Tu kahin aas paas hai dost
Posted on: July 31, 2022
This article is written by nahm, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5126 | Post No. : | 17076 |
Remembering Mohammed Rafi on his 42nd death anniversary.
This is the date, which brings me back from a brief hiatus.
Over the years we have been celebrating this anniversary with various contributors and writers pouring their own thought out about Rafi Sahab in innumerable posts in the blog.
Rafi Sahab is the 2nd highest contributor to the blog, with 3202 songs posted and first is inevitably Lata Mangeshkar with 3793 songs. These two are closely followed by Asha Bhonsle with 2955 songs posted in the blog. Among these giant artists, Rafi Sahab held his own. No other male singer is in the same league with such volume of songs.
As usual, looking for a song to post, I got hold of a few Rafi songs from the 50’s decade, and saved the links and info on a new file. The final selection was a fun and mischief song, and I thought I always end up posting a happy sounding song for death anniversary and a sad song for birth anniversary. Then just as I was to start writing the post, I thought of the film Aas Paas (1980) and found that the film’s following 3 songs only are posted:
| Song | Date of post |
|---|---|
| Tum jo chale gaye to hogi badi kharaabi | 31 March 2009 |
| Hamko bhi gham ne maara | 6 December 2013 |
| Shahar mein charcha hai | 31 March 2019 |
This leaves the last film song recorded by Rafi sahab, not posted. So, I decided that it is time for this one to feature on this 42nd anniversary. This is a four liner snippet(Qata’a), but the sheer significance and the world of meanings and emotions expressed in the words by Anand Bakshi, compositions by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the melodiously emotive voice of Rafi Sahab, makes this a classic on its own. He gives his all and more to these four lines in his own fashion, as only he could.
A trivia about the film, related to Rafi sahab:
• Director J. Om Prakash dedicated this film to singer Mohammed Rafi. The dedication in the film’s opening credits read “I dedicate this film to Mohd. Rafi, a great friend, a great human being and a great singer. He sang the last song of his life for this film. His loving memory will live forever with his songs.”.
“Aas Paas” was only one of the spates of films, in which Rafi sahab’s songs were there and some where no songs were there, which were dedicated to him. As per Wikipedia page, after his death, numerous Hindi movies were dedicated to Rafi, including: Allah Rakha, Mard, Coolie, Desh-Premee, Naseeb, Aas-Paas and Heeralal-Pannalal.
The major hit films of 1980, Qurbani (1980), Dostana (1980), Karz (1980), The Burning Train (1980), Abdullah (1980), Shaan (1980), Aasha (1980), Aap To Aise Na The (1980), Naseeb (1981) and Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981) had Rafi songs.
I have heard Pyarelal of Laxmikant Pyarelal duo, talk of this song’s recording in various interviews and TV shows. Rafi sahab had recorded the duet “Shehar mein charcha hai’ for the film and was about to leave the recording studio. Laxmikant Pyarelal suddenly remembered that this snippet to play at the end of the film is also to be recorded. They requested him to record it too, and as usual Rafi Sahab had no qualms in doing as requested. Another version of the same day’s events says that, after recording the snippet, Rafi sahab was leaving, and uncharacteristically, he asked Laxmikant Pyarelal, “Achha to main chalun?”. The duo was perplexed, as Rafi sahab never asked for permission in this way. A few days later the end came on the night of 31st July.
This was the way it was meant to happen, was written in destiny. Fitting too in a way, that Rafi sahab’s last song should be with a team with whom he sang highest no. of songs. As a swan song, this song has left an indelible mark on the memories of our generation and for generations to come.
One cannot help but wonder, where would we be, how incomplete we would have been without this eternal voice, the unabashed ‘aashique’ for romantic songs, the qawwal who could call himself ‘Mansoor’ and also ‘Akbar Ilahbadi’ , who routinely would switch to 4 different voices while singing for 4 bit actors, in the same breath. The one, who was called the God’s voice and the one who could effortlessly emote, while singing any type of song in any meter and at any pitch.
The voice of carefree Dev Anand, the generous Sunil Dutt, the mischief of Shammi Kapoor, the majnooniyat of Rishi Kapoor, the rustic suaveness of Dilip Kumar, the ‘jin’ness of Mehmood, the tipsy Johnny walker, the earnest tragedy of Guru Dutt, the seriousness of Bharat Bhooshan, the cut n dried Rajendra Kumar, the aristocrat Raj Kumar, the brash Jeetendra, the chocolaty Navin Nischal and Sanjay Khan, and the crispy wit of Shashi Kapoor, the unevenness of Rajesh Khanna and the heady rise of Amitabh Bachchan.
Did we really get to capture 100 shades of rainbow colours and still complaining……ungrateful? Having witnessed a pinnacle of human civilization, a miraculous creation of God Almighty, I am forever thankful and grateful, for being born in the Rafi era and not before.
Video:
Audio:
Song-Tu kahin aas paas hai dost (Aas Paas)(1980) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal
Lyrics
Tere aane ki ee
aas hai dost….
shaam phir kyun
udaas
hai ae ae dost…..
mehki mehki fizaa aa
yeh kehti hai ae
tu kahin
aas paas hai dost
tu kahin
aas paas hai dost
————————–
Devnagri Script lyrics
————————–
तेरे आने की ई
आस है दोस्त….
शाम फिर क्युं
उदास
है ए ए दोस्त…..
महकी महकी फ़िज़ा अ
यह कहती है ए ए
तु कहीं
आस पास है दोस्त
तु कहीं
आस पास है दोस्त
2 Responses to "Tu kahin aas paas hai dost"
July 31, 2022 at 4:47 pm
Very beautiful song and very well written article 👏 keep it up
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 31, 2022 at 7:28 am
That incident about Rafisaab asking permission to leave has been related by the music DUO so many times. As if it was premonition.
And we had songs of The Mohd Rafi coming to us for some years after his death.
And the way J. Om Prakash has filmed this song automatically makes the eye moist
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