Naushadji & Dilip Kumar, Simple & Sweet Options

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Naushad Ali-Dilip Kumar Filmography

If simiplicity is charm, then we can describe Naushadji’s music as very charming. It seems like he has done so much with so few instruments. An exponent of Hindustani music, his compositions always tapped the huge reservoir of the traditional music resources. From his struggling days in Bombay to a major music maestro he maintained that simiplicity in approach to music all his life. He never deviated from this path.

In a span of 65 or so years in the film industry, he composed roughly 70 films. By any yardstick this is not a huge number. But each one of those films were a work of art and charm. In an interview circa 1982, Naushadji said, "In my 62 years in the film industry, I composed music for 66 films. These days, you come across people who have done the music 200 films in two years. What I'm saying is that, we used to agonise over every tune and phrase in music, spend sleepless nights over a song, and work on it until it was perfected. And I am still looking for perfection." That commitment to perfection, that devotion to creating a lasting melodious tune were Naushadji’s drivers in his professional career.

Naushadji was recognized with several awards during his lifetime. These include Padma Bhushan, Filmfare award for Baiju Bawra (1952), Dadasaheb Phalke award, and Sangeet Natya Academy award.

Naushadji had a special relationship with Dilip Kumar saab. Professionally he composed for 15 films in which Dilip Kumar starred. Most of them were blockbusters. All of them had that charming music that was hallmark of Naushadji.

I happen to have the CD collection of all these films with Naushadji as composer and Dilip Saab as the actor. As time permits, in the coming weeks, I will try to share this music with the Forum membership.

The filmography of Naushadji and Dilip Kumar Saab is given in the following table. I will try to upload albums in the chronological order as they appear in the table below.

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Ram Aur Shyam (1967)

"Gunga Jumna" was the last major hit Dilip enjoyed until the release of "Ram Aur Shyam". With all the money spent, "Leader" could barely garner its investment back. "Dil Diya Dard Liya" met similar fate. Ironically the music by Naushadji was outstanding for both of these movies. Probably the commercial failure must have been irking in his mind when he was asked to compose the music for "Ram Aur Shyam". Here was a movie, first made in Telugu called "Ramudu Bheemudu" that was a runaway hit. It was remade in Tamil with equal success. When Dilipji was approached to play not one but two roles of twin brothers of the movie, he jumped at the opportunity to play a dual role for the first time in his career. When the movie was released and became a huge hit, the muisc didn't contribute much to its success. It was Naushadji's inferior effort. Yes. There are a couple of hummable tunes. But by and large it was not to the standard Naushadji set everybody's expections to.

Incidentally, Vyjayantimala was originally cast to play one of the heroines in the movie. Two weeks of the movie also was in the can. This was the time when Vyjayantimala was drifting away from Dilipji and moving towards Raj Kapoor's camp. This irritated Dilipji to no end. It was difficult to work for all those involved in the production given these circumstances. After sensing what is going on, Vyjayantimala quietly asked the producer to excuse her from the movie and have someone else cast in her role. The producer could see the problem and agreed. She was replaced by Waheeda Rehman and the production went without a hitch afterwards.

This is another movie which fetched Dilip Saab a best actor award from Filmfare. It was almost a routine to expect his winning if he was in a movie that year. This movie also inspired later "Seeta Aur Geeta" with male roles switched from twin brothers to twin sisters, played by Hema Malini. Salim and Javed took the credit for that story eventhough it was not their original idea.

Now for details of songs and songs themselves ...