Is Mohammad Rafi the greatest Indian playback singer ever?
@sathviksouvik (23236)
April 24, 2016 9:48am CST
Mohammad Rafi had been the greatest playback singer India had produced ever. He sang more than 5500 songs between 1944 to 1980. He sang for all the leading actors of bollywood like Dilip Kumar, Pradip Kumar, Rajender Kumar, Guru Dutt, Bharat Bhushan, Dharmender, Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee and others. He sang for all the leading composers of India like Naushad Ali, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshanlal Nagrath, OP Nayyar, Madanmohan Kohli. He sang all type of songs from qawalli, ghazal, folk songs, western songs, pure classical songs.
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3 responses
@else34 (13515)
• New Delhi, India
25 Apr 16
@sathviksouvik,Perhaps,yes.He's said to be the greatest.I,for one,love Mukesh and Manna Dey as well.One of my friends says,Kundanlal Sehgal was the greatest singer.
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@else34 (13515)
• New Delhi, India
26 Apr 16
@sathviksouvik Yes,my elder brother,too,used to say so.He too was a Mukesh fan,but used to admit that Rafi was better and more,perhaps the most versatile playback singer of our country.
@else34 (13515)
• New Delhi, India
26 Apr 16
@sathviksouvik Exactly.That's exactly what my elder brother used to say.
@sathviksouvik (23236)
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26 Apr 16
@else34 Thanks Jaishankarji for the comments. Mukesh had great command on pathos based songs. But he had his limitations. Rafisahab could sing any type of songs.
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@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
7 May 16
Thats a very nice picture, Shakti Samantha, Shankar Jaikishen and Sharmila Tagore..probably on the sets of An Evening in Paris 
. I would say Mohammad Rafi is one of the greatest singers of Indian cinema along with Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey ..In fact all the old singers were special in their own way - Mukesh, Talat Mehmood or Hemant Kumar..
. I would say Mohammad Rafi is one of the greatest singers of Indian cinema along with Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey ..In fact all the old singers were special in their own way - Mukesh, Talat Mehmood or Hemant Kumar..@sathviksouvik (23236)
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8 May 16
Thanks Kiranji for the comments. It is the image of recording of the song "aasman se aya farishta" in the film An Evening in Paris. Sharmila was singing with Rafisahab.
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@sathviksouvik (23236)
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8 May 16
@kiran8 Thanks Kiranji for the comments, Yes you guessed it right.
@avi256 (8515)
• Pune, India
24 Apr 16
I feel Kishore Kumar was more versatile singer.
I agree that Rafi was one of the greatest of his times, but Kishore to me was more connecting and moreover he gave voice to Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan and I liked those songs more.
Further, Kumar Sanu too was a great singer.
@sathviksouvik (23236)
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25 Apr 16
Dear Avinashji, thanks for the response. Kishore Kumar was a great singer, actor, dancer and multi-talented personality. But his success story is more in the 1970s and 1980s. When it came to classical singing, the ghazal creators, were hindustani classical creators were dependent on Rafisahab and to some extent Manna Dey sahab.
Regarding Kumar Shanu, he can be compared with the other singers of his time, that is 1990s, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, and others. Rafisahab belonged to a different age. But Shanu's contribution in 1990s, the last decade of the entire 19th century. Rafisahab, Mukeshji, Kishoreji, Manna Dey sahab, Talat Sahab contributed for more than 40 years from India's independence.
@avi256 (8515)
• Pune, India
25 Apr 16
@sathviksouvik Yes Rafi was greatest as far as classical singing was concerned.
I like Kishore Kumar more because the kind of songs he sang were more dear to me.
He was not a trained singer, but still managed to touch the chords with audience.
Kumar Sanu follwed Kishore Kumar style but was phenomenal in 90s.In the new generation, I guess there are lots and lots of singers and its tough to say this is the best from current lot.
However Arijeet Singh, Toshi, Mithoon etc look promising.
