Love Songs – Mohammed Rafi

Pic: Courtesy: Pinterest/Ravinder Singh Thakur

When Mohammed Rafi passed away on 31 July 1980, even the skies wept. The outpouring of grief that accompanied his funeral cortège was not just because of a legendary singer's untimely death, but because the man who died had been, above all, a good human being. The legacy that Rafi leaves behind is not only his immense body of work – which continue to enthral us – but also the shared memories, narrated by those who knew him well.
 
Over the course of his career, Rafi has sung thousands of songs – for heroes and character artistes across disparate genres and different moods. 

 

Pic: Courtesy: Saira Banu/Instagram

And, as Dilip Kumar said, Rafi was 'a great actor behind the mike', his voice not just technically perfect, but adding the required emotion to the song, whether it was pathos or laughter, bitterness or ardour. He was also famed for his ability to modulate his voice not just according to the requirement of the song but to suit the actor he was singing for. These, and the ability to scale octaves with ease, cement his legacy as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian cinema.
 
Among the genres of songs that he has sung, his love songs deserve a special mention. Not just because he sang so many of them. But, because there was a difference in how he sang each of them. A Times of India article (published 24 July 2010) stated that “If there are 101 ways of saying “I love you” in a song, Mohammed Rafi knew them all.”
 
He certainly did.
 

 

 

So, like I did for Lata Mangeshkar earlier, here’s a post of my favourite love songs sung by my favourite male singer. For, as I wrote in that article, what’s more hopeful than love? But, as with Lata, I don’t want to focus on the sad parts of love – the grief, the despair, the heartbreak… I don’t want to be sad celebrating a man who was always smiling; a man who, from all accounts, was gentle and unassuming and generally content with his lot. He had seen hardship, and I’m sure that being human, he had his own share of disappointments and sadness, but whenever I think of Rafi, the picture that appears before my eyes is that of a kind, good-natured, and happy human being who bore no ill-will towards anyone.
 
So, to celebrate that good man who was also a great singer, here are my selections of his love songs in the happier (if somewhat poignant) shades of love.
 
1.Yearning  – Mere mehboob mujhe

Mere Mehboob (1963)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
It's not a conceit that would work today – of a man falling in love at first sight with a woman whose face he doesn’t even see. (She’s wearing a burqa and he only catches a sight of her beautiful eyes through her naqab, and a glimpse of her hands as she picks up her books.) And so in love is he that he composes and sings this song for her, in the hope that it will bring her to him.
 
Like I said, this would need a suspension of disbelief. But Sadhana's beauty and her innocence (and the period in which the film was set) make it seem all too believable.
 
Rafi’s voice is filled with yearning as he sings:
Dhoondta hoon tujhe har raah mein har mehfil mein
Thhak gaye hain meri majboor tammana ke kadam
Aaj ka din meri ummeed ka hain aakhri din
Kal na jane main kahaan aur kahaan tu ho sanam
Do ghadi apni nigaahon ka sahara de de
Mere khoya hua rangeen nazaara de de
Mere mehboob tujhe mere mohobbat ki qasam
 
2. Wonder – Ae ji dil par hua aisa jaduu

Mr & Mrs 55 (1955)
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
This is also a song about love at first sight. However, unlike Mere mehboob, there is no hint of yearning in Rafi’s voice (or in the lyrics). Instead, it is filled with the wonder of what has just happened to him – a glimpse of her, and his destiny has taken a turn for the better. The joy that fills his voice, the dreams he’s weaving in his head – Woh ho gayi meri aur use khabar nahin – the sheer transformation that he’s undergone are all evident in Rafi’s joyous rendition of:
Milti hai aahat si pyaare uske paaon ki
Dil mein chamakti hain bijliyaan adaaon ki
Hoga ujaala ke ab raat dhal gayi
Sun pyaare, apni to qismat badal gayi…
 
3. Wooing – Apni toh har aah ik toofan hai

Kala Bazar (1960)
Music: SD Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra
Each line in this song is saturated in the unstated: taken at face value, this lone train passenger (Dev Anand) is singing a paean to God. But, is he? Alka (Waheeda Rehman) is not too sure though she tries hard to reassure herself (and her mother) that he’s not singing to her. Hear the undercurrent of laughter that infuses the verse:
Sar pe mere tu jo apna haath hi rakh de
Phir to bhatke rahi ko mil jaayenge raste
Dil ki basti bhi tere veeran hai
Uparwaala jaan kar anjaan hai
Apni to har aah ik toofan hai
 
The different ways in which he modulates the line, Uparwala jaankar anjaan hai, at once giving it an edge of deception as well as the appearance of devotion, is simply sublime. Also watch this song for Waheeda’s reactive expressions – they are a joy to behold!
 
4. Exuberant – Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe

Junglee (1961)
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics: Shailendra
Ah, the excitement of first love! Such happiness as you’d never imagined; it makes you want to jump and dance and shout.  And Shammi Kapoor’s Chandrasekhar (‘Sekhar’) does all three. Sekhar has just learnt what it is like to be in love. So far, brought up in a rigidly disciplined household where laughter was forbidden, Sekhar had been immune to life’s tenderer emotions. But Rajkumari, who has swept into his life like the snowstorm they have just survived, has unknowingly melted the ice that encased his heart. Sekhar, wholly head-over-heels in love with this beautiful, independent-minded woman, is so happy he doesn’t know how to show it.
Mere seene mein bhi dil hai, hai mere bhi kuchh armaan
Mujhe patthar toh na samjho, main hoon aakhir ik insaan
 
5. Wistful – Hum aur tum aur ye sama

Dil Deke Dekho (1959)
Music: Usha Khanna
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

 What an exquisitely beautiful composition this is! Rafi’s voice, all warm and gentle and mellow, ebbs and swells with the emotion expressed so beautifully in Majrooh’s words. Add a dashing Shammi Kapoor, a tremulously beautiful Asha Parekh, the evening mists swirling around the couple and you have the stage set for romance. And though Neeta loves Roop/Raja, circumstances restrain her from fully accepting that she loves him. And so, Roop, serenading her, is rather wistful:
Beqaraar se ho kyun
Hum ko paas aane bhi do
Gir pada jo haath se
Woh roomaal uthhaane bhi do
Bante kyun ho jaane bhi do
After all, the ambience is so beautiful!
 
6. Eager – Tu kahaan ye bata

Tere Ghar ke Samne (1963)
Music: SD Burman
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
What’s a man to do when his beloved has been sent far away? Well, miss her so much he begins to see her everywhere, even inside his glass of whiskey, for one. Then, decide that he’s had enough of this forced separation and impulsively set off to Shimla to meet her, without taking her address with him. All he knows is that his ‘Sulekh’s’ (Nutan) family owns a house on Mall Road. A humorous passer-by tells him to keep enquiring as he goes on. And so begins Rakesh’s (Dev Anand) musical quest to find his beloved.
 

This is such a happy, infectious melody and Rafi imbues it with all the joie de vivre that he can. You can’t help but smile at Rakesh’s eagerness to find his beloved. And Sulekha? Well, her smile lights up the night!
 
7. Seductive – Aaja re aa zara

Love in Tokyo (1966)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
If seduction could be distilled into an essence, then this song is it! The passion in Rafi’s voice, the romance that is underlined by sensuality, how can any woman not melt? I love the way Rafi’s voice caresses the notes, almost whispering the words in places.
Apna sulagna kisko dikhaaoon
Saans ke toofaan kaise chhupaaun
Aankhen kya kya dekh rahi hain
Dil pe guzre kaise bataaun
Aaja re aa zara aa
Lahraake aa zara aa
Aankhon se dil me samaa
The vibrato is wonderful. Goosebumps! Joy Mukherjee does an excellent job of emoting on screen, complemented by a lovely Asha Parekh.
 
8. Pleading – Na jaa kahin ab na jaa

Mere Humdam Mere Dost (1968)
Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
I love everything about this song – the lyrics, the music, Rafi’s voice, his singing… and watching Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore on screen. In the film, the couple have spent the whole day together, and now, she bids goodbye. He can’t bear to see her go… Na jaa, he begs her, kahin ab na jaa… dil ke siwa. If she would only stay, if she would only realise that his heart is where her home ought to be… he shows her vistas of what her life would be.
Be-sabab udegi har su
Tere pairahan ki khushboo
Idhar to aa sanwaar doon
Khule khule yeh gesu
Wafaa deti hai sadaa
Na jaa kahin ab na jaa
Dil ke siwa
 
9. Adoring – Ab kya misaal doon

Aarti (1962)
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
How can I compare thee? He asks, and then proceeds to do so quite well indeed. She’s the personification of the moon’s rays, he says. Her face gleams with the gentle glow of moonlight; her eyes reflect the intoxicating darkness of the night. And her neck bends like a rose bush drooping under the weight of its blossoms… and so much more, besides.
Tasveer ho tum mere jannat ki
Jannat ke khwaab ki
Ab kya misaal doon
Main tumhaare shabab ki
Rafi’s voice is like liquid gold, a warm caress, an enveloping hug as on-screen, Pradeep Kumar sings paeans to Meena Kumari’s beauty. 

 

 10. Erotic – Tumse kahoon ik baat

Dastak (1970)
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
A mature theme deserves mature music, and composer Madan Mohan rose to the occasion with four fantastic melodies. The score won him his first and only National Award for Best Music. This song, the only male solo in the film, is a much more explicit song than my other pick (Aur kuchh der thahar/Aakhri Khat), in both lyrics and picturisation. Madan Mohan keeps the music subtle, quiet, and yes, sensuous, complementing Rafi, who’s at his sensuous best. It’s a fabulous melody, and Majrooh’s lyrics complement the context – the love (and lust) of a married couple.
Hain bheega sa jism tumhara in haathon mein
Baahar neend bhara panchhi bheegi shaakhon mein
Aur barkha ki boond badan se dhalki dhalki
Tumse kahoon ik baat paron se halki halki
 
11. Grateful – Tumne mujha dekha hokar meherbaan

Teesri Manzil (1966)
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Gratitude is so much a part of being in love – gratitude for the fact that someone loves you, not in a ‘You’re worthy of my love’ way, but just being thankful for that person’s presence in your life. Here, of course, Rocky/Anil (Shammi Kapoor) has another reason to feel grateful – he had written to Sunita (Asha Parekh) telling her who he really is, and everything that had happened before her sister’s death. He had ended by hoping that she would be able to forgive him for misleading her, and that if she still came to the club that evening, it would mean that she loved him and had forgiven him. And now, of course, he’s here. And Anil can’t help but feel overwhelmed by it all.
 
So he begins by saying how thankful he is to her for even noticing him, how his life has been transformed from pain to joy because she’s in it, how every road she’s travelled on leads only to his heart…
O, lekar ye haseen jalwe, tum bhi na kahaan pahunche
Aakhir ko mere dil tak, kadmon ke nishaan pahunche
Khatm se ho gaye raaste sab yahaan
Jaan-e-man, jaan-e-jaan
Tum ne mujhe dekhaa, ho kar meharbaan

Rafi proves that his collaboration with Shammi could also be tender and mellow; there’s such an ache in his voice, a plea for understanding, underlined by the deep love that Shammi’s character feels for his beloved. Simply amazing!
 
12. Romantic – Ye mera prem patr padhkar

Sangam (1964)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
This song is, as Dustedoff remarked about another song in her comment on my previous post, a ‘loving’ song. Not flirtatious, not teasing, not wooing. Madhu’s description fits this song perfectly – “…something much more fervent and deep.” There is no doubt or confusion here – Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) loves Radha (Vyjayanthimala) deeply ( a love that’s returned) and is writing her a love letter. But he doesn’t know what to write – can he address her as ‘Meharbaan’ (the benevolent one) or ‘Haseena’ (the beautiful one) or ‘Dilruba’ (the one who pleases his heart)? Can he describe her as the moon (no, it has a blemish) or the sun (no, it’s flaming)? What can he write, except that he loves her? Finally, however, he confesses:
Tujhe Ganga main samjhoonga
Tujhe Jamuna main samjhoonga
Tu dil ke paas hai itni
Tujhe apna main samjhoonga
Agar mar jaaun rooh bhatkegi
Tere intezaar mein, intezaar mein…
 
It is a letter that will cost both of them much grief, but right now, it is one that gladdens Radha’s heart. Rafi really exemplifies ‘mohabbat’ as ‘ibaadat’ here. There is just pure love here, a promise to love her until the end of time.
 
This song was originally a love letter that Hasrat wrote to another Radha, his neighbour. 

With this post and filled with gratitude for their continued presence in my life, I come to the end of my tribute to both Raj Kapoor and Mohammed Rafi. However, both of them will undoubtedly appear on future reviews/song lists. Until then, however, let's bid farewell to the old year and welcome in the new. In the hope that it will be a kinder, more compassionate year than the ones in the recent past. 

I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year, filled with peace and happiness, health and prosperity. Let's meet again in 2025!