THIS refers to Parvez Rahim’s letter ‘Tribute to Rafi’ (Aug 16). The writer has mentioned that the playback singer was introduced as a film singer by composer Naushad. This is wrong because it was well before Rafi moved permanently to Bombay that he was given a chance to record two duets for Punjabi film Gul Baloch, one with Zeenat Begum and the other with Munnawwar Sultana, who later sang for many Pakistani films. The film, produced in Lahore, was released in 1944.

Mohammed Rafi came into the limelight with the immortal duet ‘Yahan badla wafa ka bewafai ke siwa kiya hai’ that he recorded with the melody queen Noor Jehan for what became Dilip Kumar’s first hit film Jugnu (1947). Music was scored by Feroz Nizami, who returned to Lahore after Partition. One may also point out that it was not the Baiju Bawra song that brought Rafi to the limelight.

There were at least two solos, Naushad’s ‘Ye zindagi kay melay’ (from Mela) and Shanker Jaikeshan’s ‘Main zindagi may har dum rota hi raha hoon’ (from Barsaat), and quite a few duets which made Rafi numero uno among the male singers. Baiju Bawra’s song was recorded a few years later.

The one big howler in the letter was about the award Padma Shri, which was conferred on Mohammed Rafi. The writer claimed that it is the highest civilian award in India. The highest award is Bharat Ratna, which has been awarded among others to Bismillah Khan and Lata Mangeshkar. Higher in ranking than Padma Shri are Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

A. Zuberi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014