BOLLYWOOD SINGER MAHAMMAD RAFI BIOGRAPHY :

• SINGER MOHAMMAD RAFI BIOGRAPHY ;

Name: Mohammed Rafi

Birth: December 24, 1924

Birthplace: Kotla Sultan Singh village, Punjab

Parents: Hajji Ali Mohammad and Allahrakhi Bai

Spouse: Bashira Bau, Bilquis Rafi

Children: Shaheed, Parveen, Hamid, Khalid, Nasreen

Occupation: Playback Singer, Recording Artist

Religion: Islam

Start of Playback Singing Career: 1944

Total number of songs (approx): 7,500

Death: July 32, 1980

• MAHAMMAD RAFI IMAGE CREDIT :

• One of the greatest playback singers born in India, Mohammed Rafi is considered no less than a genius when it comes to varied styles of music. This great singer had the perfect blend of melody, emotions and energy, which resulted into thousands of soulful songs. Be it the classically inclined songs of Baiju Bawara or the foot tapping songs of Kashmir Ki Kali, Muhammad Rafi gave each song the treatment it deserved. His contribution to the Hindi film industry has been fabulous and perhaps no singer till date has managed to capture the hearts of fans the way Mohamed Rafi has. Rafi was well-known for his versatility as he gave his voice to songs ranging from classical numbers to patriotic ones, sad songs to romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. For almost twenty years, Rafi was the most sought after singer in the Hindi film industry. In his illustrious career, he received six Filmfare Awards and was honoured with the National Film Award once. Besides Hindi, he sang in several Indian languages including Konkani, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi, Marathi, Sindhi, Telugu, Kannada, Maithili, Gujarati, Magahi, and Urdu. Apart from Indian languages, he gave his melodious voice to songs in English, Arabic, Persian Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch languages.

• MAHAMMAD RAFI CHILDWOOD LIFE OR PIRSOPER LIFE :

• Mohammed Rafi was born in the village of Kotla Sultan Singh in United Punjab Province of British India on December 24, 1924. He was the fifth among the six sons of Hajji Ali Mohammad and Allahrakhi Bai. Rafi displayed his musical inclination from a very young age and his talent was recognized by his elder brother’s friend Abdul Hameed. He convinced Ravi’s family to nurture his musical talents. Mohammed Rafi started taking Hindustani Classical music from Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo who taught him the intricacies of Raag Shastra and Punjabi folk ragas Pahaadi, Bhairavi, Basant and Malhaar. He later trained under the tutelage of Ustad Abdul Wahad Khan of the Kirana Gharana and also received lessons from and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan of the Patiala Gharana. He was also trained by Feeroze Nizami, a producer in the All India Radio Lahore. K.L. Saigal and G.M. Durani were his idols and in the beginning he emulated Saigal’s style. Rafi performed his first stage show at 13 years of age in Lahore. He started singing for the All India Radio in Lahore from the year 1941. He also recorded his first song ‘Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee’, a duet with famous singer Zeenat Begam for the Punjabi film Gul Baloch, the same year. The film released in 1944.

• MAHAMMAD RAFI MERRAGE LIFE :

• Mohammed Rafi was married to his cousin Bashira Banu. But the marriage suffered due to the political tensions during the partition in 1947. Bashira Banu refused to accompany Rafi Saab to India after witnessing the horrors of the riots. She remained in Lahore, now in Pakistan and their marriage ended. The couple had a son Saheed with his first wife, Bashira. He later married Bilquis Banu and the couple had four children – Nasreen, Khalid, Parveen and Hamid.

• MAHAMMAD RAFI CARRIAR :

• Mohammed Rafi moved to Bombay in 1944. He was introduced to several producers and directors through friend Tanvir Naqvi. He finally got his big break and recorded his first song ‘Ai Dil Ho Kaabu Mein’ for the film Gaon KI Gori in 1944, although the movie released a year later. Meanwhile, Mohammed Rafi started singing for top music directors like Naushad and Shyam Sunder. His work with Naushad continued through the 1950s and 1960s. Together they worked in films like Pehle Aap (1944), Anmol Ghadi (1946), Shahjahan (1946), Dulari (1949),Deedar (1951), Deewana (1952) and UranKhatola (1955).Rafi saab catapulted into stardom after his work in the film Baiju Bawra under the directon of Naushaad. The semi-classical bhajan ‘Man Tarpat Hain Hari Darshan Ko Aaj’ from the film showed the world Mohammed Rafi’s caliber as a singer. The two collaborated for another magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam in 1960.

Rafi saab became the voice behind leading actor Dev Anand all through the 1950s. He did Dev Anandji’s playback for films like Kaala Paani (1958), Bambai Ka Babu (1960), Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963) and Guide (1965). At the same time he worked on the musical creations of Sachin Dev Burman. The Dev-Rafi-Burman trio gave the Hindi film industry some truly unforgettable songs like ‘Diwana Hua Badal’, ‘Dilka Bhanwar Kare Pukar’, ‘Achhaji main hari’ with Asha Bhosle and ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’. Mohammed Rafi and S.D. Burman created magic over and over all through the 50s, 60s and 70s. Burman used Rafi saab’s voice for almost all of his leading men including Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. Rafi Saab’s voice serenaded the country with romantic numbers like ‘Teri Bindiya Re’ and ‘Gun Guna Rahe Hai’.

Rafi worked with legendary music director O. P. Nayyar on several occasions and Mr. Nayyar went on record saying that without Mohammed Rafi he would not have reached the pinnacle of success. He paired the voices of Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle for multiple successful projects like NayaDaur (1957), Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1964) and Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Songs like ‘Ude Jab Jab Zulfein Teri’, ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’ and ‘Deewana Hua Badal’ made permanent place in the hearts of Indian audience.

•  MAHAMMAD RAFI WAS A GREAT SINGER OF BOLLYWOOD.

• THANK YOU...❤️