Years have sped, but Rafi lives on with one and all through his immortal music. In the mid-seventies, Madan Mohan made Rafi sing for new comer Rishi Kapoor in Laila Majnu which released on 1976. Rafi sang for three generations of actors like Bharat Bhushan, Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapur, Dilip Kumar, Devanand, Dharmendra, Shatrughnan Sinha, Rish Kapoor etc. He also won film awards for the best singer several times. In 1977 he won Rajat Kamal Award from the President. He has performed in around 38 musical concerts abroad. He stole a place in Guinness Book of World Records with more than 26,000 songs to his credit. He also used to sing in various other languages. In 1950, the song Oh dhuniya ke rakhvale in Baiju Bawra made him very popular. His songs in Jugnu, Mela, Madhumati and Deewar were super hits. Then in Nazeer Khan’s Leila Majnu he began his career as a singer in the Hindi film field.
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He sang first for a Punjabi movie Gul Balej. In 1942, he sang under the music direction of Shyam Sunder for the movie, Gaon Ki Gauri. Composer Shyam Sunder who was present spotted Rafi’s talent and invited him to Bombay. That was Rafi’s first public performance. His brother Mohammad Deen and his friend Hameed met the organiser and asked whether Rafi could sing and keep the audience occupied. But the legendary singer refused to sing because of the power failure at the venue.
One day Rafi and his brother went to attend a programme of K L Saigal. When Firoze was appointed music director in Lahore Radio Station, Rafi got an opportunity to sing on the radio. At the young age he showed more interest in music than in studies and ended up becoming the disciple of Firoze Nizam.
He moved to Bombay in 1944 and worked with. At that time the voices of Pankaj Mullick, Kundan Lal Saigal and Dadhabhai Mitra were outstanding. At the age of 13 years, Rafi made his first public performance at a concert that featured the legendary K.L. He was also honoured with Padma Shri in 1965.īorn in a village Kotla Sulthan Singh in Punjab on December 35, 1924, Rafi lived in a period when Ghazal and Khawali music ruled the roost. He had received many awards, the National Film Award, Best National Singer Award and Filmfare Awards for Choudhvin Ka Chand’, Dost, Sasural, Suraj, Brahmachari, Hum Kisise Kum Nahi, his voice lives on hummed with emotions.