Fact Check: Video claiming to feature the only English song sung by Mohammed Rafi at UN is FALSE

Mohammed Rafi is a popular Indian playback singer who sang predominantly in Hindi movies but he also sang songs in languages like Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, etc. No other singer has sung in as many languages as Mohammed Rafi had sung.

A video featuring an English song sung by Mohammed Rafi, with the lyrics of the song captioned is in circulation with the claim that it is the only English song sung by him and also that it was sung by him at the United Nations Organisation in the year 1970.

The claim is shared virally on Facebook.

This claim was viral in July 2023 on X (Twitter) too.

Fact Check:

The claim is Misleading. The playback singer not only sang songs in English but also in other languages like Persian, Dutch, and Creole. He sang 2 English songs.

When we searched for Mohammed Rafi’s performance at the UN, we found no links to confirm his performance. There is no record of the United Nations hosting the singer on any occasion.

According to the article in Scroll.in, when music composer Shankar-Jaikishen approached him to sing English numbers for a non-film music album in 1968, the singer was hesitant. Maverick actor-writer Harindranath Chattopadhyay, an ardent fan of the singer, wrote the lyrics. He convinced Rafi to take up the assignment, helping the singer perfect his diction for the recording. The two songs were Although we hail from Different Lands, based on the same composition as Baharon phool barsao (Suraj, 1966), and The she I love, based on the composition Hum Kaale Hain Toh Kya Hua (Gumnaam, 1965).

Here are the links to his English songs- song1, song2

Therefore, even though the playback singer of the yester years has sung songs in several languages including English, the song performance did not take place at the United Nations. Rafi sang 2 songs in English which were featured in non-film albums. The claim is Misleading.