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NRIS! Do you know?
Naushad Ali- Tribute to A Music Legend

Mahadev Desai is an Atlanta-based freelance writer. Along-term Community News Editor for India Tribune until he left for Florida in 1999, Mahadev is now back on the Atlanta scene, and writes for various community publications. He says he enjoys covering community events, writing ‘profiles’ and ‘humor’ articles. His articles have been published in Khabar, Voice of India, Darpan, India-Today, Woman’s Era, Desi etc. 

Always a perfectionist, despite his poor health, in a recent interview he had said, “My best tune is yet to come. Let me get better and then I will show you what I can produce.”

Naushad Ali, one of the most prolific and versatile music composers in India bade farewell in Mumbai on May 5, 2006. The legendary music-composer, who was born in Lucknow in 1919, had a passion for music but as his father was not very supportive, he chose to move to Mumbai (Mecca for Indian cinema) in the late 1930s, to fulfill his dream. He had to live a hardscrabble life in the initial years, trying to gain a foothold in the music industry. 

He worked with music director and his mentor Khemchand Prakash. Prem Nagar (1940) gave him his break, but he got really noticed with Sharda (1942).Innovative Naushadji whose career began in an era of silent movies was the first to introduce sound, mixing separate record of music track and voice in playback singing. He also experimented with different combinations of musical instruments like the flute with the clarinet, and the sitar with the mandolin. He also used Western style orchestras in films like Jadoo (1951), and Aan (1952). But perhaps the most important feature of his musical scores was bringing Indian classical music into films like Baiju Bawra (1952) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960), which was a testimony to the breadth and depth of his knowledge of Indian classical music. To quote India's greatest playback singer Lata Mangeshkar who sang for him in the film Baiju Bawra, "The music he composed for Baiju Bawra surprised even me. It was entirely different from what he had done before. Different ragas were used for different situations and the purity of the ragas were maintained to the greatest possible extent." 

After getting initial success, he churned out hits after hits, with a glowing track record of inimitable music scores in over 65 movies, including timeless classics like Baiju Bawra (1952) Mother India (1957) Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Ganga-Jamuna (1961) Mere Mehboob (1963), Pakeezah (1971) and many more. The fact that 25 of his films celebrated (Silver Jubilee), 9 films (Golden Jubilee) and 2 films (Diamond Jubilee) speaks volumes for his amazing talent. Lata Mangeshkar, who sang under his baton since 1948, soared in popularity with songs like pyar kiya to darna kya (Mughal-e-Azam); bachpan ke din (Deedar), chalo dildar chalo (Pakeezah) to name a few.

He was disparaging of some of the modern day music directors who churn out songs at breakneck speed and fare miserably. “We used to agonize over every tune and phrase, spending sleepless nights over a song until it was perfected. I am still looking for perfection” he commented at one time. Always a perfectionist, despite his poor health, in a recent interview he had said, “My best tune is yet to come. Let me get better and then I will show you what I can produce.”

Naushadji was bestowed with one of India’s highest Civilian Award, The Padma Bhushan in 1992. He was also awarded Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1981 for ‘Lifetime achievement in Indian Cinema’.

In the later stages of his life, he composed less and less music. Akbar Khan’s magnum opus, ‘Taj Mahal: An eternal love story’ (2005) being his latest, where he provided symphonic music. The song Mumtaz tujhe dekha jab Taj Mahal dekha to the accompaniment of dilruba is a rare musical jewel.
Naushad Ali will be deeply missed. As Lata Mangeshkar said, “With his death…the phase of Indian classical music that existed in our films has ended.” But his immortal songs will beckon in the stillness of night. May his soul rest in peace. 


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