Rafi sings for Raj Kapoor

Raj Kapoor (14.12.1924-02.06.1988)
Mohammed Rafi (24.12.1924-31.07.1980)

December 2024 marks the birth centenary of two of Hindi cinema’s finest luminaries – Raj Kapoor (born 14 December 1924) and Mohammed Rafi (born 24 December 1924).  I’d been very remiss in celebrating Talat Mahmood’s centenary earlier this year. So I decided that come what may, I had to celebrate both men this month.

We are so used to Mukesh being ‘Raj Kapoor’s voice’. Indeed, the late singer has sung almost 90% of the songs picturized on the actor since RK’s first film, Aag (Zinda hoon is tarah and the duet, Raat ko jee chamke taare). But Aag’s second male-female duet, Solah baras ki, featured the voices of Mohammed Rafi and Shamshad Begum. Using Rafi’s voice was not an anomaly. While Mukesh was Raj Kapoor’s preferred voice, what is interesting is that outside RK films, Rafi has sung over thirty songs for Raj Kapoor.

So, to kickstart the centenary celebrations, here’s a sampling of Rafi’s songs, both solos and duets, that Raj Kapoor lip-synced to on screen.

Yun to aapas mein bigadte hain (with Lata Mangeshkar)
Andaz (1949)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

This was perhaps the first ever Rafi song to be lip-synced by Raj Kapoor. At this time, Mukesh had not cemented his position as Raj’s voice; that would happen later that year with Barsaat. Naushad used Mukesh in four solos – all picturized on Dilip Kumar – and this one duet that was picturized on Raj and Nargis. (There was another Rafi-Lata duet, Sun lo dil ka afsana picturised on the same pair that was unfortunately deleted from the film.)

Main zindagi mein hardam rota hi rahoonga
Barsaat (1949)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

This is perhaps the only song that Rafi sang in an RK film that was picturized on Raj Kapoor. However, Raj doesn’t lip-sync to this song at all. The song plays in the background. Music lore has it that this was the first song to be recorded for Barsaat, and the first song that Rafi sang for debutant music directors Shankar and Jaikishan.

Tara ri ara ri  (with Suraiya)
Dastan (1950)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

Naushad’s collaboration with Rafi continued in Dastan, where he used Rafi for all three duets that were picturised on Raj and Suraiya. In this lilting melody, Raj waltzes with a lot of grace (even with his trouser-legs rolled up). Naushad wasn’t yet the ‘classical composer’, an image he was trapped into after the immense success of Baiju Bawra. In earlier films, Naushad had experimented with various genres of music, including folk and western.
 
Baap bhala na bhaiya sabse bada rupaiya (with Chitalkar and Lata Mangeshkar)
Sargam (1950)
Music: C Ramchandra
Lyrics: PL Santoshi

PL Santoshi wore many hats in this film; he was writer, lyricist and director. But like many of his movies that I have watched, the story is convoluted, there are far too many characters, and the plot waves good-bye somewhere in between. What is lovely about the film, though, is the bouquet of songs composed by C Ramchandra, and Raj’s light-hearted character. He gets to showcase his aptitude for humour, and his affinity towards music and dance as well. C Ramchandra as Chitalkar sang the male solos in this film, but for this duet, Chitalkar lent his voice to Mumtaz Ali (?) while Rafi stepped in as Raj’s voice.

Hum tum ye bahar (with Lata Mangeshkar)
Ambar (1952)
Music: Ghulam Mohammed
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

 

Nargis and Raj Kapoor acted in 16 films together, six of them RK productions. In this raja-rani film, one of their early collaborations, Raj got to play a swashbuckling hero to Nargis’s tragic princess. Ghulam Mohammed composed several lovely melodies for this film, and this duet is a personal favourite.

Tera kaam hai jalna parwaane
Papi (1953)
Music: S Mohinder
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan

 

Papi was a watchable film with an interesting concept. Raj plays a double role – as Raju, a petty criminal who’s an atheist, and as Swami Satyanand, a religious teacher. When circumstances force him to take the latter’s identity, his initial impulse is to make as much money as he can from his followers.

Tera kaam hai jalna parwaane is a lovely song by underrated music composer S Mohinder. The music composer had initially composed a couple of songs for Anarkali, which did not meet with the producers’ approval. So the composer used them in this film.

Worli ka naka 
Do Ustad (1959)
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi

 

Raj Kapoor reunites with the heroine of his debut film (and others). He also gets to cut loose and have fun in a rollicking tale of separated brothers, a runaway heiress and jewellery heists. OP Nayyar’s score for this film ranged from folk to bhangra to rock-n-roll – like in this song, here. Rafi has a fine time as well, almost rapping towards the end of the song.
 
Baazi kisi ne pyaar ki jeeti ya haar di
Nazrana  (1961)
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan

 

Add Nazrana to the list of contrived tragedies that were imported from South India. This is the first of two films in which Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala acted together (the other is Sangam). A melodrama with an unbelievable ‘plot’, the film had Raj at his restrained best (Vyjayanthimala, unfortunately, gives a more stylised performance than is her wont) and some pleasant songs by Ravi.
 
Tum hi tum ho mere jeevan mein (with Lata Mangeshkar)
Ek Dil Sau Afsaane (1963)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Shailendra

It is interesting that Shankar-Jaikishan would use Rafi as Raj’s voice in this duet, especially when all the other male solos in the film were sung by Mukesh. However, it turns out that Mukesh wasn’t available on the day of the recording, and SJ called Rafi to do a dubbed version which they could later overdub with Mukesh’s voice. However, Raj Kapoor was so happy with the way Rafi had sung this song that he suggested they retain it in the film. 

Ek Dil Sau Afsane was a film that was to have starred Madhubala alongside Raj. Unfortunately, she fell seriously ill during the shooting and the film was left incomplete. Her portions were completely reshot with Waheeda Rehman.
 
Sadqe Heer tujh pe hum fakeer sadqe
Mera Nam Joker (1970)
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan

 

Shailendra’s untimely death had left Raj bereft; Lata, still angry about having to sing Sangam’s Main kaa karuun Ram mujhe budhha mil gaya would refuse to sing for Joker; by now, Shankar and Jaikishan had fallen out though both maintained a dignified silence. Despite all this, however, Mera Naam Joker had a great musical score – each song was a gem. This solo, the film’s least known number, is Rafi’s only song in the film, though still picturised on Raj. In fact, SJ would use three singers for Raj in this film – while Mukesh had the bulk of the songs – four solos and two duets, SJ signed Manna Dey for Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo and Rafi for this number, which is almost a ‘Heer’, penned by Prem Dhawan. Rafi's voice holds centrestage in this minimally orchestrated melody.

Mera Naam Joker was Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus – a film in three parts, with two intervals (his second film after Sangam to have that). 

These, then, are the songs I picked. What would you choose?