Story Of The Lost Rafi Song ‘Dukh Sukh Ki Har Ek Mala’

This is the story of a rare Rafi version of the song “Dukh Sukh ki har ek mala”. This is a tale of the battle of egos of two movie industry stalwarts  Chetan Anand (director) and Rahul Dev Burman (composer) and the magnanimity, professional ethics of the legendary playback singer, Mohammed Rafi.

The song “Dukh sukh ki har ek mala” was composed by Rahul Dev Burman as the title song for the Chetan Anand-directed film “Kudrat” which was released in 1981. Starring Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Raaj Kumar, Priya Rajvansh, and Vinod Khanna in key roles, Kudrat was a story of love, reincarnation, and revenge. Kudrat weaves a thrilling tale of unresolved love seeking closure across lifetimes.

This song, “Dukh sukh ki har ek mala” was written by Qatil Shifai and was the only song in the movie penned by him. The remaining songs were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri

Rahul Dev Burman wanted to record this song in the voice of a newcomer Marathi playback singer  Chandrasekhar Gadgil, who had lent his voice to a few Marathi albums by then but was new to the Hindi music industry. On the other hand, Chetan Anand was adamant that no one could generate the necessary pathos better than Mohammed Rafi for this song

After a few days of convincing and cajoling by R D Burman, Chetan Anand agreed to listen to Chandrashekhar Gadgil and finally approved his voice for the song. The song which included four stanzas was finally recorded in Gadgil’s voice

But a few days later, Chetan Anand had second thoughts and insisted that the song be recorded in Rafi’s voice. By then, R D Burman had used the voice of Kishore Kumar for almost all the songs of Kudrat and was thus reluctant to approach the legendary Mohd Rafi for just one song. Also, as a composer, he thought that Gadgil’s voice suited the song better.

On Chetan Anand’s continuous insistence, R D Burman re-recorded the song in the voice of Mohammed Rafi who was unaware of the previous recording. After having recorded three stanzas of the song, when Rafi Sahab took a tea break, he overheard people talking about a previous recording of the song. Taken aback by this information, Rafi Sahab immediately spoke to R D Burman to confirm about the previous recording. RD acknowledged that there was a previous recording by a newcomer singer from Pune.

Rafi Sahab burst out at R D Burman “ Kyun mere haathon kisi naye kalakaar ki zindagi barbaad kar rahe ho?” (Why are you making me ruin the career of a newcomer singer?). He dropped the recording equipment and stormed out of the studio without singing the fourth stanza. The incident has been recounted by Chandrashekhar Gadgil on many occasions.

In the aftermath of this event, R D Burman continued to insist vehemently that the Gadgil version be retained for the song while Chetan Anand had decided that he would use the Rafi version for the screen.

R D Burman did not send the Rafi version to HMV (now Saregama music company) and retained the Gadgil version for the audio release and thus the Rafi version never got released in audio. But Chetan Anand retained the Rafi version of the song for the screen and thus the movie has the Rafi version which plays in the backdrop of the rolling of credits at the initiation of the movie.

The movie neither has the Gadgil version nor is he credited in it even though he is credited in the music album. Gadgil went on to sing for R D Burman in a few other movies including Ashanti (Shakti de Maa), Manzil Manzil (Mann Re Pyar Hari Ke), Harjaee (Mee Raksam), Mazdoor (Roti Kapda), and a few others. Apart from “Shakti de Maa“, this remains Chandrashekhar Gadgil’s only other hit in Hindi movies. Due to the proximity of his voice to another popular playback and bhajan singer, Narendra Chanchal, Chandrashekhar Gadgil never got his due in Hindi music.

To date, the Rafi version of the song is not available in audio from Saregama or any other music company. The song came to the fore in recent years due to the efforts of a few Bollywood and music buffs who have retrieved this music from the video of the movie and shared this over the internet.

In the battle of egos, fans of the legendary Rafi were deprived of this gem for years. Sadly, the legend left for his heavenly abode a few months after this recording.

Find the video for this article with the rare Rafi song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZWEuVws8JI