Was Mohd. Rafi victim of Bollywood conspiracies?

Story by ATV | Posted by Aasha Khosa | Date 31-07-2025

Mohammad Rafi

New Delhi

Was the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi, who sang iconic numbers like Aey Duniya ke Rakhwale.. and Mann tadpat hari darshan ko aaj.. a victim of Bollywood’s conspiracies and deliberately denied signing opportunities for nine years as claimed by Suresh Wadekar in a podcast?

Mohammad Rafi dominated the Bollywood as the sole male playback singer till sixties. However, his monopoly was interrupted by Kishore Kumar whose peppy numbers from Shakti Samant’s Aradhana, starring Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna became a rage.

In an interview, singer Suresh Wadekar claims that “Rafi sahab was deliberately sidelined to give a platform to some emerging singers.”

Mohammad Rafi with his wife Bilquis Rafi

Wadekar told BBC, “Just think, a great singer like Rafi sahab was not given a chance to sing for eight to nine years. The same people whom music directors used to give as examples, silenced him. Such a great artist, whom people call Allah Mian ki Gai, was made to sit at home.

"Rafi sahab sang better than those singers, but perhaps this was his biggest mistake. He was sidelined out of irritation with him."

However, according to published details of his life, Mohammad Rafi suffered a throat.

Rafi suffered from a throat infection for an extended period of time. During a brief period then, he recorded relatively fewer songs. Although his musical output was relatively low during this period, he did sing some of his best numbers then.

Mohammad Rafi with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Mohammed Rafi, who passed away due to a massive heart attack on this day in 1980, at the age of 55, has recorded over 25,000 songs mainly in Hindi and other Indian and foreign languages.

In 2001, Rafi was named as the "best singer of the millennium" by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine.

Rafi was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery and his burial was one of the largest funeral processions in India as over 10,000 people attended his burial.

The government of India announced a two-day public mourning in his honour.

When producer-director Manmohan Desai (who was a big fan of Rafi) and used him in numerous hit films, was asked to describe the voice of Rafi he remarked that "If anyone has the voice of god, it is Mohammed Rafi".

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His song Baharon Phool Barsao.. was voted the most popular Hindi song in a BBC Asia Network poll commemorating 100 years of Hindi Cinema.