Mohammed Aziz Genre: World/Reggae, Film/Bollywood, India Hometown: India
After the death of the legendary Mohd. Rafi, the film industry went in a limbo
what with the golden voice deemed dead forever. Eighties was the time when
clones of Rafi made inroads. People still clamoured for that familiar voice and
there were Shabbir Kumar, Anwar and Mohammad Aziz who shared the spot light
after Rafi’s death. Especially Shabbir and Aziz.
Mohammad Aziz hails from Calcutta, same as Shabbir. He landed in Mumbai in 1984
with the mandatory reference from a producer’s relative. He had earlier made his
debut in a Bengali film called Jyoti followed by his first Hindi film Ambar in
1984. These were small films, which took him virtually nowhere.
Ironically Shabbir Kumar’s absence, his main competitor and a busy star then,
paved the way for Aziz’s roller coaster ride some five years after he landed in
the dream city. Anu Malik, the music director of Mard gave him a wee morning
call to urgently rush to Famous Studios. The song to be recorded was the
galloping success called ‘Mard Taangewala’ picturized on the superstar Amitabh
Bachchan.
A dream came true for Mohd. Aziz that day and he subsequently sang another for
Bachchan, ‘Tamboo Mein Bamboo’ which was another hit. Nothing succeeds like
success in filmdom and Aziz’s long repressed stardom came closer with recordings
with Asha Bhosle. The taunts and jeers were soon forgotten by everyone and his
repertoire soon consisted of Laxmikant – Pyarelal, R. D. Burman, Anu Malik and
others.
