Naushad's death"end of en era of clasical musicians

Mumbai, May 5 (UNI) Naushad, the doyen of Bollywood music industry who imparted a "classical flavour" to Indian film music through songs like 'Man tadpat hari darshan ko' from 'Baiju Bawra' and 'Mohe panghat pe nandlal chhed gayo re' from 'Mughal-e-Azam', will be remembered as the last of the musicians thriving on classical music for his soulful melodies.

Though Naushad, who passed away this morning at the age of 87, is better known for 'Jab Pyar Kiya to darna kya' from the 60s hit 'Mughal-e-Azam', his name, along with Suraiya, Khayyam and Manna Dey, will be etched in Indian cinema's history as among the few singers or musicians incorporating the classical music themes in his songs.

In that sense, the death of the Padmabhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, after an over seven decades old association with the film industry, brings to an end an era of Classical Musicians in Bollywood.

Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas and he even used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D V Pulaskar in Baiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in 'Mughal-e-Azam' (1960), for 'Shubh din aayo' and 'Prem jogan ki sundari pio chali'.

Also for the famous ''Ae Mohabbat Zindabad' in the movie, sung by Mohammed Rafi, he used a chorus of 100 singers.

In fact, 'Baiju Bawra' demonstrated Naushad's grasp of classical music with songs like 'Duniya Ke Rakhwale' and 'Tu Ganga ki mauj'.

Born in November 25, 1919 in Lucknow, famous for its 'tehzeeb' and 'nazaqat', Naushad's love for music started at an early age when he used to repair harmoniums at a music instruments shop.

There, he started composing for amateur theatricals. He also studied music under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali and Ustad Babban Saheb.

Coming to Mumbai to make it as a musician in 1930, Naushad's decision to move to the tinseltown (Mumbai), despite his family opposing his penchant and love for music, initially saw him undergo a lot of struggle and acute financial crisis. After spending nights on footpath, he finally found work with music director Khemchand Prakash (whom he considered his teacher), who kept him as his assistant.

Naushad once said that music being a social taboo those days, when he started gaining recognition in Mumbai, his family back in Lucknow fixed his marriage, but told the bride's family that the groom worked as a 'darzi' (tailor). ''During the marriage, all my tunes were being played and my blissfully ignorant father-in-law wondered about the person whose music was driving people, both young and old, crazy. Little did he know then that the person he was referring to was his own son-in-law,'' the veteran music composer had once fondly recalled.

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