‘Asha Bhosle should have some shame at her age’: Mohammed Rafi’s son accuses ‘insecure’ Lata Mangeshkar of sabotaging dad’s career

Mohammed Rafi had a major feud with Lata Mangeshkar and her sister, Asha Bhosle. According to his son, the sisters tried to sabotage his career out of jealousy. He also said that he confronted Lata Mangeshkar about it before her passing.

Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle did not see eye to eye; he also had differences with her sister, Lata Mangeshkar.

Mohammed Rafi never asked for work in his career, even when his Bollywood colleagues were trying to derail it. His son, Shahid Rafi, directly accused Lata Mangeshkar and her equally celebrated sister, Asha Bhosle, of sabotaging Rafi’s career out of jealousy and insecurity. He also denied rumours of professional jealousy between his father and Kishore Kumar. In an interview with journalist Vickey Lalwani, Shahid said that the sisters actively tried to harm his father’s career and reputation; Lata Mangeshkar, he said, even intervened when he was about to win a Guinness World Records honour.

Shahid said that his father had no issues with male singers of his time, but it was a different matter altogether as far as the women were concerned. He said, “They were jealous that Rafi saab was on top of them; they wanted everyone to be below. People were calling him number one, and they didn’t like that. I heard somewhere that he was sitting at home for nine years and was depressed. Please! Just listen to any song he sang in the 1970s.” Shahid said that his father’s brief sabbatical was self-imposed, as a cleric had called him a sinner for singing. He later rejoined the industry after a couple of years.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi at a song recording. Express Archive

Singer Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi at a song recording. Express Archive

Directly accusing Asha Bhosle of saying that Rafi didn’t have range, Shahid continued, “I don’t have any qualms about saying this to their face, and I had told Lata ji as much before her passing. She claimed that his career was spiralling, and that he asked her to forgive him. He never said this. I can tell you that Lata ji said this, and two people came to dad and asked him to forgive her. So many other singers were coming up, including her own sister. And she was insecure. Tell me who was at the risk of having a downfall?”

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Shahid said that his father was at his peak in the 1960s. “He didn’t even have time for us in those days. I will never tolerate anybody speaking ill of my dad. I will not keep quiet, whoever it is. My father was my father, and I knew where he stood,” he said, adding that Lata Mangeshkar ‘intervened’ when he was about to receive an honour from the Guinness Book of World Records. He said that his father let the matter go when Lata received the honour at the last minute.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar, singer Mohammad Rafi and music director Chitragupta. Express Archive

Singer Lata Mangeshkar, singer Mohammed Rafi and music director Chitragupta. Express Archive

Circling back to Asha Bhosle’s alleged comments about Rafi lacking range, he said to her directly, “You are a learned person; have some shame. Not at this age. Put this! I’m telling her directly. Upar waala baitha hai. Mere baap ke baare mein koi kuch bolega toh mere se bardaasht nahi hota (God is seeing everything. I can’t tolerate anyone speaking ill of my father).” Addressing Asha again, he continued, “You’ve gone old, talk about yourself.”

In the same interview, Shahid said that his father and Lata Mangeshkar never spoke again personally, although he forgave her when advised to by Nargis and Jaikishan. They even performed a show together after patching up, but never had a personal relationship again. Honoured with the Padma Shri in the year 1967, Rafi died prematurely of diabetes and heart ailments in 1980. He was 55.

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