Rafi, Shankar Jaikishan and Rajender Kumar

Rafi, Shankar Jaikishan and Rajender Kumar.

Rafi had sung legendary songs for all the leading stars of bollywood films in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Rajender Kumar had given lips in many sophisticated songs of Rafi. Major compositions wee that of Shankar Jaikishan who had contributed for the high class of music during the golden age of bollywood music.

Rafi’s songs in the film Aarzoo including “ai phoon ki rani”, “aji ruth kar ab”, “ai nargisi begana”, “chalke tere aankho se”, were composed by SJ bearing different musical gharana including ghazal, geet, light romantic song. The romantic pair of Rajender Kumar and Sadhna was accepted by the viewers of India.

In the film Suraj, SJ composed the songs for Rafi including “bharaon phool barsao”, “kaise samjhayoon”, “itna hai tujhse pyar hai mujhe”, etc, which were all successful and contributed for the success of the film. Lata and Asha also sung their songs very well in the film. Rajender Kumar was elegant in giving lips in the film.


In the film Ai Milan ki Bela, SJ’s composition for Rafi included hit songs like “aha ai Milan ki bela”, “to bura maan gaye”, “tum khamseen ho”, etc. All the songs were hit and the pair of Rajender Kumar and Saira Banu was well accepted by filmlovers. The songs in the film Jhuk Gaya Aasman, including “o priya, kaun hai jo sapno me aya”, “kahan chal diye”, etc., were equally successful and the romantic pair of Rajender Kumar and Saira Banu stormed bollywood during that age.

SJ composed romantic songs for Rajender Kumar in the film Humrahi, including songs like “mujhko apne gale lagalo”, “yeh aasoon”, etc., which had the romantic andaz of Rafi. Rafi was elegant in the film Dil Ek Mandir as well, where Meena Kumari and Raj Kumar gave lifetime performances opposite Rajender Kumar, the songs “jahan koi nahi”, “dil ek mandir hai”, “yaad na jaye”, had not lost their appeal today.


SJ, Rafi and Rajender Kumar had a huge partnership in giving hit songs for over ten years and even songs like “meherbaan likhoon”, in the film Sangam, show the class of composition even after 40 years of creation. The songs and the films should be preserved for their aesthetic value.