FOREVER MOHD RAFI:
The daughter of Rafisaab remembers him:
Nasreen: My older siblings settled in London after their education and worked for some airlines company till they passed away some time back. Their families are now based in London. Our eldest sister Parveen lives with her doctor-husband in London. Shahid, Yasmin and I have settled in Mumbai.
I was 29 when dad passed away. That fateful day, some producers from Kolkata were in Mumbai to meet him to record for a Durga Pooja album in Bengali. Though he was not keeping too well, dad went ahead with the recording stating that the people had come all the way from Kolkata for his services. He decided to oblige them. No one was aware that he was in pain during the rehearsals. Later when he returned home, he was in a lot of pain and was sweating profusely. It was the month of Ramzan and he was fasting. He was sitting on the sofa when my mother noticed that his nails had turned blue and called the doctor who decided to shift him to hospital. He called us to his side and kissed us on our foreheads and said, “Mere liye dua karna.” Though in severe pain, dad walked down the stairs to his car. Just as the car started, he looked up and waved to us. He had suffered a very major heart attack and the end came soon after that.
When his funeral procession was on its way, all the roads of Bandra were blocked. The entire film industry had come to pay their last respects to a great singer. Only his favourite Shammi Kapoor could not make it as he was out of town. While last respects were being paid at the Mahim dargah, Raj Kapoor had priests performing a pooja outside the dargah for my dad.
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