Sanjeev Rambhadran's first claim to fame was when he became the winner of the famous Saregama competition on Zee TV in the mid-90s. The program then was hosted by a young Sonu Nigam and the judge for the finals was none other than the doyen of Hindi film music- Anil Biswas.

Born and brought up in the US, Sanjee is now an acclaimed and much sought-after singer in the US program circuit. He is also a multi-instrumentalist. In this special series to commemorate Mohammed Rafi's 40th death anniversary, Sanjeev brings out various facets of Rafi's gaayaki through his songs with 40 different music directors. He also brilliantly pens his thoughts on these musical gems. Here is twelfth one from the series.Over to Sanjeev Rambhadran for a musical treat!

DAY 12: There's an entirely different nostalgia associated with the music that played regularly in your very first car. In my case, while compact discs were very much in vogue when I started driving, cassettes too were alive and well, and the tape deck of my (parents' old) Honda Civic got plenty of use, dominated by (surprise, surprise) the music of Mohd. Rafi.

For this teenager in Southern New England, New York trips meant Manhattan sightseeing, but just as likely included the Indian stores of Jackson Heights (the Edison, NJ scene had not yet really hit its stride). A Mohd. Rafi cassette picked at random from these tiny shops was like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates - and at least occasionally what you got was an assortment of thus far unheard gems. One particular cassette, entitled "Silver Screen Gold", played incessantly when I got it and even today I can easily recite the entire song lineup. This song was Side A, #2, followed three songs later by "Chheda Jo Dil Ka Fasaana" from the same film.

Initially assistants to Madan Mohan, the Bipin-Babul pair worked with all the major singers despite being largely relegated to B and C-grade films. Their repertoire of sweet melodies includes a Mohd. Rafi-playback-for-Kishore-Kumar special, "Main Is Maasoom Chehre Ko" (Baaghi Shahzaada). The pair also had their solo efforts - among Babul's other compositions with Mohd. Rafi, I am very partial to the non-film "Kaash Khwaabon Men Hi Aa Jaao." The song presented here grabbed me from the very first listen given the explicit nod to the winsome Raga Chhayanat and Kaifi Azmi's stunning lyrics (please listen carefully), to which Mohd. Rafi, holding no distinctions of great and small among music directors, yet again gave his all.
Curiously, the aforementioned cassette is the only recording I've found where all four (identically-structured) verses are intact. It seems the third line of Verse 1, "Bande Ko Khuda Karke Dikhaata Hai Yahi Ishq", ruffled someone's feathers and was thus edited out of the film. What a pity.

#RememberingMohdRafi #40Years_40Songs_40Days_40Composers #Day12