Background information
Born
(1919-12-25)25 December 1919
Lucknow, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Died
5 May 2006(2006-05-05) (aged 86)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Genres
Hindustani classical music • Indian film music
Occupation(s)
Composer, music director, film producer, writer, poet, producer
Instrument(s)
Harmonium • sitar • piano • tabla • flute • clarinet • accordion • mandolin
Years active
1940–2005
Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian composer for Hindi films.[1][2][3] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry.[4] He is particularly known for popularising the use of classical music in films.[5][6]
His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940.[7] His first musically successful film was Rattan (1944), followed by 35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Hindi film industry.[8]
Naushad Ali was born and raised in Lucknow,[1] a city with a long tradition as a centre of Indian Muslim culture. His father, Wahid Ali, was a munshi (court clerk). As a child, Naushad would visit the annual fair at the Deva Sharif in Barabanki, 25 km from Lucknow, where all the great qawwals and musicians of those days would perform before the devotees. He studied Hindustani music there under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali, Ustad Babban Saheb and others. He also repaired harmoniums.[2]
As a lad, he joined a junior theatrical club and was appointed the club's music maestro for their theatrical presentations. He used to watch silent films at the Royal theatre in Lucknow. Theatre owners would hire a team of musicians to play the tabla, harmonium, sitar and violin. The musicians would watch the film first, make notes, finalize the scales required. When the show began in the evening, they would sit in front of the screen and play music for the scenes. This was a great way to be entertained and learn music at the same time. It made him grasp the nuances required in composing a film's background music score.
In time Naushad formed his own Windsor Music Entertainers or just Windsor Entertainers, so named because he had seen the word "Windsor" around Lucknow and liked its ring. It led to the Indian Star Theatrical Company in a theatre at Golaganj colony in Lucknow. He was trained under Laddan Khan until he became capable of working independently as a composer. There he also developed the sense to pick rare musical jewels from the folk tradition of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Saurashtra during the company's sojourns in those regions. The travelling players got as far as Viramgam in Gujarat, where they discovered penury, even after selling off theatrical props and musical instruments. The company limped back to Lucknow through the kindness of one of Naushad's friends.
Naushad had already become a cinema fan in the silent era and then, in 1931, Indian cinema got voice and music that further fascinated the 13-year-old boy. He learnt classical and folk music against the wishes of his father. He moved to Mumbai in late 1937 for a career as a musician.[9]
InMumbai, he initially stayed with an acquaintance from Lucknow (U.P.) at Colaba and after a while, shifted to Dadar opposite the Broadway theatre where he would sleep on the footpath. He assisted music director Ustad Jhande Khan who was at the peak of his success those days, at a monthly salary of Rs 40.
Then he worked on a film with a Russian producer with the studio located at Chembur. This film could not be completed. Naushad was a piano player so he worked as a pianist in composer Ustad Mushtaq Hussain's orchestra.[2] He then polished off an unfinished film score and got a credit as assistant to Mushtaq Hussain. Then the film company collapsed. Composer Khemchand Prakash took him on as his assistant for the film KanchanatRanjit Studios at a salary of Rs 60 per month, for which Naushad remained extremely grateful and in interviews, he had called Khemchand his guru.[2]
His friend, lyricist D. N. Madhok, trusted Naushad's unusual talent for composing music and introduced him to various film producers. Chandulal Shah, the owner of Ranjit Studios, offered to sign Naushad for one of his forthcoming films. Naushad composed a thumri for this film, "Bata de koi kaun gali gaye Shyam", but the film never went into production. He was assistant music director for the Punjabi film Mirza Sahib (1939).
He composed for his first independent film Prem Nagar in 1940 that had a story set in Kutch for which he did a lot of research into the folk music of the area.[9] With A.R. Kardar's film Nayi Duniya (1942), he got first credit as "music director" and he began to work regularly for Kardar Productions. He, however, had a flexibility that he could work outside Kardar Productions and this arrangement continued throughout his career. He first got noticed with A.R. Kardar's film Sharda (1942) wherein 13-year-old Suraiya debuted with the song "Panchhi Ja" for the playback for heroine Mehtab. It was Rattan (1944) that took Naushad right to the top and enabled him to charge Rs 25,000 a film during those days.[2][9]
Film expert and author Rajesh Subramanian opines that Kardar productions spent Rupees seventy five thousand in 1944 to make Rattan. The music by Naushad saheb was such a phenomenal hit that the company earned Rs 3 lacs as royalty from gramophone sales in the first year.
But his Lucknow-based family remained against music and Naushad had to hide from his family the fact that he composed music. When Naushad got married, the band was playing the tunes of the super hit songs of Naushad's film 'Rattan'. While Naushad's father and father-in-law were condemning the musician who had composed these songs, Naushad dared not tell them that it was he who had composed the music. Naushad understood Hindu and Muslim culture and the languages of those cultures.[9]
From 1942 until the late 1960s, he was one of the top music directors in Hindi films. While he did 65 films during his lifetime, 26 of those films celebrated Silver jubilees (25 weeks run) – 8 celebrated golden jubilees (50 weeks run) and 4 celebrated diamond jubilees (60 weeks run) – (inclusive count – a diamond jubilee film also celebrates Silver and Golden jubilees).
Naushad worked with several lyricists, including Shakeel Badayuni, Majrooh Sultanpuri, D. N. Madhok, Zia Sarhadi, Yusufali Kechery and Khumar Barabankvi.[9]
Mother India (1957),[9] for which he had composed music, was the first Indian film that got nominated for an Oscar award.
In 1981, Naushad was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.[6]
He composed the tunes of Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005) at the age of 86.[2]
Amongst his assistants, Mohammed Shafi, Jerry Amaldev and Ghulam Mohammed stand out prominently.
The songs Naushad composed for the 1988 Malayalam film Dhwani which were sung by P. Susheela & K. J. Yesudas are evergreen superhits that Malayalis do repeatedly listen to even after 3 decades.
Five films have been made on his life and work. Biographical books published are Dastaan-E-Naushad (Marathi) by Shashikant Kinikar; Aaj Gaawat Man Mero (Gujarati); Hindi and Urdu biographical sketches in Shama & Sushma Magazines respectively, titled "Naushad Ki Kahani, Naushad Ki Zubani"; the last one was translated into Marathi by Shashikant Kinikar. Kinikar also came up with a book titled "Notes of Naushad" which puts together some interesting anecdotes of Naushad's life.
Naushad also composed background music for the TV serial "Akbar The Great" telecast in 1988 which was directed by Akbar Khan, brother of Hindi film stars Sanjay Khan and Feroze Khan as was also The Sword of Tipu Sultan produced and directed by Sanjay Khan and Akbar Khan which was telecast in 1990 and became very popular.
Naushad died on 5 May 2006 in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest at age 86.[1][2] He was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery.[10][9]
He is survived by six daughters Zubeda, Fehmida, Farida, Sayeeda, Rashida, and Waheeda and three sons Rehman Naushad, Raju Naushad & Iqbal Naushad. Rehman Naushad being the eldest of all assisted him in some of his films. Also, Naushad composed music for two movies directed by Rahman Naushad, My Friend (1974) and Teri Payal Mere Geet (1989).[9]
Naushad was ranked as one of the most respected and successful music directors of Indian Film Industry.[11]
Naushad had requested the Maharashtra State Government to sanction a plot for an institution for promoting Hindustani music. This was sanctioned during his lifetime and the 'Naushad Academy of Hindustani Sangeet' was formed.
Naushad was also a respected and published poet and formally launched his book of Urdu poetry entitled Aathwaan Sur ("The Eighth Note") and the Navras label's album titled "Aathwan Sur – The Other Side of Naushad" having 8 ghazals as part of Hounslow's book fair and festival "Bookmela" in November 1998. The album has lyrics and composition by Naushad, arranged by Uttam Singh.[9]
Track list:
Naushad gave a new trend to popular film music by basing his tunes on classical music ragas and folk music.Bhairavi (Hindustani) is his favourite Raga[12] Naushad was known for his skillful adaptation of the classical musical tradition for movie songs. Among all contemporary singer, Naushad Ali gave numbers of the songs to Mohammad Rafi. Most of Naushad Ali popular songs are sung by Mohammad Rafi. For some movies like Baiju Bawra, he composed all scores in classical raga modes and arranged for the well-known vocalist Amir Khan to be a music consultant for this film. Naushad could easily work with Western instruments, including the clarinet, the mandolin and the accordion. He could incorporate Western musical idioms in his compositions and compose for Western-style orchestras.[1][2][11]
During the early 1940s, recordings were done in quiet parks and gardens after midnight because the studios did not have sound-proof recording rooms. In the gardens, there would be no echo and disturbances, unlike the studios where the sound reverberated because of the tin roofs.
For films like 'Uran Khatola' and 'Amar', he recorded the voice of a particular artiste on a scale of 90, then recorded it on 70, then on 50 and so on. After the complete recording, it was played for the scene and the impact it created was terrific.
He was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and the 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 the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to focus on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogue through music. But perhaps his greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas and he even used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D.V. PaluskarinBaiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali KhaninMughal-e-Azam (1960). Baiju Bawra (1952) demonstrated Naushad's grasp of classical music and his ability to bring it to the masses, for which he won the first Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1954.[2][1]
Naushad commented on a pre-release meeting about "Baiju Bawra": "When people heard that the film would be full of classical music and ragas, they protested, 'People will get a headache and they will run away.' I was adamant. I wanted to change public taste. Why should people be fed what they like all the time? We presented them with music from our culture and it worked".
For Aan (1952), he was the first to use a 100-piece orchestra. He was the first composer to have developed the system of western notation in India. The notation for the music of the film 'Aan' was published in book form in London.
InUran Khatola (1955), he recorded an entire song without the use of orchestra, having replaced the sound of musical instruments with choral sound of humming.
For Mughal-e-Azam (1960) song Ae Mohabbat Zindabad, he used a chorus of 100 persons.
For Ganga Jamuna (1961), he used lyrics in chaste Bhojpuri dialect.[11]
He used just six instruments in the title song of Mere Mehboob (1963).
In 2004, a colorized version of the classic Mughal-e-Azam (1960) was released, for which Naushad had the orchestral music specially re-created (in Dolby Digital) by today's industry musicians, while maintaining all the solo vocals from the original soundtrack. To elaborate, the playback vocals (though not the chorus) recorded four decades ago are mixed with orchestra tracks created in the present millennium.
As Indian film music gradually assumed a Western bend starting in the late 1960s, Naushad came to be considered old-fashioned. Composers who could compose rock-and-roll and disco-inflected music started getting increasingly popular. Naushad was still esteemed as a maestro, but his talents were sought mostly for historical movies where traditional scores were appropriate. It can be said of Naushad that in the early days of popular cinema music in the thirties and forties he set the standards for classical and folk music that resonated with the idea of India. In short he brought out the beauty of Indian music in a short film song of a few minutes which was not an easy feat. The composers who followed him were inspired by this aspect of his compositions.
Film
Year
Director
Cast
Remarks/Verdict
1940
Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani
Ramanand, Bimla Kumari, Husn Banu, Rai Mohan, Nagendra, Salu, Gulzar
Naushad was assistant for Baaghbaan (1938) and Kanchan (1941). According to him, he had composed one song in each film.
Darshan
1941
Chimanlal Muljibhoy Luhar
Prem Adib, Jyoti, Kaushalya, Bhudo Advani, Miradevi, M. Nazir, Shakir, Amirbai Karnataki, Madhusudan
1941
Balwant Bhatt
Jayant, Rose, Jairaj, Nazir, Daya Devi, Heera
1942
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Jairaj, Shobhna Samarth, Wasti, Azurie, Mazhar Khan. Hari Shivdasani, Jeevan
Debut of Singer Surayya in the song "Boot Karoon main Polish"
Silver Jubilee
1942
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Ulhas, Mehtab. Wasti, Nirmala, Badri Prasad
Silver Jubilee
1941
Chimanlal Muljibhoy Luhar
Prem Adib, Pratima Devi, Gulab
1943
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Mehtaab, Shahu Modak
Silver Jubilee
Namaste
1943
Mohammed Sadiq Sani
Wasti, Protima Das, Jagdish Sethi, Misra
Silver Jubilee
1943
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Charlie, Anwar Hussain, Mehtab
Silver Jubilee
1944
S. U. Sunny
Shahu Modak, Nirmala, Amir Ali
Jeevan
1944
Mohammed Sadiq
Wasti, Mehtab, Badri Prasad, Anwar, Shyam Kumar
1944
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Shamim, Wasti, Anwar Hussain, Jeevan, Dixit
Rafi's first song for Naushad "Hindustan Ke Hum Hain" in a chorus
Silver Jubilee
1944
S Sadiq
Amir Banu, Karan Dewan, Swarnalata
Diamond Jubilee
1945
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Shamim, Amar, Misra, Shyam Kumar, Naseem Jr., Gulam Mohamad
Silver Jubilee
1946
Mehboob Khan
Noorjehan, Surinder, Suraiya
Diamond Jubilee
Keemat
1946
Nazir Ajmeri
Amar, Sulochana Chatterjee, A Shah, Sharda, Badri Prasad, Sofia, Anwari, Nawab
1946
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Kundan Lal Saigal, Ragini
Silver Jubilee
1947
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Uma Devi, Suraiya
Debut of Singer Uma Devi (Comedy Actress Tuntun) in the song "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon"
Silver Jubilee
1947
Mehboob Khan
Himalaywala, Leela Mishra, Shah Nawaz
1947
S. U. Sunny
Suraiya, Amar, Sofiya, Kanwar, Sham Kumar, Pratima Devi
Silver Jubilee
1948
Mehboob Khan
Surendra, Naseem Bano, Murad, Cuckoo
Golden Jubilee
1948
S. U. Sunny
Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Jeevan
Golden Jubilee
1949
Mehboob Khan
Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Nargis
Golden Jubilee
Chandni Raat
1949
Mohammed Ehsan
Shyam, Naseem Bano
1949
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Shyam, Suraiyya, Sharda, Amir Banu, Amar
Silver Jubilee
1949
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Suresh, Madhubala, Geeta Bali
Silver Jubilee
1950
S. U. Sunny
Dilip Kumar, Nargis
Also as Producer
Silver Jubilee
1950
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Raj Kapoor, Suraiya, Veena, Suresh
Also as Co-producer
Silver Jubilee
1951
Nitin Bose
Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, Nargis, Ashok Kumar
Golden Jubilee
1951
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Suresh, Nalini Jaywant
Also as Co-producer
Silver Jubilee
1952
Mehboob Khan
Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, Nadira
Golden Jubilee
1952
Vijay Bhatt
Bharat Bhushan, Meena Kumari
Also as Co-producer Film debut of singers Amir Khan and D. V. Paluskar in the song "Aaj gaavat man mero jhoomke"
Diamond Jubilee
1952
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Suraiya, Suresh, Sumitra Devi, Shyam Kumar
Silver Jubilee
1954
Mehboob Khan
Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, Madhubala
1954
Mohammed Sadiq
Bharat Bhushan, Nutan
Silver Jubilee
1955
S. U. Sunny
Dilip Kumar, Nimmi.
Also as Producer
Silver Jubilee
1957
Mehboob Khan
Nargis, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Kanhaiyalal
Diamond Jubilee
1958
Raja Nawathe
Bharat Bhushan, Nimmi
Debut of singer Mahendra Kapoor in the song "Chaand Chhupa Aur Taarey Doobey"
1960
S. U. Sunny
Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Kumkum, Jeevan
Golden Jubilee
1960
Karim Asif
Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraj Kapoor, Durga Khote, Ajit
Film debut of singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in the songs "Shubh din aayo" and "Prem jogan ban ke"
Diamond Jubilee
1961
Nitin Bose
Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala Bali
Lyrics of several songs were in Bhojpuri dialect
Golden Jubilee
1962
Mehboob Khan
Kamaljit, Kumkum, Sajid, Simi Garewal, Jayant
1963
Rajendra Kumar, Sadhana, Ameeta, Ashok Kumar, Nimmi
Silver Jubilee
1964
Ram Mukherjee
Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala Bali
1966
Abdul Rashid Kardar
Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Pran
Saaz Aur Awaaz
1966
Subodh Mukherji
Saira Banu, Kanhaiyalal, Joy Mukherjee
1967
S. U. Sunny
Rajendra Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker
Also as Writer
1967
Tapi Chanakya
Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Mumtaz, Pran, Nirupa Roy, Leela Mishra
Golden Jubilee
1968
A. Bhimsingh
Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Manoj Kumar
1968
C. V. Sridhar
Rajendra Kumar, Vyjayantimala Bali, Simi Garewal
1968
Harnam Singh Rawail
Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Balraj Sahni
1970
Naresh Kumar
Rajendra Kumar, Vyjayantimala Bali, Nishi
1972
Kamal Amrohi
Raj Kumar, Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar
Background Score and a few songs
Golden Jubilee
1972
Naresh Kumar
Rajendra Kumar, Mumtaz, Sujit Kumar
My Friend
1974
M Rehman
Rajeev, Prema Narayan, Utpal Dutt, Jagdeep, Asit Sen, Tuntun
1975
Adurti Subba Rao
Rajendra Kumar, Hema, Mala Sinha
1977
Kailasham Balachander
Mumtaz, Rajesh Khanna
1979
Radhakant
Mahendra Sandhu, Dara Singh, Chand Usmani
1982
Sultan Ahmed
Raj Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Jeetendra, Reena Roy, Rajesh Khanna, Sulakhshana Pandit
Paan Khaae Sainyyan Humaar
1985
Sujit Kumar
Sujit Kumar, Bandini, S. N. Tripathi
Bhojpuri film
1986
1988
A. T. Abu
Prem Nazir, Jayaram, Shobana
Malayalam film
1989
Rehman Naushad
Govinda, Meenakshi Seshadri
1990
Sibte Hassan Rizvi
Bindu, Annu Kapoor, Satyendra Kapoor
1995
Prem Lalwani
Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, Mukesh Khanna
2005
Akbar Khan
Kabir Bedi, Sonia, Monisha Koirala
Last released work of Naushad, famous for songs like "Apni Julfein" sung by Hariharan, and other songs
Hubba Khatoon
Unreleased
B. R. Chopra
Sanjay Khan, Zeenat Aman
"Jis Raat Ke Khwaab Aaye", sung by Rafi is released
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