Naushad: Composer of the century
Who but Naushad, in a like vein, could have brought Kundan Lal Saigal to us, via Shahjehan (1946), as Gham diye mustaqil (in Kaafi), Ai dil-e-beqaraar jhoom (in Bihag), Chaah barbaad karegee (in Bageshri) and Jab dil hi toot gaya (in Bhairavi)? To Naushad, K L Saigal remained the ultimate singing star, Mohammad Rafi, the ultimate ghost voice. He used over 50 female ghost voices in a career spanning 66 years, yet Lata's vocals ring supreme in his oeuvre.
From Mohammed Rafi to A Hariharan, Mughal-e-Azam to Taj Mahal, it is a long journey. A journey Naushad completed with matchless dignity, his grip on Urdu shairi making him an icon of icons on the podium.
When I presented Naushad with my biography on Lata Mangeshkar, he left me in no doubt of the fact that he had always expected me to do his life and times first. Now, the baton has passed. Yet, the Naushad image will endure. If only because his music remains timeless.
Timeless because, into just three minutes of the original gramophone record, he compressed the joy of a lifetime. It is no wonder that Madhubala (as indeed all others on the sets of Amar) burst into tears on first hearing the Yaman notes of Jaane waale se mulaquaat na hone paayee. Similar notes by Lata, on the same Madhubala, came to us in Mughal-e-Azam (left), as Khuda nigehbaan ho tumharaa.
"Allah is the only composer, call him Bhagwan, God, whatever you will," soliloquised Naushad as he turned 70. "From the footpath facing the Broadway cinema in Dadar, he lifted me to the skies. I did nothing. He did everything for me."
Sachin Dev Burman summed it up succinctly when he observed, "Quality, we all had. But it was from Naushad that we learnt the art of how to blend quality with popularity."
Was music an art or craft in Naushad's custody?
Hear Shamshad-Rafi from Chandni Raat as Chheen ke dil kyun pher lein aankhen, and you do not know where Rafi's art begins and Shamshad's craft ends.
You only know that Naushad is there, all over, turning film music into a near art form.