Down Melody Lane

When eminent composer Madan Mohan passed away 30 years back on this day,his friend,playback singer Mohammad Rafi,was quite heart-broken. The two had created magic with compositions like Tum jo mil gaye ho and Ab tumhare hawale watan sathiyon,and the singer took the news hard. “He shared a beautiful friendship with my father,” says Mohan’s son Sanjeev Kohli,53,who is planning to pay tribute to Rafi on his death anniversary,by releasing two unreleased songs of the singer,composed by his father. “It’s a tribute to their friendship and to the man who was more like a family to us,” says Kohli,who had released an album called Tere Begair last year that had 15 unreleased tracks sung by Lata Mangeshkar,Talat Mehmood,Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar. He will release Rafi’s songs on http://www.madanmohan.in — a website created by him.

“I found spools of unreleased tapes in my father’s cupboard long back. They are from films which never released. But since I was busy handling my corporate career,it took me some time to go through them. I am glad that these song are finally reaching people,” says Kohli. The first song Ya Ilahi was recorded in late 60s. “It is sung in the inimitable Rafi style and has a playful note to it,” says Kohli. The second one,Har sapna ek din tute,is a philosophical number from the late 70s.

The master tapes had suffered some damage but Kohli has tried his best to remove the static from them. This has been done by adding some supportive music to the original recording. Kohli screened a 22-minute film on Rafi and his father in Kolkata on July 31.