On birth anniversary looking back at the awards of Rafisahab the singer of the millenium

Rafisahab should have received filmfare awards for many other songs. By: Dr Souvik Chatterji (Associate Professor in Law and Head of Department, JIS University, Kolkata) Rafisahab is remembered all over the world on his birth anniversary on 24th December, 2024. He had remained an inspiration for numerous singers all over the world. While he received filmfare for best male playback singer 6 times, there were many more songs in which he deserved the filmfare award. Here is a list of songs where Rafisahab deserved filmfare awards. Year Song Music Director Reason 1953 “O Duniya ke rakhwale” Naushad Ali The filmfare awards started in 1953 but at that time only one singer award was given. Rafisahab deserved the award for brilliant bhajan andaz and spiritual rendition of the song in film Baiju Bawra. 1954 “nanne munne bacche tere muthi me kya hai” Shankar Jaikishan The song had great philosophy related to children. It was from film Boot Polish which reserved Indian and international awards. 1955 “o door ke musafir hum ko bhi saath le le” Naushad Ali The song had great chorus andaz and tragic andaz. Dilip Kumar’s “tragedy king” image was bolstered by the lyrics and rendition of the song in film Uran Khatola. 1956 “duniya nab bhay” Shankar Jaikishan The song had both classical andaz and devotional andaz. It was a musical film with Shankar Jaikishan portraying different ragas. Rafisahab balanced the mood of film Basant Bahar. 1957 “chal ur jaa re panchi ki ab yeh des hua begana” Chitragupt The song was philosophical in nature. It had great message for society. Rafisahab expressed the message of director in the film Bhabhi. 1958 “mai soya aankhiya meeche” OP Nayyar The song was a duet song with Asha Bhosle. But it had great romantic andaz of OP Nayyar in the film Phagun. 1960 “madhuban me radhika nachere” and “zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi barsaat ki raat” Naushad Ali and Roshanlal Nagrath Rafisahab won the filmfare award for the song “chaudavi ka chand ho” but he deserved the award in “madhuban me radhika” for brilliant rendition of raag hamir and “zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi” for excellent ghazal andaz. 1962 “ab kya misaal doon” Roshanlal Nagrath Rafisahab should have won the award for excellent rendition of ghazal andaz and soft romantic andaz 1963 “mere mehboob tujhe meri muhobbat ki kasam” Naushad Ali Rafisahab should have won the award for the best ghazal and mushaira. Rafisahab by Naushad Ali’s tunes and Shakeel’s shayari displayed the urdu ghazal culture of Lucknow, Aligarh. 1964 “kisiki yaad me apnako hai bhalaye hue”, “man re tu kahe na dheer dhare” and “apni azaadi ko hum hargeze mita sakte nahi” Madanmohan Kohli, Roshanlal Nagrath and Naushad Ali. Rafisahab brought about the great ghazal culture of Lucknow, Aligarh and replicated the history during Mughal period. Madanmohan Kohli’s music in film Jahanaara had great ghazal andaz. “man re” is considered as one of the best bhajans Rafisahab sang in Pradip Kumar’s Chitralekha having philosophical andaz. “apni azaadi” had fantastic patriotic andaz and Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for rendering patriotic andaz in Dilip Kumar’s film Leader. 1965 “aye watan aye watan humko teri kasam” Prem Dhawan Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for outstanding patriotic in the film Shaheed based on Shahid Bhagat Singh’s life portrayed by Manoj Kumar 1966 “aaja re aa zara aa” and “aapse maine meri jaan muhobbat ki hai” Shankar Jaikishan and OP Nayyar Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for western andaz of singing in Joy Mukherjee’s Love in Tokyo in intoxicating mood and waltz andaz song in Biswajeet’s Yeh Raat Phir Na Ayegi 1967 “hum intezer karenge tera qayamat tak” Roshanlal Nagrath Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for rendition of royal style of singing during the period of Nawabs of northern India in Pradeep Kumar’s film Bahu Begum. 1968 “babul ki duwayen leti ja” Ravi Shankar Sharma Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for singing the best song based on getting daughters married. The feeling of the parents of the daughters is brought by Rafisahab in Balraj Sahani’s Neel Kamal. 1969 “teri aankhon ke siva duniya me rakkha kya hai” Madanmohan Kohli Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for rendition of excellent quality ghazal with romantic andaz in Sunil Dutt’s film Chirag. 1971 “unke khayal aye to ate chale gaye” Shankar Jaikishan Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for singing songs having mujra andaz the way it was sung in royal courts of nawabs in Raj Kumar’s film Lal Patthar. 1973 “tum jo mil gaye ho” Madanmohan Kohli Rafisahab deserved filmfare award because the orchestration was related to movement of star in car in the film and Rafisahab brought the romantic mood in rainy ambience in Navin Nischal’s Hanste Zakhm. 1976 “barbad muhabbat ki dua saath liye ja” Jaidev and Madanmohan Kohli Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for presenting style of singing in middle east based on life of Laila Majnu in Rishi Kapoor’s film Laila Majnu. 1977 “parda hai parda” and “shirdiwali saibaba” Laxmikant Pyarellal Rafisahab deserved filmfare award for presenting style of qawalli in “parda hai” and rendering brilliant spiritual song with bhajan andaz in “shirdiwali saibaba” in Rishi Kapoor’s film Amar Akbar Anthony. The lyrics of majority of these songs were written by eminent poets, shayars like Shakeel Badayani, Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Rajender Krishan, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, SH Bihari and others. The standard of singing was very high. The range of Rafisahab was unlimited. So the fact that the greatest singer of the century Rafisahab receiving only 6 filmfare awards never show the great contribution for those 35 years where he sang immortal songs and gave expression to the thoughts of directors, producers, writers, poets, musicians.