Track Record

The six songs were supposed to be part of the soundtrack of a movie,Sorry Madam by director Dilip Bose,who had earlier made films like Chandi Ki Diwar,Sansar,Thokar,Sikka,and Badnaam. While the music,composed by Chitragupta featuring Rafi in most of the duets and the solos was ready by 1979,the shoot for the movie,a re-make of a hit Bengali film by the same name,was to be completed in a year’s time. But post the preliminary shoots in 1978-79,the film got shelved when Bose’s wife passed away. The music spools had been lying with the family since and finally,the youngest son,Bobby Bose,acquired the rights of the songs and decided to put it out on the public domain.

“The songs were composed over three decades ago and as soon as we came to know of their existence we thought it was an album that should be made available to the public,particularly to the scores of Rafi fans across the country,” says Rajeeta Hemwani,Vice President,Content,A and R,Universal Music.

For both Bose and the Srivastavas,the songs bring back some wonderful memories. Bose talks of Rafi’s touching humility. “He was not just an exceptional singer,but a wonderful human being as well,” he says. Anand Srivastava talks of the rehearsal sessions. “Usually all the rehearsals at our place would start at 8 am. Rafi sahab was extremely punctual. He would arrive at five minutes to eight and park his Fiat a few bungalows away. At exactly a minute to eight,he would ring the door-bell and come in. He never drove himself and was always accompanied by his brother-in-law Zahir,who would take down the lyrics in Urdu. Rafi sahab never sang more than once in the practice sessions,and always in a very low tenor. At the pre-recording at the studio though,he would totally change. He put in such passion in each song you would wonder where all the energy and the nuances came from,” says Anand. Let Rafi’s music play,once again.