Rafi’s song Darde Dil in Karz which was based on a single note and proved that he was indeed blessed with God-gifted melody. Mohammed Rafi’s fans also claim that Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan who belong to the Rafi school are technically better than Kumar Sanu, Babul Supriyo etc.
On the other hand, Kishore Kumar’s fans remind people of songs which he sang by melodiously incorporating his inimitable yodelling. Those numbers are extremely popular even today. They further claim that in the 70’s and 80’s, it was he who sang for a number of heroes.
This debate can go on endlessly. However it must be stated that both were great singers of their times and each had his own distinctive style.
There was no feud between the two and the immense respect that Kishore Kumar had for Mohammed Rafi is clearly seen in the photo during Rafi’s funeral. A silent, sad and grief-struck Kishore in the newspapers portrayed very well that no one except him understood what an irreparable loss had taken place in Indian film music.
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August 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Kishore was not technically upto the mark!! the criteria for such comments should be validated.. Because if kishore is not upto the mark then there were many not upto the mark!! Technicality is a term with many branches.. Something non musical to you can be very much musical to me also- just to give an example.
Coming 4th august is guruji’s 80th birthday.. The world will never get an artist of such calibre as kishore kumar.. last night Star Ananda- a bengali news channel-was showing a program on him and a reputed bengali singer tried his throat at a high pitch kishore song and lost his breath in the antara… I just remember that song for guruji….
//hum se hai zinda wafa aur hum hi se hai teri mehfil jawan, hum jab na honge to ro ro ke duniya dhundegi meri nishaan//
July 31st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
How can anyone say Kishore Kumar was not “technically upto the mark”? Kishore could belt out a K L Saigal tune note-for-note without a single flaw in 1948. Just listen to his first song “Marne ki Duaen” from 1948’s “Ziddi” (Khemchand Prakash composer), and tell me he is technically “not upto the mark”. And my friends, it doesn’t get much better than Kundan Lal Saigal. Ghantasala is brilliant, as was T M Soundararajan. What distinguished them was vocal timber and technique. Kishore had both. His songs can move mountains and calm stormy waves. Even a musical novice is immediately struck by the purity of Kishore’s nada. I would like to avoid using fancy terms, but friends, Kishore Kumar was a true nada yogi, without even being aware of it. Singers like him come along every couple hundred years. We must be grateful for his legacy.
July 31st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Contd.. to my previous post.
Kishore kumar’s great thing was though technically not upto the mark, he had a talent by virtue of which he could make a song quite attractive with little practise and it was a great factor in kishore kumar. Another such singer, like kishore kumar is s p balasubrahmanyam, who despite lacking in technical talent, could render songs with little practise. But the unique gifted talent factor always remains as in the case of the unique singers, ghantasala & rafi - they can never be surpassed by others.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Lover - 1542
Nice write up, I agree with your points. There will not be another ghantasala or such great voice, he is just unique & in specially classical filmy renditions he easily surpasses all other playback singers (this is due to his unique voice combined with technical talent) K J Yesudas, Manna dey etc. also are technically well qualified but they lack in terms of the unique voice which ghantasala possessed. Similarly, rafi though had great voice was behind in terms of technical capability.
Similarly, there will not be another mohd. rafi and such popular filmy playback singer. Mohd. rafi too is great a singer with unique talents. And in H F M, IMHO, rafi is the greatest as compared to other hindi playback singers. Of course, subjective views may differ. Coming to kishore kumar, technically he is not upto the mark, though in some songs he is quite attractive and kishore too has rendered songs which have become very popular.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:07 am
Dear kishore fans,I`m a dedicated fan Of Rafi sahab n rather adore him,,,,,I have an article from “times of India” to share with u all,that says about kishore kumar`s love for Rafi ji,,and deny the word fued,,so …with love….
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4837329.cms
July 29th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
KLF_X7
I think you have heard KK only with RD.. Great.. even I am a devotee of these two individuals…. Request to listen KK more with Laxmikant Pyarelal(you will find ghazal to qawalli to devotional to patriotic to semi classical), Kalyanji Anandji, Salil Chowdhury, Chitragupta, Hemant Kumar, Anil Biswas, S D Burman, Shankar Jaikishan, Ravindra Jain, Khyyam, Ravi, Jaidev, Husnlal Bhagatram, Shyamal Mitra, Lata Mangeshkar( yes, you read it right.. Kishore is the only singer for which Lataji composed songs.. Prescribe ” Aami nei aami nei” for you based on Komal Gandhar), Khemchand Prakash, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Hemant Bhosle, Pandit Panna Lal Ghosh, Bhupen Hazarika, Shiv Hari with Kishore Kumar.. Trust me, each of these composers had given some of their lifetime best with Kishore…
And yes, Rafi sahab in deed was one of the greatest singers of all times.. He was the sun, I have no doubt,, but then there were two suns in the sky and without doubt.. There were candles also..lol… Let us not name them as they were poor clones of great singers..
July 29th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
What to compare I fail to understand without “subjectivity”??
1. Sad songs: both equally good with different emotions and expressions.. One “sobbing” between lines and the other “emoting with deepness without melodrama”.. You may like one and not like the other “so much”.. But that is again “subjectivity”
2. Romantic songs: both were equally versatile..one with “soft and silky” voice and the other with “robust and deep voice” .. but they handled romantic moods brilliantly.. “Tere mere sapne” or ” O hansini”- all have their own distinct taste..
3. Classical songs: Rafi hands down..
4. Comedy songs: Kishore hands down…
5. Ghazal and Qawalli: Rafi with “slight” edge as he was more towards textbook and Kishore more towards “manifestation” of textbook..”Aesi haseen chandni” is more like a “customized ghazal” or “nazm” as compared to “Rukh se zara naqab” which is more towards true ghazal.. ” Kahin janaab ko mera intezaar” is similarly a “filmy” Qawalli as compared to “Na caravan ki talash hai” which is more of an authentic qawalli.. Saying this, whenever Kishore tried “textbook ghazal” like ” Sarakti jaye hai rukh se naqab”, he nailed them brilliantly.. But since numbers favour Rafi more, let us give it to Rafi..
6. Experimentation and “Out of the box” singing: Kishore, “definitely”.. He could “think of doing things” which others used to avoid.. Whether Rafi could do them or not that is entirely a different issue, but Kishore experimented with his voice “ultimately”.. mimicring, yoodelling at high pitch, dual voice singing, gabbling between lines, breaking voice in between lines- these are the things which were introduced and enhanced by Kishore Kumar.. There were songs “exclusively” meant for Kishore.. So, for exclusivity factor, Kishore has an edge..
7. Range: Now coming from genres of songs to “singing” as a whole.. Rafi was the master of “high octave ” singing.. His control over high notes in songs like ” Dil ke jharoke mein”, “O duniya ke rakhwale”, “Zindabaad zindabaad”- were awesome and created history in film music..
Kishore had a terrific ability to hit low notes with stupendous clarity.. “Koi humdum na raha”, “Koi hota jisko apna”, “Pyar tumhe kis mod pe le aaya”, “Dil mein kisi ke pyar ka” or “Saghana gahana raatri” had abysmal low notes which not all singers thought of “venturing”.. Kishore’s high pitch songs like ” Ek haseena thi”, ” Dil aaj shayar hai” or ” Jeena to hai par ae dil kaha” were brilliantly nailed down just as Rafi’s low note songs “Toote hue khwabon ne” or “Hum bekhudi tum ko pukare”.. This proves both these singers’ versatility but in range as a whole both stand “theoritically” at the same point…
Now, how can you discriminate?? Saying this, I must admit Rafi’s edge lies more in the “textbook” genre and Kishore’s in “unorthodox” or “sponteneous” genre.. So, I could listen Rafians in mohdrafi.com saying “Rafi was the voice of god and Kishore was the voice of rickshawallah” or ” Rafi was the sun and Kishore was a candle”- these all come out of frustration and nothing else.. Singing is very broad and very vast.. Selectively chosing the points where we want to prove only our views- we can prove anything politically..
Hats off to them as well…
July 6th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
There is no purpose on debate of who was the best rafi or kishore. Both have sung many good songs and have many followers. Rafi thrills with yeh chand sa roshan chehra so is kishore with yeh dil na hota bechara. Both are respected singers.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I am certainly a new comer to this site and after watching the interesting discussions, I just thought of posting few paras of mine. I am a music lover from andhra. I was fascinated by the write ups of Mr. manish kumar and Mr. surajit bose ji here.
Manish kumar ji & Surajit Bose ji,
What a great presentation by both of you. Indeed it has been a lot of pleasure to hear your beautiful essays for so long and which have undoubtedly opened the many hidden truths about two greats in H F M - rafi and kishore. In fact both have sung many memorable songs and have a vast fan following. Both are great singers. In fact, in my opinion, rafi and kishore, were fine in their own ways. But I agree with bose ji, that both were technically not that better as compared to many others such as ghantasala, yesudas etc. Coming to ghantasala, I just wanted to post few paras on his classical notion of singing.
Sir’s -
I have been observing in many posts of bose ji and others on discussion about ghantasala as a classical singer. I just wanted to remove the incomplete notion about the same. I want to submit with respect that it is purely a incomplete notion. Just few paras on the notion.
True, Ghantasala was a trained classical singer but he was also numero one as the filmy playback singer. One can find a song in any genre of music in ghantasala’s voice with complete perfection. In fact, somebody was asking whether ghantasala has sung rock n rolls - indeed yes. There are some rock n rolls in telugu, he was equally great in rendering qawali numbers, light music songs and any song from a romantic materialistic number, to the highest spiritual devotional number. He was certainly not in the range of pandit bhimsen joshi or balamuralikrishna from the south, but he had a god gifted talent to bring a different beauty of perfection in his classical renditions - which made him unique among all other playback singers. In a nutshell, he was the complete perfect playback singer in telugu. He was completely at ease in any song similar & equivalent to his classical renditions like siva sankari & others, with perfect control, modulation, emotions and bhava effects.
Bose ji - siva sankari number by ghantasala is incomparable - as you said in darbari kanad rag it has no comparison with any film number (including o duniya ke rakhwale by rafi) This was also stated by one mr. khan, an experienced classical musician in mohd. rafi.com states with all certainty this point (post 611 in true voice col. mohd. rafi .com) But many people are ignorant that ghantasala voice in 1950’s is totally a different melodious & unique voice and the ranges which he rendered in those era are difficult to find. It was his unique divine voice which appeals and due to the voice combined with his talent. The encyclopeadia states his voice as the most majestic voice (this stands certainly true for his voice in the 50’s)
Sir’s here are two unique renditions by ghantasala from 50’s : I request you to kindly share your enlightening musical views on the said unique renditions.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3w5omAMF98
( A devotional sanskrit filmy rendition sung simultaneously in 8 ragas at a time. I think in taans this goes to even higher pitch than siva sankari number - bose ji - you have to confirm)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux49blEXTds
A devotional number with beautiful taans bose ji, as you mentioned.
Bose ji, - may i please request you to musically analyse the above numbers. The first one is sung in as many as eight ragas, which i feel you are most capable of disclosing (This rendition has been a challenge to many and even ragas identifying was difficult) - a treat to music lovers. (I think this covers all the 3 octaves - you should be able to enlighten me)
June 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Both were great singers as well as the other greats, Mukesh, Talat, Mahendra, Manna Dey etc.. As this topic is concerning Rafi & Kishore, my observation after listening to Bollywood songs for over 25yrs is that the majority of kishore’s most popular hits are of RD Burman compositions (as far as the media spotlight is concerned). If you take away RD patronage to Kishore - how would have Kishore’s popularity be then????? I personally think that RD’s very catchy compositions would of course go down very well with current trends, therefore this would have an influence on Kishore’s popularity of today. Rafi has survived his popularity without the hardcore popular presence of RD. No doubt Kishore is a great versatile singer BUT he did have his limitations in comparison to Rafi, e.g. Ghazals, Bhajans, Qawalis etc.. The fact is that Rafi was the only singer of his time to score hits in almost every singing style compared to any other singer. Rafi’s vocal pitch range was wider to any other male singer to this date. Rafi has sung in more languages than any other male singer of his time. Has sung with more music directors than any other male singer (or even female) in his time. I personally believe that the media presence has a great effect on the popularity of an artist and at the end of the day a true music lover should be able to recognize the achievements of all singers both past and today. Rafi & Kishore are my most favourite male singers but that’s not to say I do not recognize the qualities and skills of other singers who I also respect.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 am
they both were great we cant compare them with each other they both had a unique style of singing n kishore n rafi give respect to eachother so there was no feud between them
May 21st, 2009 at 7:17 am
Hi Katrina,
I hope this is your actual name..
I know Paramjeet made a “comparative statement with subjectivity” to which you show your agahstness… If your apprehension is on that quoted part “comparative statement with subjectivity” , then let me tell you, Paramjeet is not the first person to do this here or for that matter any other place.. one of your friend Smithaji told just a few days back “SPB is a better singer than Kishore”.. I wonder what happened to your “concern of feud” then.. or that statement was not related to Rafi, so you preferred to keep quiet and have fun? I know I sound a bit harsh but I think:
1. Paramjeet did not make any deregatory remarks to Rafi or in fact there was hardly any mention of Rafi in his statement!! Why to “over react”?
and 2. If someone feels Kishore is better than Rafi, as a music lover, he has his rights to decide.. It is not at all a “blasphemy”,IMHO, and you cannot use pressurizing comments on him/her like this.. I dont know about you, as I am seeing your name first time here, but many of your brothers earn their bread and butter in mohdrafi.com, by comparing and degrading other legends..Paramjeet’s commen was nothing in front of comments made by Binu Nair on Kishore and Anil Biswas or Sandeep Nadkarni on Salil Chowdhury.. Keep this in mind…
And there was no feud at all here… Even the site admin has told me how happy they were to see so many good fans discussing music.. why are you making a controversial statement to dilute the entire thing again??
This is my point of view, rest you all are music lovers and you know what is best and what not..
Admin: If such kind of “forcefully creation” of controversy is done by people, I dont think true fans have any place here…
Admin’s reply: This will be the last post of this nature, such posts will be deleted and not allowed to go online on the site. Your concern has been taken note of.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:05 am
Katrinaji
Comparisons aap log create kar rahe hai zabardasti yahan pe- aap aur aap ke kaafi saare mitra.. mera post fir se padiye- wahan pe rafisaab ki koi zikr nahi hai… zabardasti mein mahol mat kharab jkariyega yahan pe..
May 20th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
paramjeet ji
if u know ki ye subjective baat hai,,,,aur saath hi saath agar aap yeh bhi jaante hai ki yeh public page hai,,,,if u say better it means comparisional feud,,,,,feud means hatred,,,,hatred dirts the environment,,,why spread hatred among the lover of music,,,how long can we have feud,,,,why can`t u praise only kishore kumar,,,,with comparing,,,and if u compare how can u say its better,,,,,have u heard md Rafi sahab as much as u have heard kish kum,,if not then u have no right in making any statement!!!!!for me Rafi sahab`s voice is the voice of god,,,but never mean that in public page,,I keep on writing that his voice is better than kis kum,,manna de,lata,etc., I have no right for I know nothing other than Rafi saahab`s divine voice,,,,it is expected for everyone to behave responsibly on public pages!
Admin’s post
- To vent your anger don’t use fake ids and email ids. Before you make a post of accusation, quote the post in which you found anything offensive. This will be last post of this kind that will be allowed to go online. All similar posts will be deleted and not allowed to go online on this site.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Kishore’s singing was more spontaneous and the voice quality was better..
Mujhe pata hai yeh ek “subjective” baat hai, magar unki awaaz ki gehraai dil ko chhu jaati hai.. ek gana hai, anil biswas ka sangeetvadh kiya hua ” husn bhi hai udaas udaas”- aesa lagta hai aap ek pahadi raste se guzar rahe ho jismein bahut sare turnings hai, kabhi idhar aur kabhi udhar.. itne saare harqatein hai us gaane mein, aur itne saare note changes, magar kishoreda ka control kabhi nahi chuta..aur usek saath woh “deep feelings”..
kishoreda hindi cinema ke “leonardo da vinci” the- gayak, abhineta, sangeetkar, nirmata, nirdeshak aur lekhak!! ek hi ang mein itne roop!! aur in sab mein, unki gayaki mujhe bahut hi akarshit karta hai.. main bhi “benaras hindu university” mein sangeet ka diploma liya hoon, magar koi bhi shiksha aapko gaane mein “pran” daal na nahi sikhata, jo kishoreda kar paate the.. woh bhi bakhubi!
aur ek geet hai- ” badi sooni sooni hai zindagi”- ek insaan gham mein dooba hua, zindagi se tang aaya hua- yeh chitra aapke saamne aati hai yeh gana sunne ke baad.. itna dard aur itna gehraai, par awaaz par hold!! waah..waah…
agar 24 carat sone ki awaaz kisiki thi to woh the Kishore Kumar…
Iske upar aur kuchh nahi!
May 16th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Manishji:
You wrote:
‘It’s like Michaelangelo seeing the finely chiseled statue that he will uncover in a block of marble. It takes a genius to actually see the scope for that much detail.’
You ripped it man, hats-off.
I would like to drop another name here- Garry Kasparov. The chess champ is technically as good as anyone; he knows thousands of theoritical variations and can very rarely be lead to unknown territories. But he is also very innovative. When people think of Garry, they usually think about a well-prepared, technical wizard (because he is one) forgetting all the innovations and guile he brings into play.
Rafi sahab is like Garry. He is technically good, prepares himself methodically, fine tunes everything. However he never lets his method completely dominate or engulf his spontaneity and naturalness. He gives you the best of both worlds.
May 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Manishji:
Speaking of Rafisahab’s love and dedication to singing, let me mention an incident. This has originally been narrated by a well-known Malayalam film music lyricist who goes by the name Girish Puthancherry. While on a visit to a recording studio in Mumbai, this lyricist chanced to meet one Mr.Tagore, a recording engineer, who also happens to be a grandson of Rabindranath Tagore. As they were discussing about HFM, Tagore showed Girish a microphone and told him ‘You know, this is the microphone which Rafi sahab always used for recording. Rafi sahab was like a candle, he used to melt as he sang’.
May 16th, 2009 at 4:55 am
Manishji (1526)
Like you I am not sure if “Pal Pal Dil Ki Saath” story really is true. I highly doubt it .It may just some rumor mongering by fans.I don’t think film-makers/MDs would decide the singer of a key song in a reasonable decent film in an adhoc manner. Looking at the composition it looks like to be tailor made for Kishore. Perhaps MDs might have thought of Rafi first and then thought of settling for Kishore for this one but it appears strange to me that on finding Kishore in the studio, they would have asked him to render the song at that moment…Generally speaking that happens to the singers in reserve…for example Manhar was once asked to record while Mukesh was away and then the song was supposed to be redone by Mukesh, but on listening to Manhar’s version. Mukesh suggested that to be retained..
All the above just my own speculations, thinking and opinion.
Thanks
Naveen
May 15th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
hi anil! thanks for the details, i appreciate it. i share your sentiments but for the sake of a simple argument i tried to keep my contention basic.
May 15th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
AGK its nothing like comparing,,,its only our tribute to legend,,we are just showing our homage by talking about them,,,,and our approch is giving light to songs of the legends sung in different style,,,,,for example,,,no one need to be orthodox by condenming others,,rather let them choose what their heart want,,however I`m here to share one song of two different version song by both Rafi and kishore,,,plz someone comment on this…
plz check it,,,,u`ll enjoy difference in the voice
kishore kum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kLdq5TwV0&feature=related
Rafi saab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r44os8FMTGQ&feature=related
May 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Manishji:
Agree with most of your observations. Let me add something on ‘man tarpat’ V ‘koi humdum’.
Here is a link to the latter song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDPb2ShfjHo
The lowest note is at ’sahara’ (0.25, 0.49 etc.). This is probably ‘dha’ in the first octave (I am not very sure because I don’t have a key board with me). The highest note is at 1.20, 2.31 which is probably ‘ga’ in the third octave. So the song covers about 12 full notes. This is probably the highest range displayed by Kishoreda in his career.
The note progression in this song is rather symetric and predictable with little up and down switches.
Now here is the former song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAYZiYz2zts
The lowest note is ‘dha’ (at ‘hari om’ for example) which occurs at many places in the song. The highest is probably a ‘ga’ at 2.55, 3.57.
The note progression is highly assymetrical and highly unpredictable with frequent up and down forrays. The song demands high degree of voice control.
My final take on this comparison goes like this. There is no way these two songs could be compared if it is an orange to orange comparison. There are dozens of other Rafi sahab songs which may be compared to ‘koi humdum’ in terms of vocal range and complexity of note progression. And there are no songs by Kishoreda to compare with ‘man tarpat’ in terms of actual complexity in singing.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:11 am
I am a great fan of Indian music particularly of the filmy songs. I have heard all through years all the playback singers. In my opinion, comparing one with the other does justice to neither of them. God gifted each singer with a unique voice and style and they have proved their unique ability in their songs. Yes the pich may be different but the impact of the song sung by the singer has it’s unique influence on the public. Once we start comparing and competing we lose focus of the beauty that each singer is endowed with. Love them all those who are great singers and actors.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
post 1524: i forgot to mention that when rafi does add so much detail behind a song in terms of expression or modulation - it all seems so natural and right. it doesn’t sound like he’s deliberately forcing emotions as it does with other singers and that’s nothing remarkable. to do what rafi did you needed that eloquence and intrinsic personality which he had.
in the op nayyar, rafi, asha video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCyU2cNXjCs
asha appears to be on a task. this is work for her that must be practiced to perfection. even as she’s recording its like she wants to get this homework out of the way and move to the next task. for rafi, this is a *more* of a hobby / passion and you see that glow in his face. rafi rehearses too of course but look how easily, naturally, and perfectly the words are rendered and how he smiles & expresses from the heart for individual syllables. this velvet smooth perfection & detail is something that really sets apart rafi, in my view. 1:24 - 1:36 is just a treat for all fans of music. a genius in action. just look at his expresson at 1:36! is he working for that? no way. that IS him. that IS his personality. he had qualities as a person that every romantic hero could only dream of having. and he lends that romantic persona of his to the hero.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Naveen sir
Just as you said “you wanted things to be taken in a right perspective”, my intention was also the same.. Sorry to mention your name but that was nothing but to show people that “indeed it is for things to be taken in a right perspective”.. I am still a student of Hindi Film music and it is my deep pleasure to interact with knowledgable people like you which in turn increases my knowledge as well…
Thank you..
May 14th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Here’s my understanding of the Aradhana story. Rafi was the first choice for all the songs. He recorded the two duets with Asha and Lata respectively. In the middle of the score, Rafi unexpectedly went MIA for world tour. SD could not wait for Rafi so he approached Kishore. Kishore asked to interview Rajesh Khanna, got to know the chap, and wished him luck. Kishore started rehearsing and initially SD Burman was not happy and threatened to replace him with Rafi (from Derek Bose’ book). I assume this means that if SD Burman remained unhappy then he would just wait for Rafi to come back. So Kishore worked hard and aced the songs in his fresh, golden voice. When Rafi came back, he heard Kishore’s recording. I don’t know if Rafi was given the option to record the remaining songs. However, I know that Rafi supported in keeping Kishore’s recordings intact.
To digress, “Pal Pal Dil Ke Saath” was supposed to be rendered by Rafi. For some reason, Rafi could not make it to the recording and Kishore was in the studio. So they asked Kishore to sing it. I’m curious if Kishore actually sang that song in a single day like that. Anyway, when Rafi did make it to the studio, they played for him Kishore’s version. Again, I don’t know if Rafi was given the option to record the song himself but I am told that Rafi said Kishore’s singing was very good and should be used for the film. I have to admit, I got this story from a person on youtube so I don’t know how reliable this is. I have to say, Kishore’s expression of emotions was outstanding for that song.
Rafi was a saintly man.