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 fourteenth one from the series.Over to Sanjeev Rambhadran for a musical treat!

DAY 14: To give an idea of just how much change Mohd. Rafi successfully adapted to over the course of nearly four decades in the film industry, we travel a bit further back in time to early post-Independence India.

No discussion of Mohd. Rafi is complete without a mention of the man who brought him to films, first in the Punjabi film "Gul Baloch", then in the Hindi "Gaon Ki Gori" a few years later. Composer Shyam Sunder, part of the so-called "Punjab school" of musicians, is best-known today for songs like  Noor Jahan's "Kis Tarah Bhoolega Dil" or Lata Mangeshkar's "Bahaaren Phir Bhi Aayengi." The same musical thought process, not far removed from the K.L. Saigal era, is apparent in the intricacies of the composition presented here, a gazal by the poet best-known for "Aayega Aanewala", J.Nakshab.

Though the early Mohd. Rafi was still finding his feet, this rendition foreshadows the immense newfound potential available to Hindi Film composers in a male voice that would change the course of popular music in the subcontinent for decades to come.

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