I am incomplete without Rafi: Shammi Kapoor

By IANS,

Mumbai: Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor, some of whose most memorable songs like 'Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe' were in the voice of Mohammad Rafi, Saturday remembered the legendary singer on his 30th death anniversary and admits he is incomplete without Rafi.

"I am incomplete without Mohammad Rafi. I used to often go for the recoding of my song, which was sung by Mohammad Rafi, only because I used to like telling him how I would perform on this song on screen so that he can sing it that way. Even he liked my involvement," Shammi told reporters at launch of Mohammad Rafi Music Academy at Novotel Hotel here.

Rafi died July 31, 1980 of a heart attack.

"When I got to know about his demise, I was in tears. The person who actually came to me to give the news said that Shammiji, you have lost your voice," he added.

Music composers Pyarelal of music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji of Kalyanji-Anandji duo, Ravinder Jain, Udit Narayan, Bappi Lahiri, Adnan Sami, actor Dara Singh, Jagdeep Jackie Shroff and Rakesh Roshan were present in the occasion among others.

Actor Rishi Kapoor, who was also present on the occasion, said: "From the time of Shammi and Shashi uncle, I also had the good fortune to have him sing for me in films from 'Laila Majnu', 'Amar Akbar Antony' to 'Katilon Ke Katil'. I would like to quote (director) Manmohan Desai's line for Mohammad Rafi: 'If God had a voice, it would be Rafi's voice'."

Mohammad Rafi Music Academy is opened by Rafi's son Shahid Rafi and his wife Firdaus Shahid Rafi.

Representatives of families of legends from the Indian music industry like Raju Naushad (composer Naushad's son), Andalib Majrooh Sultanpuri (lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri's son) and Ruhan Mahendra Kapoor (singers Mahendra Kapoor's son) are on the academy's governing body.

"I am very happy to see that such an academy has been formed in his (Rafi's) name. There should be many academies made like this. If they need any help from me, I am always there to support them in whichever way possible," Pyarelal told IANS.