After the sad demise of Asha Bhosle, one of the blog followers requested for a post on duets by Asha Bhosle and Rafi. I was already thinking about it and I immediately thought of an action plan.
When I started collecting songs, I soon realised that it’s not possible for me to do it in a single or two posts. If you know me, you must have guessed what’s going to happen next!
Yes, an entire series dedicated to the Hindi film duets by Asha Bhosle and Rafi! I’m almost sure that they sang duets under the baton of every composer from the golden era. So it’s going to be an interesting journey!
Today, on Rafi’s Death Anniversary, let’s visit the early years of their association when they had a good number of songs, but very few were popular and memorable.
A large chunk of their songs belonged to low budget or so called B grade films. It was only occasionally that they sang for big banners. This went on till 1954. In the next couple of years they sang around 70+ songs, but very few are still remembered.
Here I want to clarify that the stats may not be fully accurate and I don’t claim it to be perfect.
The scenario changed dramatically in the late 50s. So I decided to limit this first part of the series till 1956.
Their first duets were for the films, Lekh (1949) and Roomal (1949) with one duet each. So the first composers to offer them duets were Krishna Dayal for Lekh and Hansraj Behl for Roomal.
The opening year saw just a couple of duets. I intend to open the series with one of these songs,
1. Kar Le Kisi Se Pyar – Lekh (1949) / Krishna Dayal – Qamar Jalalabadi
It was just the beginning for Asha Bhosle, but she sang solos and duet for the film. Listen to how she pronounced the word, Jawani. Sounded quite like Geeta Dutt, or it could be the way it was pronounced in that era. Of course she was yet to find her feet. The singers had different moods to portray, the lady is encouraging him to fall in love, while the man is disappointed with the selfish world.
It wasn’t at all a bad opening duet! The song, the lyrics, the tune and the singer’s rendition all seem good to me.
While I could find only one duet in 1950 (for Bawre Nain), there were 5 in 1951 and 4 in 1952. None are particularly popular, but I am adding a couple of the duets from this period .
2. Apni Tasveer Se Keh Do – Sabz Baagh (1951) / Vinod – Aziz Kashmiri
A cute song of nok-jhonk between the lovers. Vinod has used qawwali style for the tune and Asha Bhosle’s young, fresh voice is quite appealing. The tune of the song reminded me of Yun To Aapas Mein Bigadte Hain from Andaz (1949).
3. Bananewale Kya Tune Yehi Duniya – Jalpari (1952) / Govind Ram – Bharat Vyas
They sang three duets for the movie, starring Ashok Kumar and Nalini Jaywant. This one’s a philosophical touch to it. The lyrics are meaningful and the singer’s rendition highlights them.
The scenario changed in 1953, the number of duets increased to a double figure number, around 15+ duets. But the songs still belonged to B grade films and very few became popular.
One interesting aspect of 1953 is the film called Rangeela (1953). It was produced and directed by Bhagwan, who must also have played the main lead in the movie. The film had 7 duets by Asha Bhosle and Rafi. Though I hadn’t even heard of the film, I listened to the songs and chose one for today’s list.
4. Dheere Dheere Sang Mere Gaao – Rangeela (1953) / Jamal Sen – S H Bihari
Not a well known song. But it’s melodious, and captures the essence of the character played by Bhagwan. Asha Bhosle enters late in the song, but still manages to leave an impact. I liked the song among all the 7 duets they sang for the movie.
5. Meri Zindagi Hai Tu – Paapi (1953) / S Mohinder – Surjeet Sethi
S Mohinder composed good tunes for this Raj Kapoor, Nargis starring movie. Though he never made it to the first rung of composers, his songs used to be melodious. This catchy tune resembles a song from the 60s.
It was mostly the first time that Asha Bhosle and Rafi duet featured in a prestigious banner like RK films. The film was Boot Polish (1954). They sang a couple of duets for the film.
6. Nanhe Munne Bachche Teri – Boot Polish (1954) / Shankar Jaikishan – Shailendra
The song is full of dreams and optimism. The song portrays the confidence and hopes of street children. They dream of a bright future and of course have a right to do so. They would prefer struggling in life to accepting valuables as alms.
While Rafi offers playback to David, who plays an important character in the movie, while Asha Bhosle sings for both Ratan Kumar and Baby Naaz.
Let’s listen to other melodies from the same year.
7. Naiya Jaldi Le Chalo Mujhe – Tulasidas (1954) / Chitragupt – G S Nepali
I just couldn’t stop myself from adding this simple melody composed by Chitragupt. There are two duets with different verses. While it’s technically a duet, in both the songs, one singer sings just aalap in the beginning and the other sings the rest of the song. The song exudes typical sweetness of a Chitragupt melody. The link added has both the versions back to back. The lyrics of the male and female versions complement each other.
8. Ae Saba Unse Keh Zara – Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor (1954) / S N Tripathi – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
One of my all time favourites. It doesn’t matter to me if it belongs to a costume drama. It’s so sweet and melodious! And by now Asha Bhosle was very near to establishing her own style of singing. The song is picturised on Shakeela and Mahipal.
9. Raja Ka Haathi Le Le – Mastana (1954) / Madan Mohan – Rajendra Krishan
Their first duet for Madan Mohan was for the film, Chacha Choudhary (1953), with three duets. The next year, they sang for him in Mastana. The added duet is picturised on Nigar Sultana and Sundar, who play street vendors selling toys. The song has a playful mood to begin with, but in the last verse, it turns into a sad mood. Perhaps the two verses were not appearing continuously in the film.
A mention of a film called Halla Gulla (1954) is necessary. After Rangeela (1953), the story repeated itself when they sang a number of duets in a single Hindi film. Incidentally it was again produced and directed by Bhagwan. It had 9 songs, all duets by Asha Bhosle and Rafi.
10. Dil Pukare Aa – Halla Gulla (1954) / Nisar Bazmi – Saba Afghani
Very interestingly, the film had 9 songs, all duets by Asha Bhosle and Rafi. Perhaps sort of a record for a Hindi film to feature only duets! The film had Sajjan and Shakeela along with Bhagwan. This song sounds like jazz, or so I guess. Quite an enjoyable one.
In the next couple of years, they sang 70+ Hindi film songs. Out of that around 45+ were in the year 1955. But very surprisingly only one was well known, at least to me. Here it is,
11. Jab Liya Haath Mein Haath – Vachan (1955) / Ravi – Prem Dhawan
A cute tonga rhythm song from Ravi’s debut film as a composer. Asha Bhosle was with him from the beginning and their association went on for many more years to offer a spectrum of popular songs. The same was the case with Rafi, though a significant part of Ravi’s career saw Mahendra Kapoor singing for him as well.
The song is picturised on Geeta Bali and Balraj. A very catchy tune due to the rhythmic tonga beats.
Let’s move on to the last year that we will cover in this post. The number of duets were surprisingly almost half of the previous year, around 25. But slowly now, the duets were getting popular, thanks to O P Nayyar, who had faith in her abilities and offered her songs consistently. I’ve a couple of songs composed by Nayyar in this last segment, along with a couple of other songs.
12. Main To Baanke Nainon Wali – Chhoo Mantar (1956) / O P Nayyar – Majrooh
It was Asha Bhosle’s only song for Shyama in the movie. Other songs, including the ones picturised on Anita Guha were sung by Geeta Dutt. The song is rather unusual picturised, Shyama performing on stage, in a नऊवारी साडी, while Johny Walker sings from the box, as a part of audience. A good song to listen to and watch.
13. Chale Ho Kahan – Bhagam Bhag (1956) / O P Nayyar – Majrooh
By the mid 50s, O P Nayyar was more inclined to Asha Bhosle and in this movie, she sang for both Shashikala and Smriti Biswas. Similarly Rafi sang for both Bhagwan and Kishore Kumar. In this song, it’s only for Kishore Kumar. One of the occasions where he sang for Kishore Kumar.
14. Jhoomati Hai Nazar – Hatim Tai (1956) / S N Tripathi – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
The song is picturised on Shakeela and Ranjan. For me, it’s one of the best romantic melodies of Hindi cinema. The song flows like a cool fragrant breeze of air and lingers in our minds for long. Forget the fantasy movie, listen to the sheer melody. Both the singers are at their best.
15. Aa Jao Tumhe – Heer (1956) / Anil Biswas – Majrooh
Rafi and Anil Biswas had a brief association. He was perhaps chosen for this movie because of the Punjabi background of the story. A good song that is based on traditional Punjabi folk songs. The song is picturised on Nutan and Pradeep Kumar.
I hope you all enjoyed the opening part of the series and I could make it interesting. I haven’t yet decided how many years I’ll cover in the next part, but I’m planning to continue the series throughout the next month till Asha Bhosle’s birthday in September.
Would you like to add your favourite duets by Asha and Rafi within the timeline?
Disclaimer –
Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.
