This article is written by nahm, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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
Remembering Mohammed Rafi Sahab on his 41st remembrance day :
Writing a post of a song by Mohammed Rafi Sahab is almost a second nature thing for me. I have not counted but nearly 50 % on my post must be of his songs, the exalted one, who was especially blessed by the Almighty with a life, spend smiling and spreading smiles as far as I know. Some people do want to remember him by the sad songs which he sang with equal spirit, giving them his all, that the song, situation and composition demanded, the same as he did for other songs. I found this photo, and see who has the widest smile of them all: <a href=”https://in.pinterest.com/pin/46724914867514223/” this and this this .
There are platitudes and eulogies and tributes paid in honour of celebrities, when they pass away, nowadays it is usually on social media. And then there is the sea of humanity, that erupted on a rainy friday of Ramadhan 1980 on the streets of Bandra and Juhu. It was 1980, not the time when the dwellers of this city could afford a new umbrella every monsoon. So it was black umbrellas galore on the tv screen, and many people who were without umbrella, having come out to brave the weather or travelled overnight from other parts of the country. They all had one aim, to accompany their beloved Rafi Sahab to the final destination. To walk two steps alongwith the ‘janaza’ of a ‘nek banda’, with the prayers for the departed soul’s maghfirah on every lip and in the heart.
I realized the real pain of losing someone close and dear 9 years ago, when my elder sister expired. A few days after that, my father said that he didn’t know what to ask from the Almighty in du’aa, as most of my du’aa was for her health and long life. In my turn I told him that though we all are grieving and crying on her passing away, but the tears and sadness is all for us actually. The thought of living on without that dear one, makes us feel lonely and bereft.
A year before she died, I had visited her in Bangalore. She was over the top to have me visit her, and we went to a lot of places. One day we both were going somewhere and we passed a ‘qabrastaan’ where her mother-in-law was buried. She said a prayer and told me we should always recite the prayer whenever we pass a qabrastan. The prayer roughly translates as “today you are resting here, we shall follow you tomorrow, for sure”.
Some similar thoughts on passing away of Rafi sahab are expressed in this song written by Anand Bakshi. This is a unique song in the film ‘Kroadh’ where Amitabh Bachchan is called on stage to pay tribute of Rafi Sahab on his 9th death anniversary programme. Amitabh Bachchan says a few sentences and starts singing the song:
na fankaar tujhsa tere baad aaya…
Mohammed Rafi tu bahot yaad aayaa….
The singer here is Mohammed Aziz who himself has passed away a few months ago. He has sung this song in memory of his idol very feelingly and there are tears in the eyes of Amitabh as he sings on stage and also the audience who are watching it. The scenes of ‘janaaza’ that Amitabh Bachchan is seen as recalling, were truly witnessed by him as well as Anand Bakshi and Laxmikant Pyarelal(possibly). I am sure about Amitabh Bachchan having witnessed it funeral as I have seen a photographs of him with Amjad Khan, Vinod Khanna and Rajesh Khanna. Here is the article where he Amitabh remembers the same. This article has some rare photos of the fateful day.
The song is so appropriate for this occasion, that I am neglecting to post a song by Rafi Sahab himself. But this song expresses the feelings of Mohammed Aziz, Anand Bakshi and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Anand Bakshi, as the record holder for having written highest no. of film songs must be the lyricist with the highest no. of songs written for Rafi Sahab too. Laxmikant-Pyarelal are also having similar record with Rafi Sahab. Right from ‘Dosti’ and ‘Parasmani’, they were the one’s who justified the ‘Dosti’ and stood with Rafi Sahab through his thick and thin.
These artists composed and performed the song 9 years after Rafi Sahab’s passing away, and gave words and expression to the feelings of millions of his fans throughout the world.
teraa naam koyi nahi bhool paaya
Mohammed Rafi tu bahot yaad aayaa
na fankaar tujh sa
tere baad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
na fankaar tujh sa
tere baad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
tera gham agarche
bahot hai puraana
tera gham agarche
bahot hai puraanaa
tujhe ham se bichhde
huaa ek zamaana
huaa ek zamaana
teraa naam koyi
nahi bhool paaya
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
chale jaayenge ham
musaafir hain saare
musaafir hain saare
magar ek shikwa hai
lab pe hamaare
tujhe kitni jaldi
khudaa ne bulaayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
mere dil ko phir aaj
tadpa gaya hai
wo manzar mere
saamne aa gayaa hai
wo manzar mere
saamne aa gayaa hai
mere dil ko phir aaj
tadpa gaya hai
wo manzar mere
saamne aa gayaa hai
ke logon ne teraa
janaaza utthaaya
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
na fankaar tujh sa
tere baad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
Mohammed Rafi tu
bahot yaad aayaa
This article is written by Greta (Memsaab), 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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Not being a speaker of Hindi, I know that I miss a great deal of nuance in both song and storyline in not understanding the lyrics to Hindi film songs. I am sure that is the case here too, but all the same the picturization of this song is so packed with information that for once I don’t really feel that deprived. His trademark lack of subtlety is one of Manmohan Desai’s greatest gifts to non-Indian fans of Hindi cinema, as is his trademark lunacy to all of mankind. An abundance of both mark this song as one of my favorites. Read more on this topic…
This blog discusses Bollywood songs of yesteryears. Every song has a brief description, followed by a video link, and complete lyrics of the song.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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