Rafi and Asha in the 60s and 70s.

Rafi and Asha in the 60s and 70s.

Rafi and Asha had sung many memorable duet songs during the 60s and 70s. In the 60s their songs “diwana hua badal”, “isharon isharon” in the film Kashmir Ki Kali became super hit. Shankar Jaikishan used Rafi and Asha together in many songs in the 60s.

Prominent among them were “raat ke humsafar” from the film An Evening in Paris, picturised on Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore, “ai chand zara chup ja” from the film Latt Sahab picturised on Shammi Kapoor and Nutan, etc.

In the 70s RD Burman became prominent in bollywood films and he composed may duet songs for Rafi and Asha during that time. His hit songs include “are ho goriyan kahan tera desh re” from the film Karwa, picturised on Jeetender and Asha Parekh, “o haseena zulfonwali”, “aja aja main hoon pyar tera”, “o mere sonare sonare sonare” from the film Teesri Manzil picturied on Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh.

OP Nayyar always used Asha and Rafi for his major hit songs and the list is very long. Some of them include “zulf ke chayon me chehere ka ujala lekar”, “naznee bara rangeen hai wada tera”, etc. from the film Phir Wahi Dil Laya Hoon, picturised on Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh, “bahut shukhriya”, “mai pyar ka rahin hoon”, etc., from the film Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, picturised on Joy Mukherjee and Sadhna, “roka kaibaar”, “humne to dil ko”, etc. from the film Mere Sanam, picturised on Biswajeet and Asha Parekh.

In the late 70s, due to classical orientation of both Rafi and Asha composers used to use them whenever qawallies were given in films. Both of them had provided hit songs like “hum kisise kum nahin kum nahi” from the film Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin, picturised on Rishi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman, “pal do pal ka” from the film Burning Train, picturised on Jeetender and Neetu Singh.

Rafi and Asha had adapted themselves to the requirement of singing westernized songs which were mainly composed by Shankar Jaikishan, OP Nayyar and RD Burman during the 60s and 70s. The songs had been big assets of the films and for those reasons they should be preserved and restored.