Rafi Arun Gautam has a fairly good reason to dislike the remark made about Mohammad Rafi, the legendary Bollywood singer, in the recently released film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil . A single line of dialogue spoken by the film’s lead actress, Anushka Sharma, about Rafi — woh gaate kam aur rote jyada the (he sang less and cried more) — has deeply offended Rafi fans like Gautam. They have staged protests in both Mumbai and Delhi.

In the film, Sharma makes the remark after Ranbir Kapoor, who plays an aspiring singer, tells her that he has a voice like the late Rafi’s. According to Gautam, the remark is far from the truth.

“The fact is that Rafi sa’ab had a particularly cheerful disposition. In fact, once HMV wanted to bring out an album of sad songs sung by him. But they could not find a single photo of him looking sad. They even sent a photographer to capture him in a sad mood, but despite trying all day they did not succeed. Finally, they had to use a picture of him smiling,” says Gautam, who had organised the protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi earlier this month in which posters of the film were burnt and speeches made against the director Karan Johar’s alleged bias against Rafi. Even a year ago Gautam had organised another protest demanding a Bharat Ratna for Rafi. “That one was better attended as people came from all over India,” he says.

He cultivates his network of Rafi fans assiduously. Apart from running a WhatsApp group with around 150 members, who meet in the Capital regularly, he also visits fans in other cities whenever possible. He also maintains good relations with Rafi’s son, Shahid, who lives in Mumbai.

Every year, on Rafi’s birthday as well as on his death anniversary, he visits the singer’s house, which also doubles as a museum.

Shahid, meanwhile, has not taken too kindly either to the remarks made in ADHM and has demanded a public apology from Johar. He also wanted the scene removed from the film. However, Johar is yet to respond to these demands.

Shahid, who performs regularly on the stage, has sung for only one Bollywood film, Gautam says. Trivia like this about the late singer and those associated with him is what he revels in narrating.

Gautam works in the human resources department at the Delhi headquarters of a public sector unit. His love for Rafi spills over into his workplace too. Pictures of the singer adorn his desk.

At his home, there are pictures of Rafi covering the walls of his living room as he holds forth on the maestro. Behind him, a plaque hangs on the wall. It is the Rafi Ratan Award, which was presented to Gautam last year at Kamani auditorium in Delhi by the Rafi Foundation Memorial Society. Two record players flank the room — one of them plays the rare 78 RPM records. The room also contains almost everything Rafi sang, be they in records, tapes or CDs, along with rare film magazines and other memorabilia featuring the singer.

Anecdotes pour forth. Gautam says that the director Manmohan Desai sidelined Kishore Kumar after a fallout in the ’70s and used Rafi as the voice for Amitabh Bachchan with stupendous success in several films. However, Rafi maintained his friendship with Kumar and played a crucial role in getting his ban (imposed on the latter by All India Radio during the Emergency) revoked by speaking to Indira Gandhi. “He was a great human being,” says Gautam, showing a picture of Kumar and Rafi together after the ban was removed, with the former looking suitably grateful, even as Rafi seemingly shrugs it off by grinning widely. Gautam points out that Rafi also sang a song after Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated and it touched the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, greatly. “Nehru insisted that Rafi should sing the song ‘Suno Suno O Duniya Walon’ at the Independence Day celebrations the next year,” says Gautam.

Ultimately, Gautam says, it was the question of maintaining Rafi’s legacy in the right spirit that led him to organise the protest. “Today’s generation has not really heard of him. If their introduction to him is through ADHM , they are unlikely to try him. This is what we don’t want.”

However, not all Rafi fans agree that a film can damage Rafi’s legacy.

Zafar Shah, who owns a record shop in Old Delhi is also a huge fan and, like Gautam, he possesses almost all the 5,000-odd songs that Rafi sang.

He is friends with Shahid Rafi, too. Nevertheless, he did not participate in the protest organised by Gautam, despite being invited. “I do not think it matters so much what they said in the film. It is one character’s opinion and does not necessarily say what Johar believes. Rafi’s legacy is over and above one film.”

Abhimanyu Kumar is a freelance journalist living in New Delhi

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