21/06/2025
Naushad (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006): Music Maestro of Bollywood Naushad Ali (popularly known as Naushad) was one of the immortal music directors of Indian film Industry to bring Indian classical music into the film medium and promoting Hindustani music. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularizing the use of classical music in films. His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940. His first musically successful film was Rattan (1944), followed by 35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Hindi film industry. Naushad gave a new trend to popular film music by basing his tunes on classical music, ragas and folk music. Naushad was known for his skillful adaptation of the classical musical tradition for movie songs. For some movies like Baiju Bawra (1952), Mughal e Azam (1960) he composed songs in classical raga modes. He arranged for the well-known vocalist Amir Khan to be a music consultant for Baiju Bawra. He won the Flmfare Award for 1952 film Baiju Bawra. It can be said of Naushad that in the early days of popular cinema music in the 1930s and 1940s he set the standards for classical and folk music that resonated with the idea of India. The composers who followed him were inspired by this aspect of his compositions.
Naushad Ali was born and raised in Lucknow, a city with a long tradition as a centre of Indian culture. His father, Wahid Ali, was a munshi (court clerk). As a child, Naushad would visit the annual fair at the Deva Sharif in Barabanki, 25 km from Lucknow, where all the great qawwals and musicians of those days would perform before the devotees. He studied Hindustani music there under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali, Ustad Babban Saheb and others. He also repaired harmoniums. As a lad, he joined a junior theatrical club and was appointed the club's music maestro for their theatrical presentations. He used to watch silent films at the Royal theatre in Lucknow. Theatre owners would hire a team of musicians to play the tabla, harmonium, sitar and violin. The musicians would watch the film first, make notes, finalize the scales required. When the show began in the evening, they would sit in front of the screen and play music for the scenes. This was a great way to be entertained and learn music at the same time. It made him grasp the nuances required in composing a film's background music score.
