It is a reality that man is mortal, but it is also a hard fact that his achievements are immortal. There are hundreds of people, who are still alive in the memories of people through their achievements.
Naushad Ali among those people, whose contributions to the cinema music of the subcontinent will continue to haunt the music lovers for all time to come.
A firm believer in aesthetics and fineness of eastern classical music, Naushad said in his memoires, "Notes of Naushad," compiled by Shashikant Kinikar, that he tried to pour old wine into new bottle to enlighten the new generation about the growth, origin and development of classical music, which was restricted to certain Gharanas, as the exponents of classical music maintained complete confidentiality.
Born on December 25, 1919 in a middle-class family of Uttar Pradesh capital of Lucknow, Nuashad developed liking for the music since his childhood. With the passage of time, his craze for theatre and music continues to grow to such an extent that to quenchh is thrust for music and to do something in the field, he got a job in a musical instruments shop where he learnt to playing various instruments.
Later, he joined a theatrical club as composer. Since he wanted exposure outside Lucknow, he formed his own group, Windsor Music Entertainers, which performed in various cities of the U.P, despite opposition from his father, Wahid Ali, who was a Munshi in a Lucknow city court. And hence he did not surrender to wishes of his father and other family members.
With the introduction of talkie movie in 1931, Naushad was so much thrilled that he decided to try his luck in the new medium in Lucknow film industry, which was in infancy. But there he did not find any encouraging response.
As a result, he finally decided to go to Bombay, which was fast emerging as a film centre. Following growing differences with his father, Naushad fled to Bombay in 1937.
ARRIVAL IN BOMBAY:
After hectic efforts and spending several nights on the footpaths of Bombay, Naushad approached Ustad Jahnde Khan, who asked him to play piano in audition. After the successful audition, Naushad joined Ustad Jhande Khan's orchestra as pianist, but soon he switched over to another composer Master Mushtaq Hussain as pianist. His breakthrough came when he polished off an unfinished film score of Master Mushtaq Hussain and got the credit as his assistant.
His memoirs revealed that Naushad started his film journey as N.A. Dass till the time he got a breakthrough as an independent music director in 1940 to compose the music of 'Prem Nagar', followed by film Ishara, Which attracted director producer, A.R. Kardar, who signed him for his film 'Sharda' in 1942.
Before becoming independent music director, Naushad had the honour of working as assistant to legendary music director Khemehand Prakash, Who polished his hidden talent needed to become a successful music director.
TURNING POINT:
The year 1944 was the turning point in Naushad's life when director M. Sadiq invited him to compose the music of his all-time musical hit 'Ratan'.
Filmgoers of yesteryear and even today will never forget the melodious songs of 'Ratan', penned by D.N. Madhok and sung by Zohrabai Ambalewali and Amirbai Karnataki and even film hero Karan Dewan.
Ratan not only heralded the era of golden melodies, but also brought revolutionary trends in the subcontinent cinema music.
With the success of 'Ratan', Naushad never looked back and churned out hit after hit. His name became a trademark for quality and success, his knowledge of melody, rhyth and tempo was peerless. He always maintained highest of standards. In fact, he created new standards of excellence that have never been bettered.
In his memoirs, Naushad said he believed that the genesis of great film music lay in classical music. "what I have religiously endeavoured to do, through the popular medium of film, is gently to educate our people on our own tradition, lying untapped, while we have been borrowing the worst rather than the best, of the West."
His love for the classical music was evident from the fact that he convinced the greatest light classical singer Ustad Bare Ghulam Ali Khan to render his voice for 'Mughal-e-Azam' and Ustad Amir Khan and Pandit D.V. Palusker for 'Baijo Bawra'.
In Naushad's opinion since the classical music was highbrow and too much elitist, hence most of the music directors believed that cinegoers would not like to listen. But Naushad did it confidently in 'Mughal-e-Azam' and 'Baijo Bawra'.
Some of greatest hits like "O Duniya Ke Rakhwale", "Man Tarpat Hari Darsha Ko", "Mohe Bhool Gaye Sanwariya, "Insaf Ka Mandir Hai" and some others songs, which are based on classical Ragas.
Among top ranking composers like Master Ghulam Haider, Sajjad Hussain, Anil Biswas, C. Ramchandra and S. D Barman, Naushad stood tall because of his quality. Naushad was very choosy and selective. During his long career as front rank film composer, spanning over 60 years, he scored music for only 67 films -- 25 of which have been silver, nine golden and two diamond jubilee hits.
Himself a poet, Naushad was very particular about ascent, pronunciation and mood of the lines sung by any singer.
Pioneer of introducing classical and folk music of Northern India, including U.P, Punjab and Bengal, Naushad ruled the Indian cinema during 1950s, 1960s and part of 1970s. Majority of his films proved major money-spinners for the producers and directors.
Naushad and poet Shakeel Badayuni were synonyms for success of any film and financiers never hesitated to pump their money into the films in which these two are teamed.
Throughout his active career, Naushad never misused the voice of any singer besides top singers like K.L. Saigol (Shahjehan), Noor Jehan (Anmol Ghadi), Mukesh, Shamshad Begum, Surrayya, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi and even Oma Devi (Tun Tun), Naushad tactfully exploited the singing talents of actor Karan Dewan and Shyam Kumar in A. R. Kardar's 'Dillagi'.
Though singers like Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar were introduced by Master Ghulam Haidar, it was Naushad, who polished their voices. It was Naushad, who persuaded Mukhesh and Lata to come out of the haunt of K. L. Saigol and Noor Jehan and establish their own individual style.
Both the singers religiously followed the advice of Naushad and soon they were acknowledged that they were not a copycat singers.
LATA'S TRIBUTES:
Paying rich tributes to Naushad, Lata Mangeshkar said: I was a complete newcomer when he gave me a break in 1947. He was a complete composer. His great contribution was to bring Hindustani music to cinema. He was a good natured man and was kind to everyone, including his rivals.
Naushad was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing. He was the first to combine the flute and the clarinet, the sitar and mandolin.
He also introduced accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters mood ad dialogues through music.
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE:
In "Notes of Naushad," compiler Shashikant Kinikar said: "From theory to practice, Naushad provided an interesting insight into the growth of Hindi film music, especially during the times when there was no facility of recording.
How a large shooting floor with iron-sheet roofs was converted into a make-shift recording studio, or how the open-air space within a studio complex, or a public park were used to record songs throughout the night to keep the atmospheric sounds at bay. There were times when all the six or seven songs got recorded from nightfall to daybreak. Or how microphones were strategically placed, and musicians hidden in case of song picturisation, which used to be in practice till the early `40s.
He recalled: "On the location shooting of the 'Mirza Saheban' (1939) - the only Punjabi film in which Naushad assisted Master Mushtaq Hussain -- at Powai Lake, some musicians were perched on the trees with their instruments and some sat at the very edge of the Lake."
Despite these difficulties, great melodies were created and immortal songs recorded. Naushad himself recorded chorus music for 'Mughal-e-Azam', and songs for 'Amar' and 'Mother India' on the main shooting floor of the famous Mehboob Studios. Blankets were used for reducing the reverberations and as a measure against noise, Shashikant Kinikar disclosed.
It will be interesting to note that Naushad is, perhaps, the only music director of the subcontinent, who was chosen by a girl student of Agra University in the early eighties for her doctorate.
Besides being awarded india's highest civil award "Padam Bhooshan" for his contribution to Indian cinema music, he was honoured with "Oudh Ratan" award by the U.P government. He was also recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1981.
During the last two decades, he slowed down due to the ill-health and his last work was for 'Taj Mahal', now showing in Pakistan, in 2005.
He composed music for A. R. Kardar's musical hits like 'Shahjehan' (1946), 'Dard' (1947), Dillagi (1949), 'Dulari' (1949), Jadoo, 'Dastan', 'Dil Diya Dard Liya', director Mahboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946), Anokhi Ada (1948), 'Andaaz' (1949), 'Aan', 'Amar' and 'Mother India', which was nominated for Oscar, K. Asif's 'Mughal-e-Azam', S. U. Sunny's Mela, Babul, 'Uran Khatola', Koh-e-Noor and Vijay Bhatt's Baijo Bawra, Dilip Kumar's Ganga Jamuna and Bairag.
Besides A. R. Kardar, Mahboob Khan and S. U. Sunny, Naushad also composed music for other directors' films like Chandni Raat, Deedar, Leader, Ram Aur Shyam, Shabab and others.
Popularly known as Museeqar-e-Azam and "Sangeet Samrat," Naushad also completed the musical scores of Kamal Amrohvi's film Pakeeza, music of which was composed by his assistant Ghulam Mohammad, who could not complete the film because of his death.
Anyhow the man who mesmerised the film music lovers for some three decades breathed his last at the age of 87 on May 5, 2006 in Bombay, but his all-time hit compositions will be remembered even in an era that can "best be described as unmusical".