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Notes of Naushad... tuneful as ever
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Naushad has not quit the Hindi film industry. He has just composed for Akbar Khan's "Taj Mahal". And just recently, Shashikant Kinikar came up with a book that puts together some interesting anecdotes of Naushad's life. It is worthwhile despite the errors, says SURESH KOHLI.
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Naushad... Time for Taj Mahal.
THIS IS probably the first-time when a compilation of a film music composer's occasional forays into print has been put together. In not only a haphazard, non-chronological manner but often bad and wrong English rendering. There is not even a proper synchronisation of the photographs used. Yet, it is a useful attempt in ways more than a dozen.
Beginning with simple history and aesthetics, Naushad briefly dwells upon the origin, growth, and development of classical music in India. Often bemoaning the fact that the absence of tradition to write down music has resulted in the loss of some great music of the past. Another has been the tradition of confidentiality, a tradition in which the fine-tuning was to be taught by a guru or ustad to only one or two favourite disciples. That was supposed to be the advent of the gharana.
From theory to practice, Naushad provides an interesting insight into the growth of Hindi film music. Especially, during the times when there was no facility of recording. How a large shooting floor with iron-sheet roofs would be converted into a make-shift recording studio, or how the open-air space within a studio complex, or a public park were used to record songs throughout the night to keep the atmospheric sounds at bay. There were times when all the six or seven songs got recorded from nightfall to daybreak. Or how microphones were strategically placed, and musicians hidden in case of song picturisation which used to be direct till the early `40s.
"On the location shooting of the Mirza Saheban (1939) at Powai Lake, some musicians were perched on the trees with their instruments and some sat at the very edge of the Lake." Yet, great melodies were created and immortal songs recorded. Naushad himself recorded chorus music for Mughal-e-Azam, and songs for Amar and Mother India on the main shooting floor of the famous Mehboob Studios, the breeding ground for some of the finest Hindi films. "Blankets were used for reducing the reverberations and as a measure against noise."
It is a non-stop journey into some great nostalgia as well. Not only from Baiju Bawra to Taj Mahal alone, as far as Naushad himself was concerned. The story of the making of Baiju Bawra, which not only resulted in the resurrection of a dying banner like Prakash Pictures and director Vijubhai Bhatt, but also the stardom platform for unknowns like Meena Kumari and Bharat Bhushan, is remarkable. There are also tales of other memorable films, association with directors like S.U. Sunny, Mehboob Khan, K. Asif; composers like Khemchand Prakash, and Anil Biswas; singers like Mohammed Rafi, Suraiya, Mukesh, Shamshad Begum, Noorjehan; little known facts about K.L. Saigal; his discovery of Lata Mangeshkar in Chandni Raat, friendship with Dilip Kumar.
Two things need recounting here. Contrary to information contained in all Dilip Kumar biographies, a confrontation did take place between father Sarwar Khan and son Yusuf on discovery of the latter's acting in the first movie Jwar Bhata itself after Lala Bisheshwar Nath, a great pal of the former, and grandfather of Raj Kapoor presented his friend with a newspaper clipping in a tit-for-tat manner. The incident had, according to Naushad, resulted in breaking down of even speaking ties between father and son. The other relates to favourite director Mehboob Khan making inquiries about placement and use of instruments for the recording of a song in Anmol Ghadi. Naushad took it all gracefully.
Born on December 25, 1919 at Lucknow, Naushad learnt playing harmonium and had a go at various other instruments while working as an assistant at a shop selling musical instruments. He ran away from home after a showdown with his father, and eventually landed in Mumbai in 1937. He played the piano during an audition to work under composer Jhande Khan for a monthly salary of Rs.40. Interestingly, Ghulam Mohammad, a great composer in his own right, and who worked under Naushad for 10 years before becoming independent, also got appointed at the same time as a tabla player for a salary of Rs.70. But a freak incident within days relegated him to the rank of assistant music director. The film was Sunehari Makdi. Naushad firmly believes that the genesis of even great film music lies in the classical Indian base to endure. "What I have religiously endeavoured to do, through the popular medium of films, is gently to educate our people on our own tradition, lying untapped, while we have been borrowing from the worst rather than the best, of the West." In a career of over six decades, Naushad has scored music for 67 films, 25 of which have been silver, nine golden and two diamond jubilee hits. Some of the greatest hits like "O duniya ke rakhwale", "Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj", "Mohe bhool gaye sanwariya", "Insaaf ka mandir hai" and others have all been based on classical Indian tunes. And now Naushad, who started his film journey as N.A. Dass, feels that the theme song of Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal, "Mumtaz tujhe dekha jab Taj Mahal dekha" with which he returns to film music after a gap of 14 years, should see the re-emergence of melody in an era "best described as unmusical."
But all said and read, Naushad needed a better compiler than Shashikant Kinikar to put his thoughts on music, men and matters more methodically and meticulously. Though printed on expensive art paper, "Notes of Naushad" (English Edition, Rs 495) is repetitive. Naushad's own preface is in an erroneous language. However, reproduction of some rare photographs does make it worthwhile.
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