HIS MAJESTY’S VOICE
By A
Among the many boisterous fast songs sung by Mohd. Rafi Sahab, one song stands out as kingly as any can be. That song is the title song from the film RAAJKUMAR – Jaane Wale Zara Hoshiyar Yahan Ke Hum Hain Raajkumar. The song is picturised on the return of the prince to his kingdom from studies abroad and is so wonderfully picturised that one feels totally immersed in the sequence of events. Shammi Kapoor, the prince is atop a fully bedecked royal elephant, what with an entire band of trumpeteering band and scores of royal guards and aides in attendance. The setting is perfect for a royal entourage – the costumes, the glittering ornaments, the perfect lyrics and the fast paced music. The icing on the cake is once again the magical and shahanshahi rendering by Rafi Sahab. “Hoshiyaar, Hoshiyaar” echoes through the vast surroundings and through the entire route that the princely journey takes the viewers along. There is this ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude and a subtle message for the world that when a prince is taking a walk, the lesser beings beware. And lest anyone undermine the ‘king in the making’, he yells “Yahan Ke Hum Hain Raajkumar”. The subjects are reminded that the royalty affords him the centre-stage and that he has armies in front and at the back.
The first stanza proclaims that their ‘prince’ has toured the world and knows the “American” and “European” misdemeanors well enough. And dares anyone to come forward to test and be conquered. “Saari Duniya mein apni jaykaar” the prince emphatically declares. The second ‘antara’ gives the message that youthfulness and romanticism is with HIM alone and that HIS life story is fully colourful. The flow of masti and enjoyment is found in all the syllables and notations. The mood is of exuberance and celebration. One would notice that the frequent shouts of “OYE OYE” is there in all the three stanzas, but reaches a crescendo in the final stanza, where instead of these, the prince shouts it differently and in a reverberating fashion. The throwing of words in such ‘THHAT” and “DHOOM” cannot be found in any other song in such majestic manner. The prince has arrived and a future ‘KING’ is identified. LONG LIVE THE KING. LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTIC VOICE. That is Mohammed Rafi Sahab who cannot be replaced with anyone else when it comes to proclaiming one’s kingdom. The territory is well defined and he is the master of his subjects. And a king who is revered by his subjects, loved by the royalty and his royal army.
The song is therefore among the number one spot by all standards when it comes to boisterous and royal attitude. Take the other hits from the films of Shammi Kapoor – for instance the Junglee “Yahoo” (full throated yelling at the very best) and An Evening in Paris number – Aasman Se Aya Farishta (again the opening lines roaring from the sky above). They and many other songs are so highly placed songs that no singer would even dare to come near them, leave alone rendering them in such high voltage. But, this royale song from Rajkumar has the combination of all the high pitch and fast paced notes and the princely air around it that it cuts the winner’s tape easily, relegating many from such clan to be only ‘good competitors’.
I have often felt deeply distressed after Rafi Sahab’s departure in 1980 and could never relish the songs that came afterwards sans his voice. We have everything in life - a family, a source of income, children, friends - yet somewhere something was always missing. And that missing link is the unfathomable and the golden voice of Rafi Sahab. Often my thoughts brought me to a popular Urdu couplet : “TERE BAGAIR
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