Knowledge, intellect, passion, bhakti, shruti, and samruddhi all came together in an extremely easy and comfortable manner on the November 14, 2009 the infectiousness of which will remain with us for a very long time to come. Sitting down to write about our Rafi Holiday in honour of our Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi friends gives me great pleasure.

I have broadly outlined the program as it went..The eagerly awaited morning started around 10 with coffee/tea and as soon as our Delhi friends got in we began the session with a welcome speech by yours truly. Therafter, Manish invited ASM (who is an excellent MC) to introduce his team members followed by Jagat Saab introducing the Chennai team.

Now let me introduce THE RAFI BHAKTS and the khaasiyat of each one of them.

OUR HYDERABAD FRIENDS WHO JOINED US:

AS Murty – He is the driving force behind the entire team and his presence and presentation had a huge impact on the entire proceedings of Saturday. More strength to you Murty Saab!

NRP and Mrs. Padmanabhan – Sir thoroughly enjoying the proceedings .. he was verbally very quiet but very active mentally I am sure…we now have to wait for his valuable comments to know how he and his wife exactly felt being amongst us…

R. Padmanabhan – He enthusiastically took part in the antakshari and ASM sang praises about his knowledge of lyrics.

Sanjay Deshpande – He amazed us all with his fund of knowledge..I heard someone saying in the background..’hum samajthe the ke hum hi sabse bade bhakt hai Rafi Saab ke..par hum toh kuch bhi nahi hain in sabke saamne’

Satyendra – Absolutely and extraordinarily the find of the meet…the young Satyendra is a force to reckon with…his exuberance for quizzing was so high that Mukund had the time of his life controlling this young man…! hum sab ka salaam tumko and may Rafi Saab Bless!

S.K. Elias – What a singer! He was first to go on the stage to sing and he sang Duniya Na Bhaye from Basant Bahaar….he made me cry with his rendition! The quiver in his voice and the emotions were outstanding!

S. Chandar and Radha Chandar – A very young (looking) and lovely smiling couple who never left each other’s side and came forward with some excellent jokes and songs…

K. Sivaram, Mrs. Sivaram and Shanti Sivaram – Very enthusiastic..it was wonderful that your whole family could make it to the meet. Shanti has a lovely voice.

OUR CHENNAI BHAKTS

K. Ramachandran or Chandan – He held the crowd spellbound with his rendering of Aaj Ki Raat mere dil ki salaami and one more song on which Manish made a funny comment (Chandan please update..!)

Jagat Tarkas – He has an amazing talent in that he can sing songs by whistling. ..and though he would have wanted to sing, by popular demand he gave us some wonderful whistling numbers of Rafi Saab.

Surinder – what a soothing voice he has…and very humble in his demeanor.beautiful songs he sang Madan Mohan’s Tere Bagair and Roshan’s Mere Mehbood Kahin Aur Mila Kar Mujhse

S. Narayan and Sreedhar – your involvement and appreciation of the participants was very heartening..thank you for being there..

OUR DELHI GUESTS

Zareef – Sir jee, jo aapne sher sunaya tha bahut hi badhiya tha..zara likhkar bhejiyega please… he filmed the entire program on his personal handycam and will post it in his website www.rafi.co.in (please correct if I am wrong)..it was most wonderful having you amongst us..

Sunanda – You were an honored guest from Delhi quietly sitting and enjoying the show but your presence was an encouragement in itself madam. Thank you for giving us that small stanza of Talat Mehmood song inspite of not keeping too well,.

AND NOW THE BAAR BAAR RAFI TEAM..

Raj, Narayan, Ashok, Guruji, Manish – our pillars of BBR – thank you ever so much for the impeccable arrangements – you are responsible for the sustained enthusiasm of every BBR member.

Raj our President has always encouraged us and we were given a free hand to handle and organize this event, as he was away on business. His presentation of An Evening in Paris title song was a major hit.

Narayan, the well-loved PR man of BBR was in his element, answering a major of the questions in the quiz round, which stumped even Satyendra, the young prodigy of Hyderabad.

Ashok was responsible for the food arrangements (excellent lunch Ashok..you can give yourself a pat on your back!) but what appeals to you is his ardent love of Rafi Saab and he makes no bones about it..!

Guruji ke baare mein kya kahen…he is our encyclopedia and we depend on him for any info about Rafi Saab or films in general…par aise waise kaise bhi antakshari mein aa hi gaye .though he is formally banned from taking part in any quiz or antakshari because he would win hands down! (and he and his team did!! they won the first prize for the antakshari with the Hyderabad Bhakts being the runner ups!)

Manish..whose controlling and scheduling the entire program was excellent and he deserves a big round of applause for it. His quips and witty remarks on the mike were very enjoyable..

Mukund, Krishna, Hemanth, Srinivas, Shankar – Aap logon ne gaakar, nachkar (Krishna only you can add that extra life to a show on which people are already hooked) bahut dil lubhaaya hamara…thank you Hemanth for the thoughtful and amazing paintings of Rafi Saab and of course, for regaling us with your wonderful voice…Mukund ..likhe jo khat tujhe…kuch sur laga ke nahin?

Asha – she is a gem of a singer and an ustaad at ideas for antakshari..Her presentation and themes were excellent and challenged the vast knowledge of the participants…! The antakshari was won by the Bangalore team consisting of Guruji, Vinatha and Hemanth and Hyderabad consisting of Sanjay, Shailaja and (???) followed closely with a tie-break win..

Vinatha – aah! her quiz was a super hit with Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore alike…Chennai especially did very well in the video quizzing where the clip was played for just 2 seconds and Chandan guessed most of them!

Alka – She is the lively lady whose Oh Haseena Zulfon Waali (with Hemanth) had Krishna and Snigdha shaking a leg much to the delight of the crowd!

Shailajaji, Sapna, Ananya, Vidya, Radha, Ushaji, Raji – Your heartwarming and lovely presence encouraged Raj to sing ‘dekho yeh pariyon ki toli,’ and your participation is continued encouragement for all of us at BBR. Raji you were brilliant in the Ghalib ghazal that you sang for us…

Devraj Saab and Lakshmi Devraj – every grateful for your presence and efforts to make it to the venue…with his usual booming voice Devraj Saab entralled the crowd with Madhuban Mein Radhika..

Snigdha – Your vibrant presence is a scene stealer..! We need hardly say how much we appreciate your spontaneous performance with Krishna for Oh Haseena Zulfon Waali..

So that was how it went folks. Tea and snacks were served in the evening. A cake ordered by Murty Saab was cut to the singing of Baar Baar Din Yeh Aaye…and we wound up around 7:30 -8:00 after an enthusiastic rounding up the proceedings with Baar Baar Dekho, the theme song of BBR.

Hope I have not missed out anyone. If I have please do let me know…I had a wonderful time and we hope you did too..

Fond regards,
Bina

no further detaild are available to me as of now, I will soon provide the more details about it.

( posted from mobile)

Just share your views about it. Think how we can proceeds with this? When government has not declare any Bharat Ratna since many years, will it be easy to get it for Mohd. Rafi?

But When Lata Ji. Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustaad Bismillah Khan can get it, why not Mohd. Rafi?

Share all your views about it and lets discuss.

(You will not be able to forget me/whenever you hear my song/you will sing along with me)

NOT one of Mohammed Rafi’s best songs, but it perhaps best expresses his enduring appeal. An appeal that continues 27 years after the man died on July 31, 1980.

Growing up in the 1970s with only a radio for entertainment, it was hard not to miss Rafi’s voice. As you begin to search the Rafi repertoire, it is hard not to be amazed by the singer’s range.

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Film was released after 9 years of Mohd. Rafi’s unfortunate demise.

Enjoy

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Unlike Kishore and Lata who never got to meet Saigal, Mohd.Rafi not only met him but also sang with him. Just once.

The gentleman who sings the final line in this song after the chorus is Mohammed Rafi himself, believe it or not!

Rafi can not be compared with anybody, because he was really great in his own style so was kishore, so No Rafi vs Kishore saga here…

We salute both of them…

Rafi deserve it for singing a good song and Kishore deserve it for acceptance of the song on him.

This song “Apni Aadat Hai” is from film Pyaar Diwana.

I am not sure how to do planning of a website which I am doing on Mohd. Rafi…..

I have planned for a website but as of now does not have any special plan for it.

I just want to compile the information about Mohd. Rafi, a live streaming of Mohd. Rafi’s Songs without being in trouble for copyright… and more of it I am planning to do a ON Demand kind of service on mobiles.

Let see how it shape… but as of now I just can say that it will be good… good for me as I will learn new and new things about Mohd. Rafi.