You seem to be unduly incensed about a remark by some Bangladeshi musician whom no one knows or cares about. Mr Arthur J Pais, you needn\'t have bothered, it is a well known fact that Rafi was the most popular male singer of his time. If a singer is \"most\" popular or worshipped then others will obviously be less so, hence remarks like \"unwitting at the expense of singers like Talat Mahmood and Manna Dey\'s careers.\" seem unnecessary.
You say: \"And yet, with virtually every composer and singer worshipping him, especially between 1950 and 1970, he got an undue number of songs to sing and unwittingly hurt the careers of contemporaries like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, and to a lesser degree, Hemant Kumar.\" \"Undue number of songs?\" what number do you think was his right due?
You state:\"One producer to resist the We-must-have-Rafi syndrome was B R Chopra. He gave Mahendra Kapoor a good break in Gumrah and repeated him in many films including Dastaan, which featured Dilip Kumar who was beholden to Rafi.\" Do you mean to say that the movie directed by A R Kardar was produced by BR Chopra?. And how was Dilip Kumar beholden to Rafi? I\'ll be beholden to you if you could provide the reason.
I admit 100% that Rafi Saab was one of the greatest singer and also has got what has he deserved. But pointing to your comments : \"he got an undue number of songs to sing and unwittingly hurt the careers of contemporaries like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, and to a lesser degree, Hemant Kumar.\" I will very much disagree to you and who ever has that same thought. I think Manna Da was a great singer, but not as versatile as Rafi Saab. I will say he may be technically little bit better then Rafi Saab, but when it comes to singing any songs with the ease and effect.... it was none other then Rafi saab. Let it be O Duniya ke rakhwaleh, Madhuban Main Radhika, Tu ganga ki mauj main, Tere Mere Sapne, Sar jo tera Chakraye, Badan Pe Sitare ...! Yes I will admit that if any of the singers out the the three in your list could have come closer was Manna Daa and I am a big fan of his. But again when it comes to playbacking the voice to different faces with different moods of songs, then it was Padmashree Mohd. Rafi. And FYI I am a fan of Kishore Da and Love Rafi Saabs song and Admire Manna Da.
RE:Voice of India
by Hussein Sheikh on Apr 19, 2007 03:21 AM
I agree with you, Rafi Saheb should get Bharat Ratna and Dada Saheb Phalke as well. According to me, Lata is not even 50% of Rafi Saheb.
Re: RE:Voice of India
by Manik Dey on Nov 12, 2010 05:46 PM
I fully agree to it. Rafi sahab must be honoured with these awards, particularly BHARAT RATNA(which he was).Rafi sahab was the finest playback singer Bollywood ever had. And he would remain so , a KING in his own right.
I love Rafi saab and my day won't be complete if I don't listen to one of his songs, especially ones written by Shailendra saab. As per recognition: I believe it is purely politics and how an artist can play the game right. Hindi world often forgets the great singers that can actually sing in multiple languages; P. Susheela and S. Janaki sang in all Indian languages except for Gujarati and Punjabi; sang for 5 decades -- because of their lack of political clout they were not even given Padmasri. Both deserve Bharat Ratna for some of the great songs they sang in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. Copy cat singers like Alka Yagnik get more recognition than these legends. Similarly Ghantasala, who sang and composed music was no less than Md Rafi. He was awarded Padma Sri in 60s. Now, singers only sing the souls of poets. Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri wrote those soul searching melodies that just needed a voice! Were they recognized? Today Javed Akthar's songs resemble so much of Shailendra style. Akthar saab has not anywhere near what Shailendra had done. Do we worry about Shailendra. So, with all my love for Rafisaab, there are several others that were ignored too.
I am surprised that Rafi Saheb has been pointed out for hitting at the careers of other singers.
Hear a song from Rafi and one from say...Mahendra Kapur or Manna Dey (no disrespects to them) to realize the odiousness of comparison.
Rafi Saheb was a phenom and it was recognized. Aradhana not withstanding the classical versatility that Rafi Saheb displayed Kishore never matched despite his undoubted talent. Hemant and Manna Dey were talented singers too but Rafi was the king.
Even a century down the line the songs in Pyaasa, Deedar, Aan and Baiju Bawra will remain on the lips of Indians when most other songs would get forgotten.
Rafi was the king and Lata was the queen. It calls for some level of music maturity to realize the obvious.
Forget the Bangladeshi non-sense. Rafi's sonorous and rich voice remains etched in the minds of Millions of Indians.
Why just single out Rafi ? At that stage same was the story with Lata, and later same was the story with Kishore, in that era there used to be on Prima donna singer and all others suffered and could not get enough work and the one singer dominated, it happened with Rafi , in his era apart from Mukesh no one really had a career. With Kishore it was him and Rafi who sang. It's only after Kishore's untimely death that other singers got a chance.
RE:Why Rafi ?
by B Chander on Dec 09, 2007 12:46 AM
This so called Bangladeshi musician is not an artist, probably he is a politician,that is why he has not been able to see the love and respect Indian public has given to Rafi sahb,one has to be an artist of some degree to be able to judge another artist, politicians are not artists that is why they judge artists only through awards, love and respect of public does not mean anything to them, I am personaly hurt by someone saying that Rafi Sahab did not get his due, Rafi sahab is most loved, respected and appreciated male singer of all times, We have given our deepestlove amd highest respect to this pure, simple and always cheerful Farishta(angel).
