India is a country having rich heritage in music. Right from mujras and classical songs presented in Raj Darbars to folk songs of fishermen, farmers, the diversity and range of music is really vast. There were few composers who brought this music out from the creators, then added expression, amended them and presented in Indian films. Naushad Ali is one big name who had enriched India’s musical heritage.
Many musical experts consider him great, some consider him the greatest of music directors who ever had graced Indian soil. He studied Hindustani music in Lucknow under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali,
Ustad Babban Saheb and others. He was trained under Laddan Khan till he started composing music independently. In 1940, he first time composed music for the film Premnagar. The journey that started from there never ended and he enriched Indian film music with his innovative tunes.He had the credit of composing music in 25 silver jubilee hits (ran for 25 weeks in cinema halls), 8 golden jubilee hits (ran for 50 weeks in cinema halls) and 4 diamond jubilee hits (ran for 75 weeks in cinema halls). He composed excellent music in the films Pehle Aap, Rattan, Anmol Ghari in the mid-1940s. His melodious song “suhani raat dhal chuki” sung by Rafisahab in the film Dulari still makes everyone enchanted. He had majestic combination with tragedy king Dilip Kumar, director Mehboob Khan and lyricist Shakeel Badayani. In the 1940s their combination provided super hit films like Mela, Andaz, Babul.
He gave break to Uma Devi in the song “afsana likh rahi hoon” in the film Dard in 1947. By the early 1950s, Naushad Ali became a phenomenon. In 1951, Rafisahab and Shamshad Begum’s song “o bachpan ke din bhula na dena” in Dilip Kumar Nargis starrer film Deedar still haunts everyone. In 1952, his work in Aan astonished everyone. He used 100 piece orchestra in the film for the first time in India in Mehboob Khan’s first coloured film starring Dilip Kumar, Nadira, Premnath, Nimmi.
In the 50s, Naushad’s composition in Baiju Bawra made the listeners speechless. He won filmfare award for the best composer for his brilliant classical presentation in songs like “o duniya ke rakhwale”, “man tarapata”, “tu gangi ki mauj”, etc., sung by Rafi and Lata. Rafi’s range was used to perfection and from that time the Rafi Naushad combination provided gems after gems. The different ragas and their timings were explained by Naushad in the film. The film also graced the singing of classical giants like Amir Khan and DV Paluskar who hardly sang in films. Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari gave able lips in the songs composed by Naushad. Songs of Uran Khatula, like “wo dur ke musafir” sung by Rafi for Dilip Kumar also shook bollywood in the mid-50s. Mother India in 1957 was another landmark composition of Naushad Ali.
In the 60s Naushad was unstoppable. His composition in Kohinoor for Rafi titled “madhuban me radhika nachere” and “do sitaron ka zameen” picturised on Dilip Kumar displayed the brilliance of Hindustani ragas. Raag hamir was displayed with elegance. Naushad’s composition in Rajender Kumar’s Mere Mehboob was par excellence, Naushad displayed the ghazal culture of Lucknow and Aligarh. The songs “mere mehboob tujhe meri muhobbat ki kasam”, “ai husn zara jag”, “tumse izhaar-e-hal kar baithe”, etc, sung by Rafi and picturised on Rajender Kumar was per se excellent . In the title song “mere mehboob tujhe
meri muhabbat ki kasam” he recorded the song with 6 instruments which was unthinkable in those days. The pandemonium hall of Aligarh Muslim University was used for the song where Rajender Kumar gave lips using a microphone before the vast crowd. Naushad composed light songs in Mughal-i-azam for Lata including “pyar kiya to darna kya”, “mohe panghat ke nandlal”, and again composed thumri sung by Bare Ghulam Ali Khan in the same film. For the film Mughal- i - Azam, (1960) song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad," he used a chorus of 100 persons. He asked singer Lataji to render a part of the song "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya" in a bathroom that had glazed tiles and then recorded the music to get the echo effect.Naushad also composed Bhojpuri music for Dilip Kumar in the film Ganga Jumna. The songs “nain lar jaihe” sung by Rafi was one of the examples of Naushad’s control of Avadhi folk tune. Lataji’s song “dhundo dhundo re sajna”, also had the folk flavor. Naushad was at his best in Dilip Kumar’s Leader. All the songs in the film sung by Rafi and Lata flabbergasted the listeners, including “ek shahenshah ne banwake haseen tajmahal”, “teri husn ki kya tareef karun”, “mujhe duniya walon”, etc. Naushad was excellent in Dilip Kumar’s Ram Aur Shyam. All the songs sung by Rafi and Lata in the film including “aye hai baharen dekho”, “yeh raat dulhan bangayi”, “mai hoon saki”, etc.
Critics consider Dil Diya Dard Liya as one of the best creations of Naushad. All the songs in the film became superhit including Rafi’s “dilruba maine tere pyar me kya kya na kiya”, “koi sagar dil ko behlata nahi”, “sawan aye ya na aye”. Naushad Rafi and Dilip Kumar continued with their level of excellence in the film Aadmi, with Rafi’s songs like “na aadmi ka koi bharosa”, “aaj purani rahon se”, etc. Besides, Naushad composed excellent music in Rajender Kumar’s Palki, Saathi, Ganwar, etc. Rafi’s hit songs in those films included “dil-e-betaab ko seene se lagana hoga” sung with Suman Kalyanpur.
Naushad faded away from film music in the 70s, causing huge loss to the film industry. The classical gharana related to thumris, kajris, ghazals, etc., faded away with Naushad. Music became popular, but lost its class. Naushad received Dadasahab Phalke for his excellent contribution to bollywood music. His songs and the films should be preserved and restored.
In addition to Shakeel Badayani Naushad Ali also worked with other shayars and poets like Majrooh Sultanpuri, DN Madhok, Zia Sarhadi, Khumar Barabankvi, to name a few. In Naushad’s creations listeners feel that the fields, ponds, trees of India responded, his classical gharana really educated the Indian film audience with traditional music. Most of his works were close to perfection.
