Mohammed Rafi His Voice My Choice

This book contains author's selected songs on various actors,music directors,co singers and lyricist including theme based songs. It also contains brief biography of Mohammed Rafi and few data base.

Sujata Dev, an entrepreneur with a background in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics, and over 20 years’ experience in the Media and Entertainment industry, started the first IPTV venture in India. A speaker at several seminars and forums on M&E, Telecom and Economics worldwide, her research and white papers on the convergence of Telecom and Entertainment have been widely appreciated across Asia, Europe and USA. In 2009, she represented India at Asia Women’s Business and Economic Conference, Tokyo. A recipient of the Global Indian Achiever’s Award, in 2011, she is also Managing Director, Third Generation Mobile Pvt. Ltd., Co-chairperson, National Committee of M&E, ASSOCHAM, Founder Member & Senior Vice President, Indian Broadband Forum, member of Executive Council, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) & Society Member of the Governing body, IIM, Shillong. Passionate about music—Indian and Western—Sujata has been a fan of Mohammed Rafi since her childhood. This book is her tribute to the legendary playback singer whose songs have marked our growing-up years. Talking Points Authorized biography of legendary singer Mohammed Rafi Foreword by Dilip Kumar Rare insight into the subject’s life and his music Several contemporaries speak on the legend Photographs from the subject’s personal archives Free documentary film with close to 50 people including composers, lyricist, actors, singers and contemporaries speaking on Rafi Worldwide readership/market Cinema buffs, music lovers and teachers, composers, singers, music conductors, lyricists, film historians, students, special-edition collectors, libraries, museums, cultural and educational institutions, general-trade readers.

A collection of articles and memoirs from those who loved the legendary Hindi playback singer Mohammed Rafi

The seven letters in Naushad’s name are like the seven notes of Hindustani classical music. After just a few years in films, Naushad (1919-2006) went to rule the Hindi cinema music world for around two decades, beginning with the landmark Rattan (1944). His oeuvre (from 1940 to 2005) consists of an unmatched list of jubilees, many of which are musical milestones such as Andaz (1949), Baiju Bawra (1952), Mother India (1957) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960). No individual stays supreme without putting in tremendous efforts to reach the pinnacle and to stay there as long as possible, as our maestro did. And no composer probably moved so cleverly, behind the scenes, than did Naushad to sustain his hold on the public imagination. Although we continue to marvel at the incredible variety of his mellifluous creations that have withstood the test of time, how little most of us know about Naushad the man. Renowned song historian Raju Bharatan fleshes out the real Naushad – his triumphs and tragedies – bringing into play more than 50 years of personal interaction with the tuneful titan. In the process, the author makes the book more sparking with a string of anecdotal gems. For instance: • How Naushad and his contemporaries despite their professed bonhomie, were fiercely competitive (both musically and monetarily) in their attempts to occupy the ‘top spot’. • How many days of rehearsal were needed for some of the Baiju Bawara masterpieces? • How the immortal compositions of Mughal-e-Azam were recorded in a studio no better than a tin shed. This volume also throws new light on the relations and interactions between Naushad and his singers (especially Suraiya, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum); his songwriters (mainly D.N Madhok, Shakeel Badayuni and Majrooh Sultanpuri); and his ‘unsung’ instrumentalists (some of whom were geniuses in their own right).

From playing a rare instrument to asking Rajiv Gandhi intimate questions to practising dolphin dives to hanging out of a running train in the middle of the night to witnessing a world record to being caught in a flood of sambar to learning kung fu with mosquitoes to becoming the inventor of capris to seeing Rama and Arjuna together in the forest to being misled about the Wodeyars to making magnets to eating blades to robbing libraries to planning a borewell.. Well, this book is simply putdownable. After every chapter, you'll be compelled to put it down and pick up your own childhood again.

In this award-winning novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Nothing is sacred in this deliciously irreverent, witty, and deeply intelligent retelling of modern Indian history and the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata. Alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving, it is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that satirically, but also poignantly, chronicles the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.

The Hindi film song has held millions spellbound for nearly eight decades. In this unputdownable ‘labour of love’, India’s leading film song historian, Raju Bharatan, delves deep into his treasure trove to tell us how singing is all about romancing, how composing is all about feelings, how the twain, stardom and songdom, do meet to make the vintage film number a part of the nation’s psyche. He reconstructs song happenings over the last sixty years or so to condense the emotion and passion going into legendary star hook-ups, showing us how with the pairing comes the vibe, with the vibe comes the tune, and with the tune unfolds cinema that is a ‘Madhuballad’ all the way. This volume also describes the creative inputs of music directors, lyricists and singers that go into the making of a Hindi film song. It is a compendium that no one can afford to miss! Raju Bharatan is popularly recognized as the last word on film music in India – as the only one physically there ‘on the scene’ through the decades. His knowledge of Hindustani cinesangeet is matched only by his grip on Indian cricket. He now packs fifty years of musical lore into a work sure to command a niche on your bookshelf.