Rafi and Lata in the 50s and 60s.

Rafi and Lata in the 50s and 60s.

Rafi and Lata were the premiere singers of Indian cinema and most of the composers relied on them for the success of the songs. In the film Baiju Bawra, Rafi’s song “tu ganga ki mauj”, composed by Naushad and picturised on Bharat Bhushan became successful. The film had classical songs involving legendary ragas used by Naushad.

Rafi and Lata had sung many duet songs in that age. Prominent among them include “who jab yaad aye” from the film Parasmani, composed by LP; “jo waa kiya” from the film Tajmahal, composed by Roshan; etc. The song of Tajmahal, stormed bollywood films in the 60s, and Pradeep Kumar made the character of Shahjahan look absolute lively.

The other landmark duet songs of Rafi and Lata include “o sanam tere ho gaye hum”, composed by Shankar Jaikishan and picturised on Rajender Kumar and Saira Banu; “tere husn ki kya taref karun” and “ek shahehshah ne” from the film Leader, composed by Naushad and picturised on Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala; “mai hoon saki”, composed by Naushad and picturised on Dilip Kumar and Wahida Rehman; etc.

Also the song from the film Shagird, titled “woh hai zara khafa khafa”, composed by LP and picturised on Joy Mukherjee and Saira Banu, became landmark hit. Also Ravi’s composition in the film Do Kaliyan titled “tumhari nazar”, picturised on Biswajeet and Mala Sinha became big hit. Also RD Burman’s composition in the film Pyar Ka Mausam, titled “ni sultana re” picturised on Shashi Kapoor and Asha Parekh became very successful.

There were huge number of solo songs of Rafi and Lata in the 50s and 60s which had become musical masterpieces. The songs and the films should be restored for their musical value. The playback singers of the modern age consider Lata and Rafi as their role models and still learn from their works.