Rafi and Dev Anand

Rafi and Dev Anand.

Rafi had a very strong contribution in the success of films of Dev Anand in the 60s. In the film Kala Bazar, his song for Dev Anand titled “khoya khoya chand” became super hit. Wahida Rehman acted opposite Dev Anand in the film. His songs “hum bekhudi me tumko pukare” and “accha ji mai hari”, in the film Kala Pani, opposite Madhubala, became hit. Salil Choudhury used Rafi for Dev Anand in the film Maya, opposite Mala Sinha. The hit songs include “koi sone ka dilwala”, “tasveer teri dil me”.

Shankar Jaikishan used Rafi extensively for Dev Anand in the film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, opposite Asha Parekh. All the songs became super hits, including “jiya ho jiya ho jiya ho kuch bol do”, “teri zulfonki judai nahi mangithi”, “yeh akhen uff yumma”, “sau saal pehle”, to name a few. SJ again used Rafi for Dev Anand in the film Asli Nakli, where Sadhna was the main actress. The hit songs include “tujhe jeevan ki dor se”, “ek but banyunga”, etc. The same combination gave super hit songs in the film Pyar Muhobbat, opposite Saira Banu, where the songs “pyar mukhabbat”, “dil ki awaaz khuda khair Karen” impressed the viewers.

SD Burman gave his best music in the film Guide, where Dev Anand acted under the Navketan Banner with Wahida Rehman. SD Burman gave 3 songs to Rafi including “tere mere sapne”, “din dhaly jaye” and “kyase kya ho gaya, bewafa ho gaya tere pyar me”, which became super hits. The film and the music created landmark in Indian film history.

SD Burman gave all the songs of the film Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, to Rafi including songs like “dil ka bhawar Karen pukar”, “tere ghar ke saamne ek ghar banaunga”, etc. Dev Anand and Nutan did well in the film. The romantic songs contributed a lot in the success of the film.

OP Nayyar gave hit songs to Rafi in the film CID in the mid-50s. The hit songs include “leke pehla pehla pyar”, “ankhon hi ankhon me ishara ho gaya”, which contributed a lot in the creation of image of Dev Anand as an evergreen romantic hero.

From the mid-60s SD Burman stopped using Rafi for the songs of Dev Anand and used Kishore Kumar for most of the songs. Even during that time SD Burman used Rafi in landmark songs like “aise to na dekho” in the film Teen Deviya, “dil pukare are are are” in the film Jewel Thief, “mera man tera pyasa” in the film Gambler.

It is a tragedy that Dev Anand did not use Rafi in the 70s, without any deliberate reasons. Otherwise the combination could have created more hit songs and hit films. The hit songs of Rafi and Dev Anand should be preserved for musical reasons.