Rafi@100: Fans celebrate singer’s birth centenary in his village

“He continues to live in the hearts of millions of his fans,” says Om Prakash, who travelled all the way from Jammu to visit his favourite singer Mohammed Rafi’s birthplace in Kotla Sultan Singh village near Amritsar on his birth centenary on Tuesday.

Prakash is among many admirers to make the annual pilgrimage to Rafi’s village but this time it was special as it marks the 100th birthday of the music icon, who is regarded as one of India’s most celebrated voices.

“Rafi sahab’s songs are as popular today as they were when he was alive. He continues to live in the hearts of millions of his fans,” he said as he crooned “Mere pairon mein ghungroo bandha de”, a popular Rafi song picturised on Dilip Kumar in the movie “Sunghursh” (1968).

Besides Prakash, there was 80-year-old Adarsh Kumar Pruthi, who travelled from Delhi along with his wife to pay tributes to Rafi.

“I have been his great fan since childhood. I had this great desire to visit Rafi sahab’s village on his 100th birth anniversary. Today, I am here with my wife. It feels so good to be here,” Pruthi said.

Over 50 Rafi fans, who came from different parts of the country including Lucknow and from within Punjab like Mukerian, cut a cake in the memory of the great artist and mingled with the locals.

Village elder Hardeep Singh, 82, took it upon himself to guide the tourists around the place where Rafi’s old house once stood. Singh’s grandfather bought the land from the singer’s family years ago.

Many fans also gathered near his statue in the village to pay floral tributes and visited the school where Rafi studied in childhood.

Rafi started singing by imitating the chants by a fakir in his village. But his first public performance came when he turned 13, when he sang a K L Saigal song in Lahore.

In 1944, he moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in singing and made his playback singing debut in “Gaon Ki Gori”, which released the next year.

The singer later went on to lend his voice to Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Rishi Kapoor, in his career as a successful playback artiste.

He has numerous hit songs to his credit, including several duets with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

Working with music directors like Naushad, O P Nayyar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and R D Burman, Rafi delivered evergreen tracks such as “Yeh duniya yeh mehfil,” “Chura liya hai tumne,” “O haseena,” “Tum jo mil gaye ho,” “Chaudhvin ka chand ho,” “Shirdi wale Sai baba” and “Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai.” Rafi died in Mumbai on July 31, 1980 from a heart attack.