Tum mujhe yun bhula na paoge, his caller tune instantly takes you back to 1970 and the Shammi Kapoor-Asha Parekh starrer Pagla Kahin Ka. “Is this his favourite Mohammed Rafi song?” you wonder, and Shahid Rafi points out that his father sang over a thousand songs, so it would be difficult to pick just one. “But this has been my caller tune forever,” he admits.

Mohd. Rafi never socialised, from the recording studio, he would head straight home to fly kites, play carrom and badminton with his children. Shahid, who accompanied his father on many shows, recalls travelling with him for two months in 1979, when Mohd. Rafi did half-a-dozen shows in Europe, six-seven in Canada, and 12-13 in the US. While in the US, being a huge fan of Muhammad Ali, he wished to meet the boxer. “Whenever he would fight, dad would leave everything and sit before the TV,” he reminisces.

A friend arranged a meeting with the boxing legend. “Since there was a three-day break, dad flew with my mother, uncle and me to Kentucky. Muhammad Ali was staying in the same hotel and came up to our suite,” Shahid recounts, sharing that during the 45-minute meeting, they had tea, chatted and clicked pictures. “Dad was introduced to ‘the Greatest’ boxer as Mohd. Rafi from India, a famous singer and a legend himself, and suddenly, pointing to him, Muhammad Ali said, ‘You Mohammed Rafi from India, I Muhammad Ali from US’,” Shahid smiles at the memory.

However, Mohd. Rafi never considered himself a legend or even a famous singer. He would say his voice was a gift from God, and believing pride goes before a fall, would tell his children to walk with their eyes down and head bowed. “He was a humble, down-to-earth, God-friendly man, perhaps that’s how when dad went on Hajj pilgrimage in ’70-’71. a maulana convinced him singing was haraam (a sin) in our religion,” informs his son.

Within a week of returning to Mumbai, Mohd. Rafi flew off to London which was like a second home. “After a few days, when my brothers spoke to him, dad stated he wanted to retire because singing was a gunah aur main Allah ko kya jawab doon. Fortunately, they were able to make him understand that since music had been a passion since he was a child, he was not trained in anything else. Without his voice, he had no other means of livelihood,” narrates Shahid.

Mohd. Rafi returned to Mumbai and sought senior composer Naushad Ali’s advice on the matter. “Naushad saab reiterated what my brothers had said, pointing out that God had given him a golden voice and he should use it well. Finally, dad returned to the studios,” says Shahid, recalling Naushad recounting that a man on the death row when asked his last wish, had requested that O duniya ke rakhwale from Baiju Bawra be played before he was hanged and his wish was granted.

He reminds you that his father was the ‘voice’ of Shammi Kapoor and the musically inclined actor was usually in the studio during a recording, telling the singer how he wanted him to render the song. Once he was not around, but when the song was played to him, he was amazed at how accurately Mohd. Rafi had visualised him enacting An Evening in Paris’s exuberant Asmaan se aaya Farishta. “How did you do it?” he wondered, and the singer retorted, “I asked them whom they would be filming on, and when told it was Shammi Kapoor, I just had to imagine you throwing ek haath idhar, ek laath udhar, kicking one leg this way and the other leg, the opposite direction,” Shahid laughs.

He didn’t visit the recording studio often, but on occasions, his mother would send him across with a flask of garam chai (tea) or something else. On his last visit, to Mumbai’s Film Centre Studio, he heard Mohd. Rafi recording Poocho na yaar kya hua from Rishi Kapoor and Padmini Kolhapure’s Zamaane Ki Dikhana Hai which released on December 30, 1981. The previous year, on July 31, Mohd. Rafi, 55, suffered a fatal heart attack. “Dad had diabetes, he tried to control it, but it was too late,” Shahid sighs.

What does he remember his father by today? “You remember someone who has gone away, but he is always in my heart. Tum mujhe yun bhula na paoge is an apt song for dad who remains unforgettable not only because of his songs, but also because he was a wonderful human being,” Shahid signs off.