The iconic singer Mohammad Rafi, who had sung the immortal song Choti si mulaqat pyar ban gai, died on 31 July 1980, just after a week of the passing away of Uttam Kumar, the most popular star of Bengali films, who had lip-sung the song in the film Chhoti Si Mulaqat.

The movie was not a box office hit but this song had left a deep impact on the minds of the listeners. Uttam Kumar died at the age of 54, while Rafi died when he was just 55.

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The birth centenary of Rafi was observed at Taj Mahal pan shop beside Amenia restaurant opposite the HQ Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Md Shahabbuddin, the present owner of the 75-year-old pan shop has witnessed Rafi and Lata (Mangeshkar) buying pan from the shop. Rafi’s photos have been put up on the walls and they had been garlanded to observe the centenary.

Rafi had an amazing connection with Bengal. Few people know that Rafi had sung some of the famous Nazrul Geeti songs, which included Alga Korogo Khopar Badhan, Uchaton Mono Ghore Rohena, Aj Modhur Bansori Baje. Nazrul, who besides being a poet was also a great music teacher and all the songs he composed had classical touch. Rafi, being a trained classical singer had sung the songs with usual ease and comfort, maintaining his pitch, scale and melody. Manna Dey in several of his interviews had mentioned how he and Rafi ji used to fly kites in Mumbai.

Rafi had sung a song, Sabhi Kuchh Lutakar in Indrani, a very popular Bengali feature film.

In Khelaghar, Rafi had sung a song Kehti Hai Mujhko Yeh Duniya, whose music was composed by Hemanta Mukherjee. In Ajashra Dhanyabad, acted by Sailendra Singh and Aparna Sen, Rafi had sung a song Nawal Kishore Shyamsundar along with Asha Bhosle and Sailendra Singh.

1952 marked an important event in the history of Hindi film Industry. Vijay Bhat had directed a film based on the life of Baiju, a vocalist. Young Baiju challenged the famous vocalist Tansen in Akbar’s court and invited him to take part in a musical duel. Bharat Bhusan had played the role of Baiju while Mina Kumari was his lover. The music composer was Naushad.

In the early 1960s, Rafi had sung an immortal song for the Hindi feature film Kashmir Ki Kali. Diwana Hua Badal with Lata Mangeskar was an all-time hit. Guide, whose music was composed by SD Burman, witnessed Rafi as a vocalist, who sang both a romantic and a sad song in the same film. Din Dhale Jaye, lip sung by Dev Anand was a super duper hit. Most of Rafi songs in films had been lip sung by Shammi Kapoor. Rafi sang Madhuban Me Radhika Nache Re, a pure classical-based song. Rafi’s uniqueness was he could sing songs the way Dharmendra or Dilip Kumar or Dev Anand or Shammi Kapoor talked when he had lip sung the songs for the films. When Shammi Kapoor was in Vrindavan he got the death news of Rafi and said my voice has been taken away.

“Rafi was a great man, a real sadhak whose sadhna was music,” said Sacchidananda Banerjee.

Nilotpal Chakraborty, one of the close aides of V Balsara and a top-class Mandolin player, said, “Rafiji was the only vocalist who could sing love songs, sad songs, popular tunes and devotional songs with equal ease.”