Naushad: Composer Of The Century... Options

[SAJJAD]

Source: http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/may/08sl1.htm


Naushad: Composer of the century
Raju Bharatan, doyen of India's movie journalists, salutes a legend.

He was a colossus. That part is undeniable.

For so long was he a living legend, that Naushad Ali was the only composer (in Hindustani cinema) for whom both K L Saigal and Noorjehan sang. And sang with distinction, one in Kardar's Shahjehan, the other in Mehboob's Anmol Ghadi (both 1946).

"When Lata Mangeshkar first came to me," the composer observed, while showcasing Uthaye jaa unke sitam from Mehboob Khan's Andaz (left), "I never asked that will-o'-the-wisp to sing. I merely asked Lata, first, to recite the Majrooh (Sultanpuri) song-lyric 25, 30 times. Only after she had absorbed the essence of Urdu poetry in Uthaye jaa unke sitam did I cast it in the Kedara mantle for her to immortalise on Nargis."

Naushad somehow always identified the raag as Kedara, never as Kedar. It was befitting, therefore, that Lata handpicked the 1960 Mughal-e-Azam (left) track, Bekas pe karam kijiye Sarkar-e-Madeena, set in Kedara, among her '10 Best Ever' on the occasion of her silver jubilee in 1967.
Naushad made Suraiya stand on a stool for the 12-year-old schoolgirl's voice to be able to reach the microphone on her debut, Boot karoon main paalish baaboo (from A R Kardar's Nai Duniya in 1942). It was under him, likewise, in another A R Kardar songathon, Dastan (1950), that Suraiya vocally peaked with Mohabbat badhakar jooda ho gaye.

"It was as if the girl next door was singing in the case of Suraiya," pointed out Naushad. "This girl-next-door voice, her unique strength, is what I exploited in numbers like Chaar din kee chaandni thhee (Dillagi) and Nainon mein preeta hai (Dastan)."

Naushad acknowledged the peerless Shamshad Begum as having a super share in his meteoric rise to the number one position. Of Shamshad, he always said: "What transparency her voice had! Just savour how she comes through, under my baton, in Jab usne gesu bikhraaye (Shahjehan) and Gham ka fasaana kis ko sunayein (Mela).
It might sound odd that I have, so far, essentially touched upon Naushad's female performers first. Such an approach is made to grant Suhani raat dhal chuki's Mohammed Rafi his unique niche in Naushad's repertoire. This master composer first made both Mukesh (Andaz) and Talat Mahmood (Babul) sound surpassingly individualistic on Dilip Kumar.

Meanwhile, Naushad was, near clandestinely, getting Mohammed Rafi ready for the big leap. From his first Anmol Ghadi solo, Tera khilauna toota baalak (1946), to O door ke musafir on Dilip Kumar in Uran Khatola (1955), Rafi came a long, long way, once the Baiju Bawra (above) miracle happened in 1952.

Whether it be O duniya ke rakhwaale in Darbari, or Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj in Malkauns, or Insaan bano insaan bano in Gujjari Todi, Rafi first began scaling classical peaks, all his own, in the charismatic custody of Naushad, vocalising for Baiju Bawra Bharat Bhushan opposite Meena Kumari.

O door ke musafir from Uran Khatola, for instance, comes to us as in Raag Durga. "It was, initially, a Rafi ghazal in Raag Patdeep," revealed Naushad. "After recording it as a ghazal, I felt something missing in the finished piece. Everyone, including Dilip Kumar, felt it sounded rarely resonant as a ghazal in Rafi's voice. Actually, I ignored a litany of protesters in going ahead and re-recording the song. Rafi alone, after having worked really hard on the original ghazal, remained unaffected by it all. He instinctively deduced that something must have been amiss if 'Naushadsaab' wanted to record O door ke musafir afresh. He simply asked, 'When do I come for the rehearsal?'"


Whether it be singer Mohammed Rafi or song-writer Shakeel Badayuni, Naushad said he zeroed in on them because these were two men who could be trusted at all times to do it precisely the way he wanted it done.
"That is why," went on Naushad, "even in a 1954 Mehboob theme like Amar -- in which Lata is so predominant -- I saw to it that Rafi's only number was the theme song Insaaf ka mandir hai yeh Bhagwaan ka ghar hai. It is 'voiced over' on Dilip Kumar, but see the impact it made in Bhairavi. Try choosing between Rafi's (78-rpm) two-sided Insaaf ka mandir hai, in Bhairavi, and Lata's two-sided Khamosh hai khewanhaar mera, also in Bhairavi. You wouldn't be able to tell who excels whom."

It was during the scoring of Amar that I, obliquely, suggested to Naushad that C Ramchandra was being hailed as being on par with him in shaping the sad song as the piece de resistance in our cinema.

"Is that so?" wondered Naushad. His response was unmistakable as he brought Lata to us in the transcendental Yaman via Na miltaa gham to barbaadee ke afsaane kahaan jaate on Nimmi in Amar. C Ramchandra acknowledged Naushad's mastery, in this specialist segment of composing, when he fleshed out Lata's Mohe bhool gaye sanwariyaa (in Bhairav on Meena Kumari in Baiju Bawra) to be the calibre of Naushadian melancholy melody he wished he himself had composed.

Naushad was left a free bird by wife Aliya. This able lady took the entire family burden upon herself, so that Naushadmian could deliver in each film without fail. Being inside Naushad's Carter Road (in Mumbai's Bandra suburb) music room was an experience. The piano was there in a corner to remind you of how those Mukesh nuggets on Dilip Kumar, ranging from Hum aaj kahein to Tu kahe agar, came to be evoked in Andaz.

On the harmonium now, I urged Naushad to play, from Dil Diya Dard Liya, the Lata heart-holder, Phir teri kahaani yaad aayi (picturised on Waheeda Rehman). This was the song that was to inspire a Mahesh Bhatt telefilm of the same name.
"It's Maand, isn't it?" I asked. Naushad nodded gratified assent as I asked him to play a matching Lata Maand creation from M Sadiq's Shabab (1954). His spot pick was Jo main jaantee bisrat hai saiyyan on Nutan.

"But what about Mar gaye hum jeete jee from the same Shabab on the same Nutan?" I enquired. "Is it, in any way, a lesser Maand?"

"Put that way," remarked Naushad, "each one of my creations is my pet. Only I know how I have laboured to perfect each of these tunes. See how surpassingly I have Lata and Rafi harmonising in Man kee been matwaaree baaje from the same Shabab. Lata-Rafi come to you, here, in Basant."

"But, Naushadsaab, isn't Man ki been in Bahaar rather than in Basant?" I asked, daringly. 'Oh yes, it is," he replied, "now that you pinpoint the shading."

This was another great trait of Naushad's. A classical titan he doubtless was, yet he was always open to subtle correction. This is where the humility of the true achiever came in. Naushad would say it is the harmonium of Mohammed Ibrahim that did the trick for him in the Shabab quawwali by Rafi & Co, Mehalon mein rehne waale, set in compelling Shahana. Plus, always remember that Naushad was a past-master in background scoring, something he did so poignantly when Ghulam Mohammed fell ill while composing Pakeezah (above).

By this point, in 1971, as Naushad's films had begun failing in a stream during the 1960s, it was suggested, by envious rivals, that his stock was over.

"Is this a baniye ki dukaan (provisions store) or something for the stock to be over?" Naushad demanded. "Heroes and heroines change with generational advance and I am now in the process of adjusting to Rajendra Kumar from Dilip Kumar, among others."

See how Naushad crafted, in peerless Yaman, Ai ishq zara jaag tujhe husn jagaye, for Rajendra Kumar in Mere Mehboob (left). The beauty of being Sadhana, here, was brought home by the virtuoso voice of Rafi in Naushad's meticulous care. Talat Mahmood, for his part, could have been that eternal Naushad voice, hailing as he did, from this composer's native Lucknow.
"But I made the arrogant mistake of smoking in front of Naushad while recording my very first song for him, Mera jeevan saathee bichchad gaya, for Babul," Talat told me, his velvet voice full of remorse.

Manna Dey had the classical credentials to excel under Naushad. "But Manna's is a dry voice," Naushad insisted from the outset. "Rafi's vocals alone have the romantic resilience to underscore my music in all its subtle nuances."

Kishore Kumar fulfilled his lifetime's ambition when, at long last, he sang a duet, Hello, Hello, kya haal hai, with Asha Bhosle in Sunehra Sansar (1975). But his only song for Naushad was ultimately knocked out of the film!

There had been G M Durrani and Khan Mastana before but, for Naushad, once he stabilised the vocals of Rafi, it had to be this tenor almost all the way. By this stage in 1953, no film scored by Naushad was anything less than a silver jubilee hit. If it wasn't, it was a golden jubilee. Or a diamond jubilee.

Such was Naushad's aura that top distributors (financing producers) made it clear that the latter could only remain present at this master composer's recording. They could not speak while Naushad was recording!

As early as 1950, Naushad was the first to charge Rs 100,000 for a film. Plus, Rs 10,000 for the orchestra! See how it was the finesse in his orchestration that gave him a clear edge.

C Ramchandra and Husnlal-Bhagatram, Anil Biswas and S D Burman, Roshan and Madan Mohan, Salil Chowdhury and O P Nayyar, Khayyam and Jaidev (among others), composed some unforgettable music. But in trade circles, it was always understood that Naushad was a clear first among equals. Where others imposed, Naushad composed.

I never met a more composed creator in my 50 years on the movie beat than this 'Maestro with the Midas touch'. Never a harsh word by Naushad about any rival, he let his music do all the talking. And it did, near unfailingly, because Naushad keenly studied each script before scoring. He was no tunesmith manufacturing hit tunes.

"I can't carry my baaja to the singer's house," he would have me know. "At a social level, I'll call on my singer any number of times. But, for rehearsing, they all have to come here to my music room at Carter Road. Lata's Mohe panghat pe was not fashioned in Gaara just like that. Hours of fond labour went into minutely rehearsing the number."

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as a Cathedral and John Connon School (in Mumbai's Fort area) student, was on the Mughal-e-Azam sets as K Asif picturised this Mohe panghat pe Lata classic on Madhubala. "He couldn't take his eyes off Madhubala!" recalled Naushad.
To think that Anil Biswas was first scoring Mughal-e-Azam when it was titled by K Asif as Anarkali. To imagine that first Nargis (left, seen in Mother India, another Naushad classic), then Nutan, was to play Anarkali in the K Asif epic. Naushad came into the picture only with Madhubala. There is a destiny that shapes the final score of music composers. So that the one time Naushad felt defeated was when Shanker-Jaikishan's Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960) stole the Filmfare Best Music Award from under the nose of Mughal-e-Azam.

Naushad spoke up, addressing J C Jain as the influential general manager of the Times of India group. "Jainsaab," regretted Naushad, "It's okay, you have voted against my Mughal-e-Azam when this epic happens to be carrying my richest score in 20 years. I have only one point to make. After this, never let it be written, in any of your publications, why the standard of Hindi film music is going down."

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 in that trend-setting movie. The Padma Bhushan came to him a full 25 years after Lata Mangeshkar was decorated with this honour, after her 1967 silver jubilee.

"In honouring her, they have honoured me!" Naushad rationalised. "After all, I had some role to play in moulding her voice to Urdu perfection, didn't I?" When the Dadasaheb Phalke Award came to be bestowed upon Naushad, at last, for Lifetime Achievement in 1982, Khayyam, on the same New Delhi stage for the score of Umrao Jaan, felt somewhat diminished.

Khayyam had given Asha's voice a totally new hue on Umrao Jaan's Rekha. Whereas, with Naushad, Lata remained first choice. Though, in his later years, Naushad felt he had not been altogether fair to Asha.

But then, Naushad felt he had been unfair to Shamshad Begum too. When a Lata Mangeshkar happens, it happens. The final rounding to Naushad's quality music was given by Lata, on the one hand, and Rafi on the other.

When Malka-e-Tarannum Noorjehan returned to India after 33 years, it was under the baton of Naushad that she sang, solo, on the Shamukhananda Hall stage, the Awaaz de kahaan hai Pahadi duet from Anmol Ghadi. As Naushad orchestrated Noorjehan anew, the Jawaan hai mohabbat - Mere bachpan ke saathee Malka-e-Tarannum Anmol Ghadi effect was to be felt all over again.

Who but Naushad, in a like vein, could have brought Kundan Lal Saigal to us, via Shahjehan (1946), as Gham diye mustaqil (in Kaafi), Ai dil-e-beqaraar jhoom (in Bihag), Chaah barbaad karegee (in Bageshri) and Jab dil hi toot gaya (in Bhairavi)? To Naushad, K L Saigal remained the ultimate singing star, Mohammad Rafi, the ultimate ghost voice. He used over 50 female ghost voices in a career spanning 66 years, yet Lata's vocals ring supreme in his oeuvre.
From Mohammed Rafi to A Hariharan, Mughal-e-Azam to Taj Mahal, it is a long journey. A journey Naushad completed with matchless dignity, his grip on Urdu shairi making him an icon of icons on the podium.

When I presented Naushad with my biography on Lata Mangeshkar, he left me in no doubt of the fact that he had always expected me to do his life and times first. Now, the baton has passed. Yet, the Naushad image will endure. If only because his music remains timeless.

Timeless because, into just three minutes of the original gramophone record, he compressed the joy of a lifetime. It is no wonder that Madhubala (as indeed all others on the sets of Amar) burst into tears on first hearing the Yaman notes of Jaane waale se mulaquaat na hone paayee. Similar notes by Lata, on the same Madhubala, came to us in Mughal-e-Azam (left), as Khuda nigehbaan ho tumharaa.

"Allah is the only composer, call him Bhagwan, God, whatever you will," soliloquised Naushad as he turned 70. "From the footpath facing the Broadway cinema in Dadar, he lifted me to the skies. I did nothing. He did everything for me."

Sachin Dev Burman summed it up succinctly when he observed, "Quality, we all had. But it was from Naushad that we learnt the art of how to blend quality with popularity."

Was music an art or craft in Naushad's custody?

Hear Shamshad-Rafi from Chandni Raat as Chheen ke dil kyun pher lein aankhen, and you do not know where Rafi's art begins and Shamshad's craft ends.

You only know that Naushad is there, all over, turning film music into a near art form.

[Harjinder]

Source: http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/may/08sl1.htm


Naushad: Composer of the century
Raju Bharatan, doyen of India's movie journalists, salutes a legend.

He was a colossus. That part is undeniable.

For so long was he a living legend, that Naushad Ali was the only composer (in Hindustani cinema) for whom both K L Saigal and Noorjehan sang. And sang with distinction, one in Kardar's Shahjehan, the other in Mehboob's Anmol Ghadi (both 1946).

"When Lata Mangeshkar first came to me," the composer observed, while showcasing Uthaye jaa unke sitam from Mehboob Khan's Andaz (left), "I never asked that will-o'-the-wisp to sing. I merely asked Lata, first, to recite the Majrooh (Sultanpuri) song-lyric 25, 30 times. Only after she had absorbed the essence of Urdu poetry in Uthaye jaa unke sitam did I cast it in the Kedara mantle for her to immortalise on Nargis."

Naushad somehow always identified the raag as Kedara, never as Kedar. It was befitting, therefore, that Lata handpicked the 1960 Mughal-e-Azam (left) track, Bekas pe karam kijiye Sarkar-e-Madeena, set in Kedara, among her '10 Best Ever' on the occasion of her silver jubilee in 1967.
Naushad made Suraiya stand on a stool for the 12-year-old schoolgirl's voice to be able to reach the microphone on her debut, Boot karoon main paalish baaboo (from A R Kardar's Nai Duniya in 1942). It was under him, likewise, in another A R Kardar songathon, Dastan (1950), that Suraiya vocally peaked with Mohabbat badhakar jooda ho gaye.

"It was as if the girl next door was singing in the case of Suraiya," pointed out Naushad. "This girl-next-door voice, her unique strength, is what I exploited in numbers like Chaar din kee chaandni thhee (Dillagi) and Nainon mein preeta hai (Dastan)."

Naushad acknowledged the peerless Shamshad Begum as having a super share in his meteoric rise to the number one position. Of Shamshad, he always said: "What transparency her voice had! Just savour how she comes through, under my baton, in Jab usne gesu bikhraaye (Shahjehan) and Gham ka fasaana kis ko sunayein (Mela).
It might sound odd that I have, so far, essentially touched upon Naushad's female performers first. Such an approach is made to grant Suhani raat dhal chuki's Mohammed Rafi his unique niche in Naushad's repertoire. This master composer first made both Mukesh (Andaz) and Talat Mahmood (Babul) sound surpassingly individualistic on Dilip Kumar.

Meanwhile, Naushad was, near clandestinely, getting Mohammed Rafi ready for the big leap. From his first Anmol Ghadi solo, Tera khilauna toota baalak (1946), to O door ke musafir on Dilip Kumar in Uran Khatola (1955), Rafi came a long, long way, once the Baiju Bawra (above) miracle happened in 1952.

Whether it be O duniya ke rakhwaale in Darbari, or Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj in Malkauns, or Insaan bano insaan bano in Gujjari Todi, Rafi first began scaling classical peaks, all his own, in the charismatic custody of Naushad, vocalising for Baiju Bawra Bharat Bhushan opposite Meena Kumari.

O door ke musafir from Uran Khatola, for instance, comes to us as in Raag Durga. "It was, initially, a Rafi ghazal in Raag Patdeep," revealed Naushad. "After recording it as a ghazal, I felt something missing in the finished piece. Everyone, including Dilip Kumar, felt it sounded rarely resonant as a ghazal in Rafi's voice. Actually, I ignored a litany of protesters in going ahead and re-recording the song. Rafi alone, after having worked really hard on the original ghazal, remained unaffected by it all. He instinctively deduced that something must have been amiss if 'Naushadsaab' wanted to record O door ke musafir afresh. He simply asked, 'When do I come for the rehearsal?'"


Whether it be singer Mohammed Rafi or song-writer Shakeel Badayuni, Naushad said he zeroed in on them because these were two men who could be trusted at all times to do it precisely the way he wanted it done.
"That is why," went on Naushad, "even in a 1954 Mehboob theme like Amar -- in which Lata is so predominant -- I saw to it that Rafi's only number was the theme song Insaaf ka mandir hai yeh Bhagwaan ka ghar hai. It is 'voiced over' on Dilip Kumar, but see the impact it made in Bhairavi. Try choosing between Rafi's (78-rpm) two-sided Insaaf ka mandir hai, in Bhairavi, and Lata's two-sided Khamosh hai khewanhaar mera, also in Bhairavi. You wouldn't be able to tell who excels whom."

It was during the scoring of Amar that I, obliquely, suggested to Naushad that C Ramchandra was being hailed as being on par with him in shaping the sad song as the piece de resistance in our cinema.

"Is that so?" wondered Naushad. His response was unmistakable as he brought Lata to us in the transcendental Yaman via Na miltaa gham to barbaadee ke afsaane kahaan jaate on Nimmi in Amar. C Ramchandra acknowledged Naushad's mastery, in this specialist segment of composing, when he fleshed out Lata's Mohe bhool gaye sanwariyaa (in Bhairav on Meena Kumari in Baiju Bawra) to be the calibre of Naushadian melancholy melody he wished he himself had composed.

Naushad was left a free bird by wife Aliya. This able lady took the entire family burden upon herself, so that Naushadmian could deliver in each film without fail. Being inside Naushad's Carter Road (in Mumbai's Bandra suburb) music room was an experience. The piano was there in a corner to remind you of how those Mukesh nuggets on Dilip Kumar, ranging from Hum aaj kahein to Tu kahe agar, came to be evoked in Andaz.

On the harmonium now, I urged Naushad to play, from Dil Diya Dard Liya, the Lata heart-holder, Phir teri kahaani yaad aayi (picturised on Waheeda Rehman). This was the song that was to inspire a Mahesh Bhatt telefilm of the same name.
"It's Maand, isn't it?" I asked. Naushad nodded gratified assent as I asked him to play a matching Lata Maand creation from M Sadiq's Shabab (1954). His spot pick was Jo main jaantee bisrat hai saiyyan on Nutan.

"But what about Mar gaye hum jeete jee from the same Shabab on the same Nutan?" I enquired. "Is it, in any way, a lesser Maand?"

"Put that way," remarked Naushad, "each one of my creations is my pet. Only I know how I have laboured to perfect each of these tunes. See how surpassingly I have Lata and Rafi harmonising in Man kee been matwaaree baaje from the same Shabab. Lata-Rafi come to you, here, in Basant."

"But, Naushadsaab, isn't Man ki been in Bahaar rather than in Basant?" I asked, daringly. 'Oh yes, it is," he replied, "now that you pinpoint the shading."

This was another great trait of Naushad's. A classical titan he doubtless was, yet he was always open to subtle correction. This is where the humility of the true achiever came in. Naushad would say it is the harmonium of Mohammed Ibrahim that did the trick for him in the Shabab quawwali by Rafi & Co, Mehalon mein rehne waale, set in compelling Shahana. Plus, always remember that Naushad was a past-master in background scoring, something he did so poignantly when Ghulam Mohammed fell ill while composing Pakeezah (above).

By this point, in 1971, as Naushad's films had begun failing in a stream during the 1960s, it was suggested, by envious rivals, that his stock was over.

"Is this a baniye ki dukaan (provisions store) or something for the stock to be over?" Naushad demanded. "Heroes and heroines change with generational advance and I am now in the process of adjusting to Rajendra Kumar from Dilip Kumar, among others."

See how Naushad crafted, in peerless Yaman, Ai ishq zara jaag tujhe husn jagaye, for Rajendra Kumar in Mere Mehboob (left). The beauty of being Sadhana, here, was brought home by the virtuoso voice of Rafi in Naushad's meticulous care. Talat Mahmood, for his part, could have been that eternal Naushad voice, hailing as he did, from this composer's native Lucknow.
"But I made the arrogant mistake of smoking in front of Naushad while recording my very first song for him, Mera jeevan saathee bichchad gaya, for Babul," Talat told me, his velvet voice full of remorse.

Manna Dey had the classical credentials to excel under Naushad. "But Manna's is a dry voice," Naushad insisted from the outset. "Rafi's vocals alone have the romantic resilience to underscore my music in all its subtle nuances."

Kishore Kumar fulfilled his lifetime's ambition when, at long last, he sang a duet, Hello, Hello, kya haal hai, with Asha Bhosle in Sunehra Sansar (1975). But his only song for Naushad was ultimately knocked out of the film!

There had been G M Durrani and Khan Mastana before but, for Naushad, once he stabilised the vocals of Rafi, it had to be this tenor almost all the way. By this stage in 1953, no film scored by Naushad was anything less than a silver jubilee hit. If it wasn't, it was a golden jubilee. Or a diamond jubilee.

Such was Naushad's aura that top distributors (financing producers) made it clear that the latter could only remain present at this master composer's recording. They could not speak while Naushad was recording!

As early as 1950, Naushad was the first to charge Rs 100,000 for a film. Plus, Rs 10,000 for the orchestra! See how it was the finesse in his orchestration that gave him a clear edge.

C Ramchandra and Husnlal-Bhagatram, Anil Biswas and S D Burman, Roshan and Madan Mohan, Salil Chowdhury and O P Nayyar, Khayyam and Jaidev (among others), composed some unforgettable music. But in trade circles, it was always understood that Naushad was a clear first among equals. Where others imposed, Naushad composed.

I never met a more composed creator in my 50 years on the movie beat than this 'Maestro with the Midas touch'. Never a harsh word by Naushad about any rival, he let his music do all the talking. And it did, near unfailingly, because Naushad keenly studied each script before scoring. He was no tunesmith manufacturing hit tunes.

"I can't carry my baaja to the singer's house," he would have me know. "At a social level, I'll call on my singer any number of times. But, for rehearsing, they all have to come here to my music room at Carter Road. Lata's Mohe panghat pe was not fashioned in Gaara just like that. Hours of fond labour went into minutely rehearsing the number."

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as a Cathedral and John Connon School (in Mumbai's Fort area) student, was on the Mughal-e-Azam sets as K Asif picturised this Mohe panghat pe Lata classic on Madhubala. "He couldn't take his eyes off Madhubala!" recalled Naushad.
To think that Anil Biswas was first scoring Mughal-e-Azam when it was titled by K Asif as Anarkali. To imagine that first Nargis (left, seen in Mother India, another Naushad classic), then Nutan, was to play Anarkali in the K Asif epic. Naushad came into the picture only with Madhubala. There is a destiny that shapes the final score of music composers. So that the one time Naushad felt defeated was when Shanker-Jaikishan's Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960) stole the Filmfare Best Music Award from under the nose of Mughal-e-Azam.

Naushad spoke up, addressing J C Jain as the influential general manager of the Times of India group. "Jainsaab," regretted Naushad, "It's okay, you have voted against my Mughal-e-Azam when this epic happens to be carrying my richest score in 20 years. I have only one point to make. After this, never let it be written, in any of your publications, why the standard of Hindi film music is going down."

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 in that trend-setting movie. The Padma Bhushan came to him a full 25 years after Lata Mangeshkar was decorated with this honour, after her 1967 silver jubilee.

"In honouring her, they have honoured me!" Naushad rationalised. "After all, I had some role to play in moulding her voice to Urdu perfection, didn't I?" When the Dadasaheb Phalke Award came to be bestowed upon Naushad, at last, for Lifetime Achievement in 1982, Khayyam, on the same New Delhi stage for the score of Umrao Jaan, felt somewhat diminished.

Khayyam had given Asha's voice a totally new hue on Umrao Jaan's Rekha. Whereas, with Naushad, Lata remained first choice. Though, in his later years, Naushad felt he had not been altogether fair to Asha.

But then, Naushad felt he had been unfair to Shamshad Begum too. When a Lata Mangeshkar happens, it happens. The final rounding to Naushad's quality music was given by Lata, on the one hand, and Rafi on the other.

When Malka-e-Tarannum Noorjehan returned to India after 33 years, it was under the baton of Naushad that she sang, solo, on the Shamukhananda Hall stage, the Awaaz de kahaan hai Pahadi duet from Anmol Ghadi. As Naushad orchestrated Noorjehan anew, the Jawaan hai mohabbat - Mere bachpan ke saathee Malka-e-Tarannum Anmol Ghadi effect was to be felt all over again.

Who but Naushad, in a like vein, could have brought Kundan Lal Saigal to us, via Shahjehan (1946), as Gham diye mustaqil (in Kaafi), Ai dil-e-beqaraar jhoom (in Bihag), Chaah barbaad karegee (in Bageshri) and Jab dil hi toot gaya (in Bhairavi)? To Naushad, K L Saigal remained the ultimate singing star, Mohammad Rafi, the ultimate ghost voice. He used over 50 female ghost voices in a career spanning 66 years, yet Lata's vocals ring supreme in his oeuvre.
From Mohammed Rafi to A Hariharan, Mughal-e-Azam to Taj Mahal, it is a long journey. A journey Naushad completed with matchless dignity, his grip on Urdu shairi making him an icon of icons on the podium.

When I presented Naushad with my biography on Lata Mangeshkar, he left me in no doubt of the fact that he had always expected me to do his life and times first. Now, the baton has passed. Yet, the Naushad image will endure. If only because his music remains timeless.

Timeless because, into just three minutes of the original gramophone record, he compressed the joy of a lifetime. It is no wonder that Madhubala (as indeed all others on the sets of Amar) burst into tears on first hearing the Yaman notes of Jaane waale se mulaquaat na hone paayee. Similar notes by Lata, on the same Madhubala, came to us in Mughal-e-Azam (left), as Khuda nigehbaan ho tumharaa.

"Allah is the only composer, call him Bhagwan, God, whatever you will," soliloquised Naushad as he turned 70. "From the footpath facing the Broadway cinema in Dadar, he lifted me to the skies. I did nothing. He did everything for me."

Sachin Dev Burman summed it up succinctly when he observed, "Quality, we all had. But it was from Naushad that we learnt the art of how to blend quality with popularity."

Was music an art or craft in Naushad's custody?

Hear Shamshad-Rafi from Chandni Raat as Chheen ke dil kyun pher lein aankhen, and you do not know where Rafi's art begins and Shamshad's craft ends.

You only know that Naushad is there, all over, turning film music into a near art form.

Janab
Raju jee ke alfaz nein to hamari Naushad Saheb se jaise 'in person' mulquat he karwa di ho.Ek shakhseeat jo hamare jaisse logon ki zindzgi ka hissa ban chukki hai usse hammen un ki 'description' nein to milwa hi deea! Woh to apne hunar ke bal par hamesha hamare saath rahengey. Yeh likhne walle aur unki likhtein post karnewalle bhi hamari shukarguzari ke haqdar hain.Harjinder
P.S Sajjad saheb aap ke naam walle music director bhi aap ke naam sey yaad aa jaate hain wou aur Suraiya, 'Rustom aur Sohrab'mein ' Yeh kaissi ajab dastan ho gayee hai'

[desai2rn]

Sajjad ji, Very nice article, on a truely great composer.
Thanks for posting it.

Ramesh

[mohd2004]

Thanks a lot Sajjad Bhai for this great article on Naushad Saheb.

Very true, a great genius composer.

Mohd.