Immortal Naushad’s Music

Naushad told that he was sleeping on the footpath opposite theatre 16 long years when he had dreamt of seeing his music brought to life in Mumbai. composition was for Taj Mahal – External love story

Naushad Ali earthly died but his music is immortal. He was born on Christian day, 25th December 1919 in Lucknow. The 86-year old legend, died at Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai where he was admitted on April 20 after complaining of uneasiness. May his soul rest in peace.


Footpath to Taj Mahal

Naushad. M. Ali chose the tougher route; at that tender age he ran away from home, suffered hunger and humiliation, approached innumerable teachers and film makers… the rest, as they say, is history. He came to Mumbai in 1937. When the late producer Vijay Bhatt asked him why he was crying, Naushad told him he was sleeping on the footpath opposite the theatre when he had dreamt of seeing his music brought to life here. 'It took me 16 long years to cross that footpath,' he had said.

Songs for his music in 1950s have been mostly penned down by Shakeel Badayuni. In 1940s, he composed music for songs written by D N Madhok, Zia Sarhadi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Khumar Barabankvi, besides Badayuni. He had long association with Mehboob Khan, A R Kardar and Sunny bannersHis last music composition was for the movie Taj Mahal—An Eternal Love Story, by Akhbar Khan in 2005.

The 86-year old's last composition was for the recently-released Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story, directed by Akbar Khan. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1982, the L. M. Award the M. P. Government in 1984, Amir Khusro award in 1987, Maharashtra Gaurav Puruskar and the Padma Bhushan.

He had hold the post of President of Cine Music Directors Association, Chairman of Indian Performing Rights Society, the title of Special Executive Magistrate, Bombay, President of Maharashtra State Angling Association, President of Alam-E-Urdu Conference (Delhi).
Angling Lover:

Naushad Ali has said,” "It is in the beautiful setting of Powai Lake with its Trees, Birds and Butterflies that I have often got my inspiration for some of my best works. I hope that Powai will always remain. It is one of the last few beautiful spots left in Bombay and I am proud to be the President of MSAA which is working hard to preserve its waters and aquatic life.”


Music therapy:

Did you know that when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was recuperating at the Breach Candy hospital following his knee surgery, he took some time off to meet Naushad Ali. Singer Hariharan can still see smile of Great Naushad, “We played the tape of his (Atal Behari Vajpayee’s) popular poem ‘Unki Yaad Karen’ and he expressed satisfaction and lauded the effort,” ‘Unki Yaad Karen’ pays tributes to India’s freedom fighters and revolutionaries including Veer Savarkar. “Mr Vajpayee’s poems are not romantic but focused on patriotism. I am sure his poems do not merely lie within the pages of a book, but reach the general public. Vajpayee is perhaps the only Indian prime minister who is a poet at heart,” Naushad Ali said. He added,” "He has used nearly 70-75 musicians and 30 choirs to set the piece to music. The album focuses on poems that touch upon the subjects of patriotism, students, farmers and general workers."Our six basic raags are Deepak, Megh, Hindol, Shri, Bhairav and Malkauns. These, our six citadels, were assailed at various times, in the last 50 years, by the foxtrot, the waltz, the cha-cha-cha, the rumba-samba, the rock-n'-roll and disco. Please note that such westernised song-modes have come and gone but Deepak, Megh, Hindol, Shri, Bhairav and Malkauns still survive. They have survived through my 70 years and they will still be there when I am gone. All tradition, all modernity in our music is within the ambit of these six basic raags." He said in Dec.1988.


India world

NRI Suketu Mehta in his article published in New York Times wrote, “In a Hindi movie, emotion is communicated through song, because song is more potent than dialogue. We Indians carry these songs around with us. They form our vocabulary of love and grief, from country to country. My aunt's family immigrated to Uganda from India a century ago; she now lives in England and has never been to India, but she listens mostly to Hindi movie songs. When I visited her house in Leicester once, I noticed that none of the children under 5 in her extended family spoke English. They spoke Gujarati and film Hindi; in their house, the TV was on almost all the time, with Hindi movies playing back to back on the VCR. The children, two or three generations removed from India, were living in this simulated India world…when I came to America in 1977. And I found that the Bollywood movies were, in the Indian context, progressive. They eliminated barriers between Hindus and Muslims and Christians (''Amar Akbar Anthony''); rich boys fell in love with poor girls (''Bobby''); untouchables were brought into patriotic service (''Lagaan,'' perhaps the first real crossover hit in the West).”

When Suketu Meht was in Bombay then his experience was,”I had come to understand Muslims as lovable, Christian girls as flirtatious, Sikhs as loyally martial, Parsis as endearingly cracked. The movies trafficked in broad stereotypes, but they were, for the most part, good-natured stereotypes. “

By Premendra AgrawalPremendra_in@indiatimes.com