Naushad had refused to give the music of Mughal-e-Azam, know unheard stories – Dainik Savera Times

Mumbai: Today’s generation also hums the melodious music of the great Shahkar Mughal-e-Azam, released in the year 1960, but the music emperor Naushad, who composed its songs, had earlier refused to direct the music of Mughal-e-Azam. Said Goes to Mughal-e-Azam director K. Asif once went to Naushad’s house to meet him. Naushad was composing some tunes on harmonium at that time when K. Asif threw a bundle of Rs 50,000 notes on the harmonium. Naushad became very angry at this and took a bundle full of notes. Hitting Asif on his face, he said that doing this for those people who do not give music in films without advance, I will not give music in your film. Later K. On Asif’s insistence, Naushad not only agreed to give the music of the film but also did not take a single penny for it.

Born on 25 December 1919 in a middle-class conservative Muslim family of Lucknow, Naushad was inclined towards music since childhood and to pursue his hobby, he used to return home late at night after watching films. For this he often had to face his father’s displeasure. His father always used to say that you should choose between home or music. Once upon a time, a drama company came to Lucknow and Naushad finally gathered courage and said to his father – ‘Happy home to you, my music to me…’ After this, he left home and joined that drama troupe and toured with it to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bareilly and big cities of Gujarat.

An incident from Naushad’s childhood is very interesting. There was a musical instrument shop of Bhondumal and Sons in Lucknow, which Naushad, a music lover, often looked at with longing eyes. Once the shop owner asked him why he kept standing near the shop? So Naushad expressed his heartfelt feelings that he wanted to work in his shop. They knew that only through this pretext would they be able to practice musical instruments. One day, while practicing on musical instruments, the owner’s attention fell on Naushad and he scolded him that he had made his musical instruments dirty but later he felt that Naushad had composed a very melodious tune, so he not only Not only did he gift musical instruments, he also made arrangements for them to learn music.

Naushad borrowed Rs 25 from a friend and came to Mumbai in 1937 with the dream of becoming a musician. Naushad had to face many difficulties on reaching Mumbai. He even had to spend the night on the footpath for several days. During this time, Naushad met producer Kardar, on whose recommendation he got the job of playing piano at musician Hussain Khan’s house for Rs 40 per month. After this he worked as an associate of music composer Khemchandra Prakash. As a musician, Naushad got a chance to work in the film ‘Premnagar’ released in the year 1940 at a monthly salary of Rs 100. After the success of his composed song ‘Ankhiyaan Mila Ke, Jiya Bharma Ke, Chale Nahi Jaana…’ in the film ‘Ratan’ released in the year 1944, Naushad started taking Rs 25,000 as remuneration. After this, Naushad never looked back and mesmerized the audience by giving one of the best music in films.

Naushad composed music for about 70 films in his film career spanning nearly six decades. If we take a look at his film journey, we will find that he did most of the films with lyricist Shakeel Badayuni and the songs composed by him became huge hits. Mohammad Rafi’s name comes at the top as Naushad’s favorite singer. Apart from Shakeel Badayuni and Mohammed Rafi, he also played an important role in establishing Lata Mangeshkar, Suraiya, Umadevi (Tuntun) and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri in the film industry.

Naushad was the first musician who kept sound mixing and song recording separate in the field of playback singing. Naushad was the first to use accordion in film music. Music emperor Naushad became the first musician in the Hindi film industry to be honored with the ‘Filmfare’ award. Naushad was awarded the ‘Filmfare’ award for best music composer for the film ‘Baiju Bawra’ released in the year 1953. It is also a shocking fact that after this he did not receive any ‘Filmfare’ award. In recognition of his significant contribution to Indian cinema, he was also honored with the ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’ Award. The great musician Naushad, who mesmerized the listeners with his music for almost six decades, departed from this world on May 5, 2006.