Naushad leaves trail of phenomenal music

Dr. K. N. K. Wijayawardane

MUSIC: It was with great nostalgia and deep appreciation that lovers of Hindi music watched the recent commemorative program on Naushad Ali telecast over ITN. Naushad was one of the greatest music directors of the early Hindi cinema.

This program was arranged and compered by Ranjith Edirisinghe who I think is a walking encyclopedia where Hindi film music is concerned. I doubt whether even in India there is a person with such a vast knowledge and phenomenal memory.

Naushad died recently in Bombay and it was reported in the papers that veteran actor Dilip Kumar was so distraught that he cried openly. Great artistes who have worked together for a long time develop strong bonds and when death breaks these bonds the resulting distress must be unbearable. Many years ago that fine playback singer Mukesh died upon which veteran actor Raj Kapoor exclaimed “I have lost my voice.”

I saw Naushad when he visited Ceylon with other members of the cast of Aan which was the first Hindi film in colour. The premiere of the film was at Roxy cinema, Wellawatta in 1952. I was a first year medical student and I went to see my film idol Dilip Kumar who was the main actor in the film.

I was lucky to get an aisle seat in the one rupee section and as Dilip Kumar passed me not only did I have a good look at him but being well fortified with Dutch courage I boldly got up mumbled a greeting and offered my hand.

He was a bit taken aback but nevertheless shook my hand. That was a great moment for me and later I boasted to my friends that I shook hands with Dilip Kumar. I remember also that I did not wash my hand for quite some time!

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Naushad directed music in over 40 Hindi films and his music was so enchanting that the mere advertisement “Music by Naushad” was enough to draw crowds to see the film. In the early fifties there were hardly any Sinhalese films here and a lot of film goers got attracted to the Hindi cinema and some became real addicts.

I remember one of my friends who was an engineering student being totally enamoured by the actress Swarnalatha in the film Rattan, so much so that he wanted to give up his studies and go to India to see her. We had great difficulty in restraining the fellow here. There were very few actresses in Hindi films at that time and they were so very attractive in both looks and acting that many a man got thoroughly besotted.

When I was small I remember my father talking about a South Indian film called Chintamani probably in the thirties and he said that some men who saw the film went almost mad! Today of course there are so many actresses who appear virtually half naked in films and whose dancing is more like physical training exercises with no finesse at all, that apart from going mad no man will even take a second look!

Higher instincts

The difference between films of that era both Hindi and Western and present day films (at least most of them) is that while the former group appealed to the higher instincts in man, the latter group appealed to the baser instincts.

In fact there is an English film currently shown which is titled “Basic Instinct”!

To get back to Naushad, he was born in Lucknow, India in December 1919. He entered films first as a pianist and later became a music director. It is mentioned that he was one of the earliest directors to recognise the limited age of indigenous musical instruments for modern orchestration and he introduced Western instruments to Indian orchestra.

I think P. L. A. Somapala did the same for Sinhala orchestra in the fifties. It is said that in one particular orchestra directed by Naushad he had 150 violinists.

Naushad’s music became a rage here in the late forties and fifties. Songs like Bachpan Ke Din in Deedar and Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki in Dulari became instant hits and when heard today evoke nostalgic memories not only of past music but also of the happy peaceful times of that period when this country was really a paradise. I think Dulari ran for over a year at the Crown cinema, Maradana.

It is a bit sad that today most of the film artistes of that era are no more. Madhubala the sexiest of them all, Nutan the most natural actress, Nargis a very dignified lady, the versatile Raj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Mohammed Rafi etc. have all crossed the Great Divide.

Speaking of Mohammed Rafi in an interview on Channel Four TV UK in the nineties, Lata Mangeskar said we would not hear a voice like that for a hundred years. I wish to thank ITN and Ranjith Edirisinghe for transporting us even for a short period of time, to that wonderful bygone era of melodious tear jerking music created by masters of music like Naushad Ali.

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