“It was in ‘62, when I was around 7, that Rafi sahab’s Teri Pyari Pyari Soorat Ko fell in my ears. That was love at first sight.” “Fortunately, that affair has still not dimmed,” he says.
“Whatever I’ve learnt, I’ve learnt by listening to him,” he admits, recollecting the one hour he’d spend every Wednesday, tuned into All India Radio as it played ‘Binaca Geetmala’.
For his first live performance in Kochi, he plans to introduce the city to the songs that line the edges of Rafi’s musical landscape, focusing on more obscure, underrated tracks.
Trusting his wife Sucheta as his biggest critic and sounding board, he is aware of his limitations and has no misgivings. “I know what I can do well and what I cannot do.”