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The last travel chapter from 2020….

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The pandemic was teaching us new things every day. Economic crisis was seen before, job losses were not that rare in the Western World. Even massive population getting sick due to an unknown wave of infection was recorded before in human history. I think the corona pandemic taught mankind a very cruel lesson which was by and large new – how to live alone! My first trip to Germany went smooth, I had got an apartment to share. I received a lot of help from my new company and my manager – many things which could have gone wrong were falling in its place. The only thing that was bothering me – and I am sure many of us – was the continuously growing mistrust in social life and the increasing seclusion and loneliness. Aloneness is very different from loneliness – the former one you choose on your own will, and it can be fulfilling and needed at times. But loneliness is pathetic, it is bitter, and it is a curse. We are humans and not animals. We have developed trust for thousands of years.
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Presenting Naushad : Part 6

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Rise to fame and self-confidence Naushad was a taskmaster. He took his assignments very seriously. For his early films he would study the script, understand the genre and compose according to the mood of the film. Often he would travel to the exact part of India where the story was based and find out more about the local dialect, the folk music prevalent in that area and then set his tunes accordingly.  He was an artist who grew in confidence. He developed his craft in steps and ventured into areas never seen in Indian films. The orchestration was completely overhauled under his direction. Naushad's early struggle and pains are reflected in many of his songs, of course through their tunes. But I have a feeling that the grandeur and opulent use of bandishes (Indian classical music composition) and musical instruments in some of his songs might have been a testimonial of his ambition to display something very huge so that it fitted in contrast to the struggles that he had been thro
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Presenting Naushad : Part 5

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Struggle and Early Years in Bombay.... Naushad had quite a struggling start to his career in Hindi Film Industry. The early displeasure from his father notwithstanding, Naushad made a decision to come to Bombay to start his career as musician. The early days were tough as he had neither any prior experience in films nor he knew anyone in the music fraternity. It was 1937. As his very first assignment, he got a chance to play Piano with music composer Ustaad Jhande Khan. It is important to note that Naushad used to play Piano in his early days and knew about Western Classical Music. Bach, Beethoven were names he would admire! So much talent and skill at such an early age! This broad knowledge of music helped him - he had acquired the music of dehat (rural India) through his travels, had learnt Hindustani Classical Music and now could also play Western instruments. One of the biggest movie making houses of pre-independent India was called Film City . For records, before the Indian Film I
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Presenting Naushad : Part 4

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Early life in Lucknow...... Naushad had quite a struggling start to his career in Mumbai. He had to spend many days and nights out in the open, sleeping on the footpath. But before traveling to Bombay (Mumbai these days), we must find out his childhood and boyhood. Let us try to divide his early life into some parts.  Naushad was born in Lucknow. Lucknow has been a city of culture, ethos, passion, craft and most importantly, of art. Even today, there is art in the air. The famous lawyer cum author A.P. Sen thrived in his pursuit of art and literature in the city of Lucknow. Like him, many have heaped praises on the beauty and auspicious nature of the city.  Naushad described some glimpses of his childhood in one of his interviews. It would be a house full of friends and relatives flocking every day. His father was a clerk and had good connections in the society - the family was a well-known one. The most beautiful part was the idea of assimilation of different cultures, faiths and reli
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Presenting Naushad : Part 3

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His most favourite singers..... Naushad had great working relations with Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. Together, this trio has created gem after gem. Year after year. What is spectacular about their association is to see the growth they achieved together. Rafi got his first breakthrough hit song " Suhaani raat dhal chuki.... " in the film Dulari released in 1949 . Three years later Rafi took the country and the musical world by storm singing the complicated classical tunes of Baiju Bawra (1952) . Lata Mangeshkar, on the other hand, went from one milestone to the other in almost the same way. Andaz was released in 1949 and Baiju Bawra in 1952 . Lata kept improving during these years until she found her own unique style and identity of singing. Naushad too kept improving on his orchestration, design and recording quality of his songs in these years. Rafi and Lata kept getting better in their throwing of words, voice modulation and above all, in coming out of influence
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Presenting Naushad : Part 2

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An intellectual who could understand the art of filmmaking... The study of Naushad's work should include some more aspects other than his sheer talent to experiment with ragas and folk ballads. He understood situations in a movie and had deep intellectual pursuit. However, he was simple in his thoughts and effective in his execution choices. And never biased or pre-meditated. He changed as per the demand of a film sequence. Furthermore, he understood many other details of filmmaking in general. For example, the personality of an actor, his diction, his way of presenting the character on screen and such things. Talking about actresses, he could make out what the role of a female character is trying to convey and most importantly, how.  I once heard Rajinder Kumar say that H S Rawail, the famous filmmaker, was not very pleased with the minimal orchestration of the fresh and breezy ghazal " Mere mehboob tujhe " (Mere Mehboob, 1963) . Rajinder Kumar was the lead actor in the
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Presenting Naushad : Part 1

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Shri Naushad Ali. Naushad Saheb. An uncompromising and unflinching music composer of Indian Cinema. He utilized the semi-classical and classical roots of Indian music and mingled it with the very authentic folk music. Naushad never changed his style, mood and approach towards his music creation. He believed in his own style, and created several different compositions which stood apart from all his contemporaries. His songs became very popular among the common people (films became silver jubilee and golden jubilee hits).  In this multi-part series I will try to take the readers into the world of Naushad's music. Mixing Classical and Folk genres... Naushad was a genius who popularized three aspects - playback singing, classical music and folk tunes. He had tremendous belief in himself that he could do this. With great success, he blended thousand-year-old raagas and raaginis, rustic folk tunes of North India (coming from his own roots in Lucknow) and added his own touches. Not to for
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