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Immortalised by his music
V GANGADHAR
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Rooted in tradition yet willing to experiment, Naushad saab, who passed away recently, composed many unforgettable numbers.
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Naushad
At a function to honour actor Dilip Kumar through the songs featuring him in various Hindi films, the star tapped his foot, clapped and even did an occasional jig.
Chief guest Naushad saab, who had composed the music for several Dilip starrers, sat quietly with eyes closed, enjoying the music.
When asked to speak, he wondered why with such a rich tradition of classical, and folk music available in India, our present composers were aping the West. "When we have gold, why go for baser materials?" he asked.
Classical inclination
This had always been a sore point with Naushad saab who died in Mumbai last week at age 86. His affinity had always been with the classical arts of India, be it North Indian classical music, the `sufi qawwalis' of Lucknow or the folk themes of Bhojpuri language. No wonder classical music stalwarts like Ustad Amir Khan, D.V.Paluskar (`Baiju Bawra') and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (`Mughal-E-Azam') were ready to sing for him.
Of course, people often quoted `Baiju Bawra' and `Mughal-E-Azam' while mentioning Naushad saab. But he was one music director with the least number of flops, at least musically.
Sixty-eight films in a career spanning 62 years was not impressive, at least by numbers, but that was not the way to judge him.
Every song was precious to him and he lingered over the composition, often taking as much as one month for a single tune.
When Coimbatore-based Pakshiraja Films boss S.M.S. Naidu asked Naushad saab to compose nine tunes for his Dilip-Meena Kumar starrer `Azaad' (the Hindi remake of the Tamil hit, `Malai Kallan' starring MGR) within a month, the composer politely pointed out that his style of composing was different and guided him to fellow music director C. Ramachandra.
He composed the music score in less than a week and every song turned out to be a hit. Naushad saab was the first to congratulate his `rival.'
He was fortunate to work in an era when producers, directors and even the stars understood the value of music.
"He was the boss," exclaimed singer Manna Dey, "who would not be satisfied with [anything] but the best. We spent six days rehearsing a group song for `Mother India.'"
The most famous voice on the Hindi screen then, K.L.Saigal, promised Naushad saab that he would keep away from the bottle before recording for `Shahjahan.'
Lata Mangheshkar, who began her long association with Naushad saab with a duet in `Chandi Raat' and went on to become his favourite (along with Mohammad Rafi) singer, pointed out that the composer was unique, his tunes had simplicity and elegance and were so perfect that they needed no improvisation from the singers.
Though rooted in tradition, Naushad saab was always willing to experiment. He constantly used the piano and an amalgam of the flute and the clarinet as well as the sitar and the mandolin.
In 1952 he used a 100-piece orchestra for Mehboob Khan's `Aan' and also the voices of 100 singers for the "Mohabbat Zindabad" song in `Mughal-E-Azam.'
Western tunes
In fact, Naushad saab appreciated western classical music and was once invited by BBC to be a guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
When the situation asked for it, he could come up with fast, foot-tapping Western tunes like the gypsy number "Laraloo... Laraloo" (`Jadoo,' an adapation of Hollywood's `Loves of Carmen').
"Naushad saab was a true son of our soil," explained Manna Dey.
He believed that our music should come from our roots because it was born of this earth and culture. That was why Naushad saab did not favour lifting western tunes.
Today's musiciansobviously did not share these views and perhaps that was why they did not turn up to pay homage to the music maestro.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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