Mohammed Rafi, Bollywood's sweetest voice, is widely regarded as the greatest of all singers, past and present (and future!) Rafi began his illustrious career in the 1940s and by the early 1950s, thanks largely due to the composer Naushad and albums such as Deedaar (1951), Baiju Bawra (1953), Uran Khatola (1955), he had established himself as one of the country's top singers. And by the late 1950s, Rafi's Golden voice had scaled the playback-singing summit.

Mohammed Rafi reigned supreme throughout the 1960s singing for virtually all the major stars. Music by Shanker-Jaikishen played a major part in Rafi's success in this decade with popular soundtracks such as Junglee (1961), Professor (1962), Suraj (1966) and Brahmachari (1968). Despite this phenomenal success, Rafi's reign at the top was abruptly ended by Kishore Kumar in the early 1970s. Although a better trained and technically superior singer than Kishore, Rafi could only look on helplessly as he lost his position. Rafi's career suffered badly and this must have been a particularly distressing time, having dominated for so long and now losing out to a rival who wasn't even his equal! But to his credit, Mohammed Rafi bounced back during the twilight of his career (and life), winning both the Filmfare and National Award!