Mohammed Rafi Won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for 1977 and the Padma Shri in 1967, After Three Decades of Singing for Hindi Cinema's Leading Actors

Mohammed Rafi won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for 1977, for his singing in the Hindi film Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. The catalogue of the 25th National Film Festival, published by the Directorate of Film Festivals, says the award went to him “for a golden voice, with resonant timbre and charm” and carried a Rajat Kamal (silver lotus) and a cash prize of Rs 10,000.

The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Padma awards directory lists him among the 1967 recipients of the Padma Shri. Britannica gives his dates as 24 December 1924, at Kotla Sultan Singh near Amritsar, and 31 July 1980, in Bombay, at the age of 55. On 24 December 2024, his hundredth birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him a musical genius whose cultural influence and impact transcend generations.

What the 1977 citation and the Padma list say

The Directorate’s note on Rafi describes a front-rank singer with more than three decades of active work in film music. It records that he trained in Hindustani classical music under Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan, Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan and Pandit Jivanlal Mattoo. The catalogue does not name a song. Britannica, ThePrint and Google’s Doodle page tie the award to “Kya Hua Tera Wada” from the same film.

Sources disagree on the Padma Shri year. Britannica and Cinemaazi say 1965. The Ministry of Home Affairs directory places him in the 1967 list, and Google’s page says 1967, so this article follows the directory. Google also says he won six Filmfare awards, the first for the title song of Chaudhvin Ka Chand in 1960. ThePrint adds that he was nominated 21 times.

From a village near Amritsar to Radio Lahore

Google’s Doodle page says that as a boy in the early 1930s he learned chants by following a travelling fakir. In Lahore he sang at a barber shop, and a brother arranged for him to train under Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, though their father opposed it. Britannica adds teachers named Chhote Gulam Ali Khan and Feroz Nizami.

The Tribune’s columnist Harjap Singh Aujla writes that Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo, head of music at All India Radio in Lahore, offered him casual work as an artist after an audition in 1943. Accounts of his first big public performance differ. Britannica says a Lahore concert when he was about 15 was the turning point, because the composer Shyam Sunder was in the audience and invited him to Bombay. Cinemaazi describes a 1937 performance at the All-India Exhibition in Lahore, with K. L. Saigal listening.

Britannica says his first recording was in Lahore for the Punjabi film Gul Baloch, which it dates to 1944. Cinemaazi gives the release as 1945 in one place and 23 August 1946 in another.

Bombay, and a silver medal from Nehru in 1948

Upperstall’s profile says he moved to Bombay in 1944. Cinemaazi reports that the actor-producer Nazeer invited him, paying Rs 100 and a rail ticket, and that Shyam Sunder introduced him to films. Britannica lists his earliest Hindi recordings as Gaon Ki Gori (1945), Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1947) and Jugnu (1947). Cinemaazi says it is unsettled whether his first Hindi film song was in Pehle Aap (1944) or Gaon Ki Gori. The Tribune says his duet with Noor Jehan in Jugnu became very popular. Naushad gave him his first solo assignment, “Tera Khilona Toota Balak” in Anmol Ghadi (1946), according to Britannica.

After Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948, Rafi recorded a tribute song, “Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon Bapu Ki Amar Kahani”. Scroll says it was composed and recorded about a week later, by Husnlal and Bhagatram with words by Rajendra Krishan, and that it reportedly sold a million copies in its first month. On Independence Day 1948 Jawaharlal Nehru gave Rafi a silver medal, and two years later he invited him to sing at the first Republic Day celebration, Scroll reports. The man the song honours has his own profile in Gandhi: the man who moved millions.

Dulari, Baiju Bawra and the voice behind the lead actor

Upperstall and Cinemaazi both date the take-off of his career to Dulari (1949), composed by Naushad. Britannica counts “Is Duniya Mein Ae Dilwalo” in Dillagi (1949) as another milestone. Cinemaazi says that in Deedar (1951) Naushad made him Dilip Kumar’s playback voice. Britannica lists the classical piece “O Duniya Ke Rakhwale” in Baiju Bawra (1952) among his best-known work.

Britannica describes his particular gift as matching his voice to the person on screen. It gives Dilip Kumar in Leader (1964), Guru Dutt in Pyaasa (1957), Shammi Kapoor in the “Yahoo” number of Junglee (1961) and Johnny Walker in Pyaasa as examples. ThePrint adds Dev Anand in Hum Dono, Rajendra Kumar and Dharmendra. Upperstall’s list also includes Sunil Dutt, Biswajeet, Joy Mukherjee, Shashi Kapoor and Raaj Kumar, and says Rishi Kapoor became his usual voice in the later phase.

Britannica names S. D. Burman, Madan Mohan, O. P. Nayyar and Shankar-Jaikishan as composers who used his range, and ThePrint calls Laxmikant-Pyarelal his most prolific partnership. His repertoire as Britannica lists it runs from the ghazal in Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) and the classical “Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache Re” in Kohinoor (1960) to the patriotic “Jahan Daal Daal Par” in Sikandar-e-Azam (1965) and the rock-and-roll-style “Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera” in Teesri Manzil (1966). For his patriotic songs, The Tribune’s columnist says he took no fee, including for one in the 1948 film Shaheed. The patriotic films of the 1960s, in which he also sang, are covered in the profile of Manoj Kumar.

Duets with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle

Britannica singles out his duets with Lata Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhosle. With Lata it names “Dil Pukare” in Jewel Thief (1967), “Chalo Dildar Chalo” in Pakeezah (1972) and “Teri Bindiya Re” in Abhimaan (1973). With Asha it names “Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar” in Hum Dono (1961) and “Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko” in Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973). Cinemaazi counts 806 songs with Asha Bhosle and 344 with Lata Mangeshkar. In Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) he, Lata, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh sing together in one number, Britannica says. Lata Mangeshkar’s own career is told in Lata Mangeshkar, the voice and Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon.

The two had a break over royalties. ThePrint says Lata wanted singers to receive a share, Rafi would not back it, and they stopped singing together until Madan Mohan brought them back five years later. Britannica dates the break 1963 to 1967 and says composers helped end it.

Five thousand or twenty-five thousand songs

Britannica says he recorded more than 25,000 film songs in almost 40 years. Google’s Doodle page says nearly five thousand. Cinemaazi says about 6,000 in Indian languages, and the Free Press Journal says more than 7,000. None of these pages settles the count. PTI reports that when Guinness listed Lata Mangeshkar in 1974 as the most recorded artist, Rafi disputed the entry and argued that he had recorded more.

On languages, Britannica says he sang in several Indian languages besides Hindi, including his native Punjabi. Upperstall lists Punjabi films from Bhangra (1959) to Kankan De Ohle (1971). Cinemaazi names Assamese, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Magahi, Maithili, Oriya, Sindhi, Tamil and Telugu as well, and Google adds English, Arabic, Persian, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.

The 1970s and the 1977 return

ThePrint reports that after his first Haj pilgrimage Rafi decided to leave films and give his time to prayer, and that Naushad persuaded him that his voice belonged to the public. The article does not date the episode. Rafi told Shama magazine, ThePrint says, that the public put the break down to lack of work, which he denied.

Cinemaazi writes that Kishore Kumar became the leading male playback voice after Aradhana (1969), and that Rafi’s comeback began with Hawas (1974), composed by Usha Khanna. Upperstall lists Laila Majnu (1976), Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (1977) and Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) as the films of his return. Britannica names the qawwalis “Parda Hai Parda” and “Hai Agar Dushman Zamana” from the last two. The National Film Award for 1977 followed the same year.

Death in 1980 and the centenary

Rafi died in Bombay on 31 July 1980 after a heart attack. ThePrint says thousands lined the streets in heavy rain. Britannica calls Aas Paas his last recording, and Cinemaazi says it was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Sources give differing titles for the last song, and tuput names only the film.

Google marked what would have been his 93rd birthday with a Doodle on 24 December 2017, drawn by the Mumbai illustrator Sajid Shaikh. The Prime Minister’s Office posted Modi’s centenary message on 24 December 2024.