Mohammed Rafi

Mohammed Rafi sits in that rare tier of voices that essentially carried an entire film industry from behind the curtain. Six Filmfare wins, a National Film Award, and a Padma Shri only hint at the scale of it. What genuinely floors me is the elasticity: peppy numbers, patriotic anthems, aching laments, romantic ballads, qawwalis, ghazals, bhajans, all delivered with command. Over four decades after his death in 1980 he remains beloved across the subcontinent, which is the truest measure of an artist. Voices that cross borders and languages to lodge in people's hearts deserve real reverence, and Rafi earned every bit of it.

Name (English)

Mohammed Rafi

Name (Japanese)

モハンマド・ラフィ

Reading

もはんまど・らふぃ

Born

December 24, 1924 – July 31, 1980

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Rat

Origin

Kotla Sultan Singh, Punjab, India

Occupation

singer / musician / composer / film actor / playback singer

Awards & achievements

• 1967 Padma Shri in arts
• 1977 National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1960 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1961 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1964 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1966 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1968 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer
• 1977 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer

• Official sitehttp://www.mohdrafi.com
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed%20Rafi
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A2%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A1%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q156815

Tags

• Punjab
• singer
• musician
• composer

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.