Presenting Naushad : Part 3

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 of any other previous singers. They truly came to their own under Naushad.

Rafi said in an interview that artists like Naushad were rare to come in this earth. Naushad said that it takes generations to produce another Rafi. Lata was always the first choice for Naushad and she stood by her master all throughout. Master indeed. In an interview Lata was asked what was special about Naushad. In her candid style she said, Naushad would first give her the lyrics on a piece of paper and would ask her to read aloud. To improve her diction, get into the meaning and then start singing. She admitted that her Urdu (most songs were written in this language) improved greatly working with artists like Naushad. 

Naushad rarely looked beyond Rafi and Lata. Mukesh, Asha Bhonsle, Hemant Kumar, Shamshad Begum would occasionally sing for the maestro when required. Of course he understood which singer suited which song - we will get more into this topic later on. The fact that he stayed on with the great Rafi and Lata meant that he was one of the few composers who could bring the best out of the two. He gave Lata the song "Jab pyaar kiya toh darna kya..." (Mughal-E-Azam, 1960) which tested her voice range and went on to become one the most popular Hindi film songs for a long time. It is said that after finishing the recording of "Oh duniya ke rakhwale...." (Baiju Bawra, 1952), Rafi had to take a break from regular singing. There were too many high pitched notes! The song is still regarded as a milestone for any singer to reach, if not surpass it. The duets were equally good. The duo sounded extremely good together. And it worked every time for every acting pair on the screen. They literally never faltered. Songs like "Koi pyaar ki dekhe...." or "Do sitaaron ka...", both from the film Kohinoor (1960) are great duet songs because they were sung with perfect co-ordination. Also the mood was captured in equal proportions by both the male and the female voices.                                                                                                            

His life long friend Shakeel.....

Naushad, the composer, and Shakeel, the poet - they were inseparable. One could not be imagined without the other. Shakeel Badayuni came to collaborate with Naushad after Majrooh had to take a pause from the film industry. Majrooh Sultanpuri, another great poet, was working with Naushad when due some turn of events, he had to stop work for a while. Shakeel entered into Naushad's creative life and soon there was a bond. Shakeel was a great poet, a literary master whose poems were taught in school in those days. Naushad and Shakeel became a team which would create history. Year after year, film after film, song after song, story after story - they were unstoppable. All their ventures were successful - they were arguably the most successful composer-lyricist duo (with perhaps an exception of Majrooh- S.D.Burman or O.P.Nayyar-S.H.Bihari). From folk to sad songs, from light romantic to patriotic songs, from kawwali (a special form of traditional classical group song from north and west India) to sad songs - their magic continued to captivate their listeners. They understood each other very well. A beautiful song is a creation where the root is the musical notes, the stem is the words written on top of the root. The fruits are the singers’ voices and the leaves and flowers are the sounds of the musical instruments that decorate the tree. Naushad and Shakeel were a perennial tree with inseparable root and stem. 

Sources say that Shakeel was a very happy and contended person in his personal life unlike some of his peers who were taken to drinking and had sorrows in their lives. At least he had no close encounters with desperation or desolation or depravation. Despite this, one wonders how he could frame words like "Mohe bhool gaye saawariya...." (Baiju Bawra, 1952) or "Bachpan ki mohabbat ko...." (Baiju Bawra, 1952). Here was a talent who showed the world that to become a poet one did not probably need to be poignant and stressed in real life. That apart, he was quite marvellous in light-hearted songs of Naushad. Take the comic and happy song "Aaye hai bahar mite zulm sitam...." from Ram Aur Shyam (1967) or the enjoyable "Tan rang lo ji aaj man rang lo...." or "Koi pyar ke pankh...." both from the musical film Kohinoor (1960)

One has to admire this partnership not just because of the success but also because of its length. In today's world where associations and collaborations are only weighed in terms of money, this one is surely a counter-example. Naushad was a sophisticated and dignified person with a gentle soul and Shakeel was very similar. After Shakeel's death, his friend Naushad created a Shakeel fan club to remained connected to millions of his fans across the world.

[To be continued]


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