Naushad Ali
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Age: The count stopped at 86
Claim to fame: One of the greatest music composers of the Subcontinent
For the last six decades, his was a presence that none could ignore. The music he made stirred the heart and soul of all who heard it but now it is silent forever. Naushad, the undisputed doyen of great Indian film music is no more. He passed away on May 5, at the age of 86, making melodious music till the end. His last composition was for the recently released Taj Mahal.
Naushad’s saga was a real rags-to-riches one. He had learnt music from Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb. He repaired harmoniums and composed for amateur theatricals in Lucknow before running away from home to pursue his dreams in Mumbai in the late 1930s. He had to live for several days on the footpaths of Mumbai before making it to the recording studios. While lying on the footpath, waiting for sleep to come, Naushad would dream of seeing movies with his music compositions screened in the theatre across the street. When his film Baiju Bawra was premiered in Mumbai, the now famous music director is reported to have cried seeing his dream come true.
Prem Nagar (1940) was his first film but he got noticed with Sharda (1942). Awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1981 for lifetime contribution to cinema, he churned out hit after hit in the 1940s in films like Shahjahan, Dard, Dillagi, Dulari, Anokhi Ada, Barsaat and Andaaz. During a career spanning six decades, he composed music for 67 films, half of which went on to become major money-spinners. Naushad’s major hits include the songs of Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Ganga Jamuna, Kohinoor and Pakeeza. He enjoyed great success in the 1950s and 60s, and pioneered the introduction of Indian classical music into film songs and many of his compositions were inspired by ragas. He had slowed down in the last two decades due to ill-health.
Naushad was the first and perhaps only music composer of Hindi cinema whose name appeared before the actors in the credits of some of his movies. He chose his assignments very carefully. And once he selected a project, any interference from the producer or any other member of the unit was unimaginable — Naushad was the undisputed king. As early as 1950, Naushad was the first to charge Rs100,000 for a film, plus, Rs10,000 for the orchestra! Naushad was also the first to combine the flute and clarinet with the sitar and mandolin, as well as the first to introduce song mixing and separate recording of voice and music in playback singing. He introduced western-style orchestras in the songs of the epic films of the era. Naushad was also adept at playing most of the instruments and he composed on a piano.
He constantly experimented with his sound and voices. To Naushad, K.L. Saigal was the ultimate singing star, while Mohammad Rafi was his favourite male singer, and in females Lata Mangeshkar was always his first choice. Naushad’s music also featured in numerous films of thespian Dilip Kumar and the songs penned by Shakeel Badayuni.
Naushad’s only Filmfare Award was, not strictly for the entire score of Baiju Bawra, but for the Lata-Rafi Tu Ganga kii mauj Bhairavi duet. The Padma Bhushan came to him a full 25 years after Lata Mangeshkar was decorated with this honour, after her 1967 silver jubilee. It was a surprise to everyone and a shock to Naushad when Shanker-Jaikishan’s Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960) stole the Filmfare Best Music Award from right under the nose of Mughal-e-Azam. The greatness of this maestro with the Midas touch lies not in the awards he received but in the immortality he has achieved in his enduring compositions that will ring in the ears of music lovers till eternity. — S. Salman Younus
Nostalgic about Naushad
SATISH CHOPRA The Hindu May 4, 2012
If a dispassionate history of the evolution and development of Hindi film music gets written, Naushad Ali's name will certainly find a pride of place. This Saturday, on Naushad's sixth death anniversary, one doffs off one's hat to the maestro for the enormous contribution he made to creative music in Hindi films.
Son of a munshi, Naushad was born on December 25, 1919, in Lucknow. He had a keen interest in music right from childhood and negligible interest in studies. Against the wishes of his parents, he moved to Bombay in 1937.There, he met Ustad Jhande Khan, a film composer, and became his assistant for the film ‘Sunehree Makree' and got to compose his first song, ‘Kyon dil deewana hain, akal se begana.' Sadly, the film was never released. The following year, he got the opportunity to assist composer Mushtaq Hussain Khan for the films ‘Nirala Hindustan' and ‘Pati Patni.'
In 1939, Naushad joined the film production company, Ranjit Movietone, as an instrumentalist under music directors Manohar Kapoor and the legendary Khemchand Prakash for ‘Aakhein' and ‘Ghazi Salauddin,' respectively. Manohar Kapoor was also the composer for the Punjabi film ‘Mirza Saheban,' produced by D.N. Madhok, the renowned lyricist. During the film's making, Madhok recognised Naushad's talent and recommended him to Seth Chunni Lal Shah, the proprietor of Ranjit Movietone, as a composer for his next film ‘Kanchan.'
The first song for ‘Kanchan' — ‘Bata do mujhey kaun gali gaye Shyam' was filmed on actress Leela Chitnis. Owing to artistic differences, Naushad left the film in the middle.
The turning point
Naushad's turning point as a composer came after he met Mehboob Khan. He was recommended to Khan by producer and Khan's brother-in-law, A.R. Kardar. By then, Mehboob Khan had produced classics such as ‘Aurat' (1940) and ‘Roti' (1942) with music by Anil Biswas. After Khan and Biswas went their separate ways, it was Naushad who took Biswas's place and went on to lend an upward swing in his career graph by composing for ‘Mother India.' To give one more instance, the first year's royalty for the sale of gramophone records — its cost was Rs. two each then — of his super-hit film ‘Rattan' (1946) was over three lakh rupees, a huge amount then. The total production cost of the film was just Rs.75,000!
Naushad composed some memorable melodies for the films that followed — ‘Gayey ja geet milan ke,' ‘Dharti ko akash pukarey', ‘Mera dil todne wale' and ‘Ye zindagi ke mele.' And also numbers such as ‘Lagan more man ki, balam nahin jane,' ‘Panchhi bun mein,' ‘Na socha tha kya, kya ho gaya,' ‘Chhod babul ka ghar,' ‘Mera jeevan sathi bichhad gaya' and the beautiful duet of Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum, ‘Kisi ke dil mein rehna tha, to mere dil mein kuon aaye.'
There was another fabulous duet, ‘Miltey hi aankaein dil hua diwana kisi ka' from ‘Babul' (1950), sung by Shamshad Begum and Talat Mahmood. There is an interesting anecdote related to ‘Babul' which can give one an insight into Naushad, the man.
During the recording of a song, Talat smoked in the presence of Naushad. This annoyed Naushad so much that Talat never got to sing his songs! Among the films that helped his growth as a composer are ‘Dastan' (1950) and ‘Jadoo' (1951). In these films, for the first time he used a western orchestra in an outstanding manner. Though in later years, he preferred the purity of Hindustani music, some numbers from these films were singular in their approach. For instance, ‘Ye mausam ye tanhai', ‘Aye shamma tu bata' and ‘Nainon main preet hain', sung by Suraiya, were played on Radio Ceylon for many years as the signature tune for its programme ‘Aap ki Pasand.' In ‘Deedar' (1951), his two numbers — ‘Dekh liya maine, kismat ka tamasha dekh liya' and ‘Bachpan ke din bhula na dena' — had amazing use of the harmonium that enhanced the melody of the compositions.
Another milestone
‘Baiju Bawra' (1952) was a milestone in Naushad's career. The Hindustani classical-based music still sounds so fresh even after six decades. The alluring jal tarang support in ‘Jhoole main pawan se'was unique. Ustad Amir Khan's solo, ‘Tori jai jai ho kartar' and ‘Aaj gawat man maro jhoom ke', a duet between him and Pandit D.V. Paluskar, are benchmarks in Hindi film music. ‘Baiju Bawra' ran to packed halls for a record period of over 75 weeks. To celebrate its success, a grand function was organised at the Broadway Theatre in Dadar, where Naushad was felicitated. On stage, overwhelmed by emotions, he could utter just a few words, “It took me 16 years to come to this stage from the footpath, where I used to sleep when I first came to Bombay.” Another milestone in his career was ‘Udan Khatola' (1955). Though the film had nothing much to talk about by way of storyline or direction, the music of Naushad stood out.
Naushad's association with Mehboob Khan continued for many years, with films such as ‘Mother India', ‘Anmol Ghadi' and ‘Elaan.'Though Khan was a towering figure in the film world, Naushad never allowed him to interfere in his music. Once, in an interview, Naushad recalled, “When I recorded my first song for Mehboob's ‘Anmol Ghadi', the director asked Noor Jehan to change a note here, add a stress there. The next day I went to the sets where the song was being filmed After getting Mehboob's permission, I peered through it and asked the people to move a table to the left, a chair to the right. Mehboob caught me by the ear and said, ‘Your job is music, direction is my job.' I said that was the very admission I wanted from him -- his job was direction and not music. After that Mehboob never entered the recording room again.” The celebrated K. Asif's magnum opus ‘Mughal-e-Azam' was a celebration of great songs, opulent sets and a stellar cast. Undoubtedly, its music was one of the major factors for its stupendous success. Even to this day, music lovers hum ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya', ‘Mohabbat ki jhoothe kahani pe roye' and ‘Mohe panghat pe.' Naushad was an exceptional human being too, a noble poet at heart. Even though he lived well in later life, he never forgot his early days of struggle.
Naushad was bestowed a number of awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the Padma Bhushan and the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. In Naushad's story, one clearly comes across a message: if you know what your heart wants, the elements do conspire to make it true.
The royalty for the sale of gramophone records of Naushad's ‘Rattan' was over Rs. three lakhs. The total cost of the film's production was just Rs.75,000!
Complete filmography
As a composer
1940 Prem Nagar
1941 Darshan
1941 Mala
1942 Nai Duniya
1942 Sharda
1942 Station Master
1943 Kanoon
1943 Namaste
1943 Sanjog
1944 Geet
1944 Jeevan
1944 Pehle Aap
1944 Ratan
1945 Sanyasi
1946 Anmol Ghadi (music)
1946 Keemat
1946 Shahjehan
1947 Dard
1947 Elan
1947 Naatak
1947 Shadi Se Pahale
1948 Anokhi Ada (music)
1948 Mela
1949 Andaz
1949 Chandni Raat
1949 Dillagi
1949 Dulari
1950 Babul (music)
1950 Dastan
1951 Deedar (music)
1951 Jadoo
1952 Baiju Bawra
1952 Deewana
1953 Aan
1954 Amar
1954 Darwaza
1954 Shabab
1955 Bara-Dari (as Nashad)
1955 Shahzada
1955 Uran Khatola
1957 Mother India
1957 Bada Bhai
1958 Sohni Mahiwal
1959 Zara Bachke
1960 Kohinoor
1960 Mughal-E-Azam
1961 Gunga Jumna
1962 Son of India
1963 Mere Mehboob
1964 Leader
1966 Dil Diya Dard Liya
1966 Saaz Aur Awaaz
1967 Palki
1967 Ram Aur Shyam
1968 Aadmi
1968 Saathi (music)
1968 Sunghursh
1970 Ganwaar
1972 Tangewala
1972 Pakeezah (background songs, e.g. Kaun gali gayo Sham; Alap; Morey sajana sautan kay ghar...)
1974 My Friend
1975 Sunehra Sansar
1977 Aaina
1979 Chambal Ki Rani
1982 Dharam Kanta
1984 Paan khaye Saiyan Hamaar (music by)
1986 Love and God
1988 Dhwani
1989 Teri Payal Mere Geet
1990 Aawaz De Kahan Hai
1995 Guddu
2005 Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story
As a film story writer
1967 Palki
1989 Teri Payal Mere Geet
As a film producer
1950 Babul
1955 Uran Khatola
1958 Malik
