I wish the days were longer. If there were 48 hours in a day, instead of just 24, I would be able to spend so much more time doing fun things – painting, reading, writing… But the more pragmatic around me point out that if days were longer I would probably need to work longer hours and spend more time on daily routines, and they are definitely not shy in telling me that if days were longer, I would spend more hours watching movies, chit-chatting and… planning all the things I would do if the days were longer! Ah well, they are probably right but that does not stop me from dreaming of scenarios where all my plans would come to fruition.
But I am happy to say, that even though I am continuously failing to complete my half-written posts, I haven’t been entirely unproductive. I have been working on reviving Bollyviewer’s old blog, Old is Gold. With more than a hundred of her posts there, it remains a treasure trove for me. I am re-posting one of the popular posts from that blog, where I have updated the web-links.
The A-Z of Mohammed Rafi
Originally published: 31 July 2009
Think old Hindi songs and you think of Rafi’s voice! For over three decades, he was the singing voice of generations of heroes. His melodious voice could soar into high notes for a passionate song or dip down into the low notes for a ghazal, adapt itself equally well to a qawwali, a classical song, a Rock-n-Roll number, or a bhajan. It wasn’t just his vocal range and melodious voice that made him such a popular singer. There was also that elusive quality – Charisma with a capital C – in his voice (a quality that onscreen stars had cause to be grateful for!). And then of course, as Filmi Girl points in her awesome podcast, he was also a consummate actor. He could make you laugh and cry, tug on your heartstrings, make you feel blue, or ready to dance. 29 years after his death, his voice is still fresh and charismatic as ever!
So, here’s a post dedicated to my favorite singer on his 29th Death Anniversary [ed. 42nd anniversary in Jul 2022]. Since it’s impossible to do a list of my favorite Rafi songs or even favorite Rafi solos/duets, (those lists would run into the hundreds), I’ve decided to do a Rafi song for each letter of the alphabet.* Just to make things more interesting, I decided to restrict myself to his duets or group performances from B/W films. So here goes…(The songs are all in a YouTube playlist.)
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